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6100 vs. 6115 vs. 6150(Alien vs. Predator vs. Godzilla). Who will win?

I play pretty hard, and have traditionally struggled with the death grip, but I'm playing 6100 now, and only occasionally have problems pulling stuff sharp when the fingering is awkward. In fact, I think it's been helpful in loosening the death grip. If I make any more tweaks to my setup, I may try:
1) going up on string guage
2) down on string height

Huge frets makes it easer to do both at the same time. I was curious about scalloping, but W doesn't offer it on 24.75" necks, and I was already going 3 choices off the beaten path, was afraid if I didn't like the scallop it would have made it harder to get rid of.
 
Sorry for the well, almost off topic... But when Ibanez says that their guitars has 'jumbo frets', that would be 6100-frets then?  :icon_scratch:
 
+1 Swar...

I know that even if I don't like it at first, it just makes sense biomechanically and I will find a way to adapt. And also, it will give me a reason to get back into practicing again...won't be long now...

Does anyone with short/narrow frets feel like they are fighting the instrument? (and making them not want to practice?)I think maybe part of this death grip might be partly from not getting enough leverage.
 
I agree that finger pressure has a lot to do with it.  However, playability is affected by a host of other factors---among them fret size, fretboard radius, action, string diameter, scale length, hand size, pick attack, etc. 

Right now I've got 6150s on one of my guitars and I find myself fretting out too much, even when I use light pressure.  I was told that I should use higher frets to correct this.  I've tried jumbo frets before and I found them easier to bend with.  I have no idea what dimensions they were.  I've heard that Stevie Ray used to use 6100s on his but they were worn down to .047", so it's hard to pinpoint just what fret size he was using.

Right now it looks like I might go and try out some Ibanez jumbos.  At least I know the dimensions for those, so that I can use those as a reference point and work from there.  To all thanks for the input.

P.S.  In case you're wondering, "Alien vs. Predator" was on in the background when I started the thread!

 
If you're fretting out and there's nothing wrong with the fret setup, it's not the frets. It's the fretboard radius. The tighter the radius, the earlier on a bend it will show up. So, a 7" or 9" straight radius neck will fret out easily, while a 16" radius will rarely present that problem unless the string height is set very low.

That's why they came up with compound radius necks. Down in cowboy country, the radius is relatively tight, so it's easier to chord. Up with the angels, the 'board gets flat, so you can bend and trill and just generally fly around without any problem.
 
Jumble Jumble said:
Why are chords easier on a tight curve?

mean-old-lady-237x300.jpg


Because I said so! Now, eat your soup!


Or, it could have to do with physiology. You can comfortably exert more force with a slightly curved finger.
 
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