Roy Buchanan poses with his Les Paul in this Alligator Records promo shot.
Heāll forever be remembered for his unparalleled mastery of the Telecaster, but Roy Buchanan kept an open mind when it came to his guitars.
Perhaps youāve read something where an artist or a brand is dubbed āauthentic.ā Itās marketing hype thatās both real and manufactured, but I assure you it can be both a legit and important concept. The problem is when it gets used in the first person. Who judges whether something is authentic or not? Critics? Magazines? The internet? A brand itself? What does it mean to you? We often refer to things as the āreal deal,ā so is that the same? Not exactly.
The real deal can be something that is what it purports to beālike a working cowboy. But if you see his hat brand in a store in New York, is that authentic? If you think this is splitting hairs, you might be right. Weād like to think that when we choose a guitar to play, our desire for playability and sound is at the forefront of the decision-making process, and mostly it is. But that blacked-out, pointy axe with the studded strap just wonāt fly in your bro-country cover band, so you glom onto a paisley Telecaster, even though it doesnāt feel as good to you. Does this make you authentic? Personally, Iād love to see some chicken pickinā on that pointy fiddle. Busting down barriers and breaking rules is the spirit of expression and creativity, and thatās authentic.
Thereās no shame in honoring tradition and nodding in reverence to your influences, but you donāt have to bow down so low that you canāt be yourself, too. I used to think I was a āGibson guy.ā To a large extent, I still am, but many of you know my love of the Strat and Tele. My music room is full of other brands that I adore and use for certain applications. I believe that you have to use an instrument, effect, or amplifier to get what you need for the situation youāre in, no matter what the social connotation is.
āIf Roy freaking Buchannan can rock out on a Les Paul or a Hamer Standard, you can break some rules, too.ā
One night in the late 1970s, I answered the phone at the Hamer Guitars factory, mostly to see who on Earth would call at that late hour. To my surprise it was Roy Buchanan, the original master of the Telecaster. He wanted to chat about our Sunburst model that was fairly new to the market. His questions revolved around scale length, fretboard width, fret size, and weight. When I asked why he was interested in our guitar when he was known for playing Telecasters, he told me that he already had one of our Explorer-shaped Standard model guitars! I found this even more puzzling than the fact that Roy Buchanan had cold-called our office at night. Roy went on to say that in the studio he used a lot of different guitars, including a Les Paul with P-90s that he liked a lot. He used the Tele onstage, he said, ābecause people expect me to do all those Telecaster things.ā He didnāt ask me to ship him a guitar for free or inquire about an artist discount. He said heād check one out at a dealer. I recommended one near him, and we said goodnight. I began to wonder if it was a crank call.
Iād forgotten the whole episode until recently, when I saw a newspaper photograph of Roy Buchanan with his young daughter, Jennifer. I thought about how happy they looked and how sad it was that his death had stolen that little girlās father from her. And right there in that photo, heās playing that Hamer Standard. Iām not gonna lie and say that I didnāt cry.
So there it is, folks. If Roy freaking Buchanan can rock out on a Les Paul or a Hamer Standard, you can break some rules, too. Iām certain that he was most comfortable onstage with that beat-up old Tele, but it wasnāt his only love. Itās just the one that people think of when they imagine the authentic guy.
Songwriters often say they strive for connection through authenticity in their music and lyrics. And at the very core, thatās what itās aboutāhuman connection. If you love that cowboy hat and live in Philadelphia, Iām not going to criticize youājust go ahead and wear it, dude. Itās about wearing the hat for its intended purpose, not putting it on to hope it makes you authentic.
Frets will wear over time, so to recapture playability and expression, players need to know when frets need leveling or replacement.
We all know dead strings can compromise our tone, but so can fret wear.
While it might be easy for players to see, feel, and hear their guitar strings wearing out, itās less obvious to see worn frets, despite their sharing equal responsibility for each note. Fret and string interaction is fundamental to the function of a guitar, but many players give little thought to the influence frets have on the way our guitars work, and how we play them.
Though the earliest frets were little more than pieces of string tied around a neck and slid into position by the player, guitar frets have been made from metal for centuries. For much of this time, a fret was a simple, straight-sided length of metal hammered into a groove sawn into the fretboard. This method worked wellāparticularly with relatively large-diameter gut stringsābecause the playerās fingertip was largely on top of the string and didnāt contact the abrupt, straight-sided fret much.
As smaller-diameter steel strings became increasingly common, the playerās fingertips contacted the sides of the fret more than before, creating a distinctly bumpy, ridged feeling on the neck. In response, wire makers created what we think of as a modern T-style fret, characterized by its larger semi-circular top section held in place by a slender straight portion, and, often, small teeth embossed in the sides to bite into the wood fretboard. This style of fret makes for a smoother playing feel and is easier to install at a uniform height. Thatās thanks to the built-in stop that bumps into the fretboardās surface when fully seated.
Regardless of the fretās exact cross-section, the most critical aspect is that the top of each fret is exactly the same level as those in front and behind it. If not, the vibrating string is likely to contact the unwanted high spot and create a buzz or incorrect note. The frets donāt necessarily require identical height between the fretboard surface and the top of each fretāonly that the tops of all frets fall in an even plane with each other. In fact, this is a typical scenario for a guitar.
The issue is that when two metal things rub together, they wear. Mostly, the harder metal will wear away the softer metal. Guitar strings and their differing alloys and construction styles have a wide variety of hardness, as do fret wires. Frets are bound to wear unevenly as we play, progressing to the point where an often-played note is measurably lower in elevation than a less-worn fret, preventing the string from playing accurately. The remedy is to grind the tops of all the frets into a uniform lower plane with respect to the intended radius of the fretboard, and then reshape the sides of each fret to a semicircular cross section to restore accurate pitch and consistent playability to every note. Since frets in the lower and middle portions of the fretboard are typically subjected to more wear than the highest notes, each successive fret-leveling operation tends to result in slightly shorter frets near the nut, and slightly taller ones at the dusty end of the fretboard.
After establishing a uniform plane across the tops of the frets, a second consideration is the overall height of the fret. The distance between the depressed string and the fretboard surface significantly changes the feel and playing style of a guitar neck. Put simply, smaller frets will tend to offer more accurate pitch for each note, while larger, taller frets can offer more expressive notes.
When a string is pressed to the fret, our fingertips subtly bend the string sharp as we push toward the fretboard surface. And as our fingertips contact the wood fretboard, the extra finger pressure is distributed, preventing the player from raising the pitch any further. This bending effect is minimized with small frets since they somewhat limit the player from pressing too much and raising notes higher than the intended pitch. In contrast, tall frets can exaggerate a deviation from the intended pitch, but they also allow for a myriad of expressive effects. This is because the playerās fingertips have a high degree of control to bend down toward the fretboard or sideways to alter the nuance of each note.
Regardless of the style or metal alloy, frets will wear over time. They can be leveled a number of times, but once theyāre too low to play comfortably, itās time to replace them to restore playability and expression to your guitar.
Anytime you increase the fret size, the tone of your instrument will be alteredā keep in mind that this might not be a bad alteration
Anytime you increase the fret size, the tone of your instrument will be alteredā keep in mind that this might not be a bad alteration. These days there are a lot of choices in fretwire ā I believe the biggest fret, in terms of sheer height, is the #6000 size. Some of these frets feel like railroad ties when you slide your fingers down the neck. The smallest frets are the type youāll find on āFretless Wonderā Les Paul Customs ā stock on the mid-1950s and late ā60s reissue models ā or stock Gretsch guitars.
These small frets have several telling traits. The first is that they will be harder to bend strings on due to the low fret height. Secondly, the guitarās action will be really low. Put these two factors together and youāll have to seriously adjust your playing style to deal with them. Many players who bought the āFretless Wondersā immediately went out and had these frets changed out for larger ones. The result was a fatter sound and the player could now bend strings without much thought at all.
Of my two Les Pauls, one of them has the usual Gibson frets that are known as āmedium jumboā style frets, which work very well for the āstandardā Les Paul sound, while my other Les Paul has 6105 frets all the way down the neck. The 6105 is a tall fret (almost as tall as the 6000 size) but quite a bit narrower in width. These are great for getting the added pluses of string bendability and a thicker, meatier sound too. Guitarists that do a lot of bending, such as blues and fusion players, should definitely check out these bigger options.
For Stratocasters, fret choice is even more pronounced because you have (traditionally) single-coil pickups which are more sensitive to tonal changes, due to any alterations. I have one Stratocaster with a ācompound fret job,ā which means that for the first lower octave (the first 12 frets) I chose to use the tallest and widest frets available at that time (#6100), and subsequently installed some 6105s for the second octave (above the 12th fret). My reasoning was since I have thick fingers, the 6105s would be easier to play, because they would fit my fingers better as I moved higher. And, interestingly enough, I could definitely hear the shift in tone when crossing the octaves. The sound was slightly brighter moving into the 13th fret position, from the 11th fret right before. Just as a side note, I use other Stratocasters in my collection with the smaller stock frets when I want the straight classic Fender sound. Indeed, the frets make a significant difference in your tone!
You may have noticed the recent availability of stainless steel frets. What about those? How do they affect your sound? In my own experience, I found the stainless steel frets quite bright ā too bright in fact for my tastes, so I will stay with the tried and true nickel-silver versions. Iāve also noticed that the stainless frets tend to be really slippery. Of course, with my opinion stated, these newer stainless steel frets might do wonders for you and your own playing style. You may love their ability to brighten up your tone, and it is true that they have a longer life span, as compared with other nickel-silver frets.
I will finish this monthās installment with a quick thought regarding frets. Many years ago, I was getting one of my Stratocasters worked on by a really great repairman. He was watching me play for more than a few minutes. I couldnāt figure out why until he asked me if I could hand him my guitar. I obliged and handed it over to him when he suddenly said, āOh, now I see why you donāt wear your frets out!ā He then informed me that since I played all over the neck (a result of being a jazz guitarist from a very young age), the frets were being worn away so evenly that it was difficult to see any wear at all. He commented that this was also the result of a very light touch, so remember that no matter which fret style you go with, touch has a tremendous influence on your tone! Weāll see you next month.
Dean Farley
Dean Farley is the chief designer of "Snake Oil Brand Strings" (www.sobstrings.net) and has had a profound influence on the trends in the strings of today