Fret wire preferences...what's your favorite?

[DirtyMoonsRJT]

I lean toward 6150 or a close equivalent...mostly because its what I'm used to...although the newer PRS frets which I believe are closer to 6100 work for me as well, overall the 6150 is just perfect for me.

thoughts? What are your preferences and why?

[swede71]

Im not sure what kind PRS use or Fender american standard or Deluxe.Medium jumbo?I like both for a good grip when bending strings.Lately i have been playing my Fender Eric Clapton partocaster alot and really loves the feel of the vintage small fretwire.Feels great for chords and works good for bends too,perhaps the soft v shape neck helps.I have never tried the wide jumbo fretwire like dunlop6100.

[SausageofPower]

Stainless steel 6100's. Nothing beats them.

[WEDGE]

Whatever the DGT wire is works for me. Big and fat and easy to bend on.

[veinbuster]

Whatever the DGT wire is works for me. Big and fat and easy to bend on.

Yes, I'm really liking it as well.

[kukumba]

I am in love with DGT wire. I'm not sure what it is as far size, but it does seem slightly bigger than MC58, ME wire or the wire used on the custom 24. I have a question into my dealer ( Brian's Guitars) to figure this out. I'll let you all know what I find out.

The other thing to note is that wire used on the NOS ME 1 seems to be something different altogether. I have played 4 of these new NOS ME's and they all have a very different feeling flat top fret wire. It feels like someone dressed the frets on these guitars and forgot to round and polish the frets after they were flat filed. I have been playing the crap out of my new ME and I don't see any fret wear yet but someday I'm going to send it to PTC for DGT Refret. As soon as I win the lotto.

Thanks

[wilerty]

I am in love with DGT wire. I'm not sure what it is as far size, but it does seem slightly bigger than MC58, ME wire or the wire used on the custom 24. I have a question into my dealer ( Brian's Guitars) to figure this out. I'll let you all know what I find out.

The other thing to note is that wire used on the NOS ME 1 seems to be something different altogether. I have played 4 of these new NOS ME's and they all have a very different feeling flat top fret wire. It feels like someone dressed the frets on these guitars and forgot to round and polish the frets after they were flat filed. I have been playing the crap out of my new ME and I don't see any fret wear yet but someday I'm going to send it to PTC for DGT Refret. As soon as I win the lotto.

The MEs use the same fretwire, but on the early versions the the wire was left flat whereas on the later versions the wire was crowned and more rounded. The wire on the MEQ is rounded, which I found much easier to play. I used the same wire on my PS and had the same installed on my SAS this year. Higher and arthritis work well together ...

MEQ ... Someone with an ME1 post a picture and you will see the difference.

[butterfly]

This is an interesting topic to me as I am very tactile when it comes to guitars. The neck and feel of the frets makes a big difference to me, more so than scale length. My observation is that PRS introduced the bigger fret wire with the original MEs in circa 2007. Now many of the new models have some version of large fret wire (at least relative to the guitars PRS made from the late 80s to 2007).

My assumption is that PRS does everything for a reason, and that reason is either quality or tone improvement. So I take it the view is larger fret wire is part of a recipe for better tone. Interesting. And I would guess a conscious decision by PRS.

I had a original ME and I did not care for the frets. I do a lot of sliding into notes and it was too much of an adjustment for me. I have a stripped 58 and the wire while bigger is more comfortable to me. I want to try a DGT but am wary of what I gather is fret wire even higher than the 58 wire. Same for a Ted. Going from my 58 to my 2001 SC is most definitely noticible in feel to me. I guess I am cautiously optimistic about the trend but am not sure the real big DGT or Ted wire is for me ( which would kind of stink for me as those models are right up my alley ).

[jrw32]

Standard PRS fretwire for me...6150 I believe? I tried hard to like the DGT-sized frets I had on a Swamp Ash Studio, but I found it nearly impossible to play chords in tune up/down the neck, even with a perfect set up from the PTC. Bending was easier for sure, & 11's felt like 10s as others have noted. I don't consider myself to be heavy-handed at all, but am a stickler when it comes to tuning/intonation...& the slight intonation issues the larger frets introduced drove me insane. I was pretty disappointed, considering how much I loved that guitar! But I learned the hard way & now know for sure jumbo frets are not for me.