A musing, hypothetical offer in abstract, David Its not the frets. Its your fingers. Thickened from doing martial arts; that is the trade-off. Ahhh...but it would be a nice plunker, wouldn't it?
I tried one at Guitar Center before I became a martial artist. I found the frets to be dinky too. Just git yerself a strat and hot rod it.
I've heard people call them "fretless wonders" because the frets are pretty low I guess. I have played/owned a few 70's era Gibson's (granted not the same age as the one you posted) that had very low flat frets (might be somewhat due to wear). It's the case with the one from that time period I still have. Unfortunately I've never played one older than the 70's.
A 57 Gibson (indeed any Gibson) should have "vintage jumbo" frets surely? The same size as a modern strat and substantially larger than a vintage one.
This page (detailing a fret replacement) shows the type of frets I'm thinking of: http://timeelect.com/lp-fretless.htm
Yeah seems like it doesn't it? But the page I reference compares them to the NOS fretwire which is just as flat. I have had/have a Gibson with very similar frets. Got em used, so didn't know how much was factory and how much was wear. Either way, to someone with influences like David Harrison has, they would be crazy small frets. They are to me.
Hmm, live and learn. Seems to be a thing with some of the customs. I'm not a big fan of the custom anyway.
Oh - low profile frets. Yeah, easy to chord, difficult to bend notes and I'd think fret-buzz would be a problem as well, unless one has developed the technique. Low action all the way down. I've heard some jazz players swear by them.
I don't think them crowned to begin with. Crowning is essentially beveling the fret so that one doesn't "catch" their fingers while playing, IIRC. Its the taller/wider frets that need crowns, then?
Most guitar frets are crowned, just these oddities it seems. Goes to show you how playing styles have changed.
Wow, this went down an interesting avenue! When I said "dinky frets", I was erroneously referring to scale length. The distance between the frets, nothing to do with the frets themselves.
So yeah, your fingers are too fat Embrace the two-tone bends my friend, and then add some wide vibrato.
12√2 I was thinking that's what you to mean - but - interestingly enough ... Gibson Les Pauls have a short scale length (and correspondingly shorter distance between frets) 24 3/4 relative to something like a Fender Strat - a whopping 25 1/2. I think the shredders out there prefer longer-scaled, more roomy environments - unless one is short of fingah. I've heard of 27, 28 inch scales - I think those are found on seven and eight string oddities. However less tension required on the shorter scaled instruments making the bending of notes easier - which is polar opposite of what most players experience when playing instruments with low-profile frets (fretless wonders) If you all find the LP Custom dinky - one of my fantasy guitars to own, in another, more financially endowed life, is the Gibson Byrdland which has a 23 1/2 " scale. I've no idea what the scale length of a LP black Beauty is - but I'd wager it longer than a Byrdland.
I have long, slim fingers actually. I can bend a minor third on a strat-length neck. I'm struggling to think of a case where I'd want to bend a major third :thinking:
I'd suggest that what shredders prefer is the fact that 25.5s are less fussy about light strings (especially without the Gibson headstock) and Strat style instruments offer better high fret access. At the end of the day Gibsons are only 22 frets, and if you can fret the 24th on an Ibanez then the 22nd on a Les Paul shouldn't be a problem.
I'm totally unschooled as far as formal music theory goeth but - you do mean moving up two whole tones (from the root) by that, then? Doom metal - where would it be without the Pythagorean Theorem and intervals (well - minor 2nds at least). [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mHe6FMs46o"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mHe6FMs46o[/ame] Lots of minors but ... its such a cool song, [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ODuMh77xGI"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ODuMh77xGI[/ame] Don'cha fancy feeling a little ... cramped at times?
Seriously, the difference between the 22nd fret spacings is less than 0.02 of an inch. I can comfortably fret with my ring finger on either. I constantly swap between 24.75 and 25.5, and the big difference is feel. With 27 inch there's a noticeable difference in fret spacing, but the change in string tension is much more noticeable too.
It's been a good few years since I played a LP, but my abiding memory was dinkyness, and playing it with eyes closed was a nightmare. Having said that, I've been happily playing 3/4 size classical guitars for ages now, so maybe it would no longer be a problem for me. There just isn't anything about LP's that I find appealing though. But then, there's not much about guitars that I find appealing. I love playing guitar, but I'm not fussed about them as things in-and-of-themselves. Especially electrics - any one will do, pretty much.