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Jet Fretz


WezV

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just came across this on another forum

http://www.jetfretz.com/

thought it was an interesting idea, if potentially flawed

so here is the gist 'Jet Fretz are frets that slide in and out of the specially designed neck with nothing other than a small tap'

+ve point: its apparently easy to change your frets in 5 minutes wih a little tap

-ve point: whats holding the frets in? how are the controlling for wood expansion and shrinkage? will they just slide out or rattle if the fretboard shrinks a little over time or when i make a truss rod adjustment

+ve point: 'delivers that sustain unlike never before', 'Higher mass & stabilization plates on the frets create as much as 35% more sustain to your instrument'

-ve point: who cares, i have plenty already... why is it people always use sustain to try and sell products??? again i would be interested to know whats holding them in as any loss in contact between fret and fretboard will reduce sustain

+ve points: 'Jet Fretz are made of stainless steel so they won't wear out for a long time!'

-ve points: i am just about to do my first SS fretjob and am all for the idea, but i know that it will affect the tone. so if switching to ss on normal frets affects the tone... whats going to happen here???

-ve points: from the front the fretboard looks kinda weird

+ve points: from the side it looks like a row of fat ladies :D

anyway, thought it was an intersting idea... if the frets do swap as easily as advertised it might be the solution for those people that talk about removable fretboards for switching from fretless to fretted (assuming they could do some fretless fret inserts)

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I agree, horrible website. And the guy acts like a bonehead in his videos, that alone makes the whole enterprise look pretty stupid and avoidable to me.

But my biggest issue - why would one try to demonstrate the "mindblowing sustain" characteristics with that extremely high gain tone? Listen to that, any old piece of crap guitar with any old piece of crap frets would sustain just as well. And wrestling the whammy bar? Gee, I wonder if that makes the notes last any longer...? :D

He even pointed at the guitar with that silly smirk while he was letting an open string ring out. Does he have a Jet Nut too? :D

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Believe it or not I used to work for the company that polished those frets...I HATED every minute of it pulling all 500 of those damn things out of the sweco. When I asked my boss what they were he said I should know because I build guitars. So I said these things are frets? I laughed and said how the hell do they put these things in the neck. I figured they were for an acoustic because how on earth would you radius them? Apparently I was wrong, however I still think the concept is stupid and why try to reinvent the wheel.

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Seems retardedly over engineered.

Do you really wear frets out fast enough to switch them out on the fly? My 1993 RG 470 still has the original frets... and I played it a lot over the years.

Also if you used stainless steel they would take a life time to wear out so what is the point?

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I wonder if they make a special micro dovetail bit to cut those slots.

Too bad there is no data on the site to show the difference from standard nickel or stainless frets. All the demos use a high gain sound so its difficult to know how much the sustain has changed.

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Isn't a sustainer a better value anyway?

He kinda reminded me of Billy Mays, only he really didn't know enough about his product to sell it to his audience, and he didn't sign my tub of Oxi Clean. He also didn't have a catchy phrase to add to his product... Well, he didn't have a good one, anyway lol. "Sustain in your brain" and "Jet Frets!" aren't what I would consider to be catchy. He should get Billy Mays to advertise for him, and then hire someone to write his website.

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Wow is all I can say.

"Sustain on the brain" I like that comment. +1

1. What if the wood shrinks do your frets fall out. If it swells can you remove them?

2. I guess if you play so fast your frets heat up its a good idea to have some cool ones handy.

3. With that extra 2 lbs of frets, do you need a counter weight for neck dive.

I have seen some pretty whacked out things lately but this is one for the books. I give him a +10 for the most likely to fail idea of the year.

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wow!

ok, at first I was thinkin... give 'em a chance. Maybe they have something to offer.

Then I saw the videos!?!?

again...wow!

Rarely do you hear somebody rattle on about something without saying anything!

Did he REALLY say that because the frets are bigger the "fat bit" of your finger doesn't touch the fretboard and that is why you get more sustain?! I'll say it again...wow!

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you know sometimes i get so consumed in a design i cant see all the flaws

this...is not the best thing i have ever seen in regards to guitar innovation

however...the sustain in your brain....really really should have not been added; but it did make for a good awkward laugh

but then again so did the deleted sex scene from crouching tiger hidden dragon

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Like I said before, I held the things in my hands. The design is stupid, and you have to modify your guitar to use them. When you could slap some stainless dunlop 6100's and practically have the same thing without hacking up your neck. They are made in the USofA though *rolls eyes*

http://www.myspace.com/jetfretzdemo hes on myspace! SUSTAIN IN YOUR BRAIN

Edited by factory5150
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Oh my god! :D:D

That is what spring to mind watching those videos!

With his retarded facial expressions as he plays he's obviously thinks he is Steve Vai MkII.

In terms of sustain - well I didn't hear anything extraordinary just very high level of distortion with a large amount of slap back reverb. His supposed sustain was more like feedback - any humbucker loaded guitar will do that with that amount of distortion especially as he was just hitting a pinch harmonic and pulling it out with the whammy.

As for fitting them . . . it certainly looks like a CNC only install.

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Notables from the Face book Page NAMM Link

16" Radius neck B)

Your technician can install them B)

fret tangs are so small :D

You can feel the sustain in your hands :D

Like a little speaker

Mazeritti (Maserati so I cant spell) of guitar frets

I hear the brain in my head say "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW he sold the idea too" ;)

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