ES-339 frets

[Rich W]

The frets on my 339 are tall-skinny (.055 x .09). I measured them with digital calipers and they're close to the dimensions of Dunlop 6105s.

 

Gibson is advertising 339s on their website as having "medium jumbo" frets, which are wider and not as tall than 6105s.

 

Medium jumbos are more like .36 x .106 (cf. Dunlop 6130s).

 

Does anyone have true medium jumbos on their 339?

 

Maybe Gibson was using tall-skinny frets on 339s, but changed to medium jumbos very recently? I bought my 339 new about a year ago.

 

Or is what Gibson refers to as "medium jumbo" actually what other manufacturers and fret makers call tall-skinny?

[badbluesplayer]

My 339 has medium jumbo's. It's a 2007 model.

[CR9]

My 339 has medium jumbo's. It's a 2011 model. I had 2 out of the original first run of 339's that also had medium jumbos.

[Rich W]

I wish I had the medium jumbos too.

 

Tall skinny 6105-like frets like on my 339 are nice for some styles.

 

But I'm used to wider frets, and the skinny ones with flattish tops seem a bit speed-bumpy to me.

[guitarzan55]

And my 3/2011 ES-339 has medium jumbos as well.

[Rich W]

I think I've got it figured out now. Gibson is calling the tall-skinny (.055 x .09") frets on 339s (similar to Dunlop 6105 profile) MEDIUM JUMBO ... with medium referring to width (.09") and jumbo referring to height (.055").

 

Other fret wire manufacturers, suppliers like Stew-Mac, after-market replacement neck builders like Warmouth and US Guitars, and guitar builders like Fender use the term MEDIUM JUMBO to refer to wider frets (usually at least .1") of a more intermediate height (more like .04").

 

Different builders use different terminology. For years, Leo Fender insisted on referring to vibrato as tremolo, and some folks still call the vibrato arms on guitars the trem bar.