24 frets

[rob_on_guitar]

Well I like to harmonize my recording a lot, 24 frets makes life a whole fuck load easy.

Also the extra space is a lot more forgiving on my clumsy mutant fingers, and things just seem easier like a woman who is weak and drunk at a funeral.

Who the fuck puts mutants, womans, fingers, funerals and drunk in the same sentence? sheesh....anyways...

I didn't like the 24 frets on my Jackson.... but do on the ESP... the Jackson had tiny little midget frets at the top, was kinda like Poison, it looked wrong... but sounded worse.

[Terexgeek]

Anytime you're in Wellington!

Consider it a deal.

[Jenesis]

easier like a woman who is weak and drunk at a funeral.

I thought I was the only one who met women that way.

[Cdog]

Well I like to harmonize my recording a lot, 24 frets makes life a whole fuck load easy.

Also the extra space is a lot more forgiving on my clumsy mutant fingers, and things just seem easier like a woman who is weak and drunk at a funeral.

Who the fuck puts mutants, womans, fingers, funerals and drunk in the same sentence? sheesh....anyways...

I didn't like the 24 frets on my Jackson.... but do on the ESP... the Jackson had tiny little midget frets at the top, was kinda like Poison, it looked wrong... but sounded worse.

'scuse me I lol'd
shot rob

[bender]

I can't say I've seen a single 24 fret guitar that appeals to me but that's just availability. I'm not fundamentally against the idea but I have no use for them. If it made the neck pickup sound worse (even just a little) that'd be a deal breaker though. Also, I like to do neck bends so a stiffer neck would be a bit of a drag.

[Some Bozo]

This thing against upper frets seems to be specific to guitars. Mandolins often come with completely nutso fretboard extensions and no-one bats an eyelid.

[rob_on_guitar]

I reckon if you do the 24 fret thing or more, at least make them playable.

[bender]

This thing against upper frets seems to be specific to guitars. Mandolins often come with completely nutso fretboard extensions and no-one bats an eyelid.

Not to mention the fact that it's often only half a fretboard...

[ash]

If it made the neck pickup sound worse (even just a little) that'd be a deal breaker though.

The thing is it's not worse, just different. Perhaps less creamy, but also less likely to be muddy. A matter of taste really, but unless you did a back-to-back comparison in the manner HG describes, you'd never know whether it was pickup placement or the many differences apparent in a different guitar design.

This thing against upper frets seems to be specific to guitars. Mandolins often come with completely nutso fretboard extensions and no-one bats an eyelid.

Yes, it usually ends up being "I like Les Pauls and Les Pauls have 22, so I like 22", which isn't really the point of the question.

I'd like to hear an honest explanation from Paul Reed Smith as to why they introduced a 22 fret version. He'd come up with a bollocks answer (and I'm pretty sure I've read his marketing approved answer somewhere), but I bet the truth is that traditionalists refused to be seen with the 24 fret version.

I'd also like to know why Leo Fender stopped at 21 when 22 was perfectly viable without changing anything else. I think Rickenbacker made plenty of 24 fret models back in the good old days and even Gibson did 24 "fret" lap steels.

[dc]

15 is plenty for these fat fingers

[bender]

If it made the neck pickup sound worse (even just a little) that'd be a deal breaker though.

The thing is it's not worse, just different. Perhaps less creamy, but also less likely to be muddy. A matter of taste really, but unless you did a back-to-back comparison in the manner HG describes, you'd never know whether it was pickup placement or the many differences apparent in a different guitar design.

Let me rephrase that- I use the neck pickup about 80% of the time because I love the way it sounds. If the neck position on a 24fret guitar doesn't deliver that same sound, then I'm not interested unless I like the alternative more or the difference is negligible enough not to matter. Other than that and the neck stiffness thing I'm totally not opposed to the idea of a 24fret neck but it's hardly going to be a selling point to me given that I never play higher than about the 17th. The bogan cred and extra dots thing means nothing to me at all- the bogan cred thing is more to do with the kind of guitars that have 24fret necks than the number itself.

[Tsuken]

22 for me. However, I would like at least two octaves up the fretboard. So why do I say 22? Two simple reasons: first, my fat stumpy fingers can barely fit in the 22nd fret space on a 25 1/2" scale guitar; second, getting that short an effective string length starts sounding really thin and strangled.

That's why I stuck with 22 on my Ash, even though I do like being able to get the high high e. for me, going from 21 to 22 frets was a muuuuch bigger deal.

[SixGunLover]

In an ideal world, I'd take 24 frets just for the extra options and because I like that subtle change in neck pickup tones (plus I have skinny guitar pickin' fingers), but 22 frets wouldn't put me off either - in fact, almost all the guitars I've owned were 22 frets.

I also agree it's much more annoying with 21 vs. 22 - my Tele has 21 and it can be a pain when doing ridiculous high end solos in E, say.

I suppose most of us have read this article on this issue:
http://www.edroman.com/techarticles/22vs24.htm

What's everyone's thoughts? I don't feel qualified to comment either way (and I feel Ed Roman is a bit of a dick) but would love to hear the opinions of our resident technical experts/luthiers.

[Hot_Grits]

If it made the neck pickup sound worse (even just a little) that'd be a deal breaker though.

The thing is it's not worse, just different. Perhaps less creamy, but also less likely to be muddy. A matter of taste really, but unless you did a back-to-back comparison in the manner HG describes, you'd never know whether it was pickup placement or the many differences apparent in a different guitar design.

Yeah, it is just different.

I've found that for me humbuckers take to the neck position of a 24 fret guitar better than single coils. Perhaps the wider string-sensing area helps pick up a sweet spot, or perhaps sometimes the neck-ward coil is closer to the position of a single on a 22 fretter.

In the past I have moved pickups around and listened to the sound change: a case of reading about Ed doing it and following suit. It's an interesting experiment.

I do know that I find the sounds of single coils in the middle and neck position of 24 fretters quite distinctive. I'm not as sure about neck humbuckers but I've often felt that the neck pickup positioning on Doublecut LP specials sounds a bit weird.

[Rog]

22 for me. However, I would like at least two octaves up the fretboard. So why do I say 22? Two simple reasons: first, my fat stumpy fingers can barely fit in the 22nd fret space on a 25 1/2" scale guitar; second, getting that short an effective string length starts sounding really thin and strangled.

That's why I stuck with 22 on my Ash, even though I do like being able to get the high high e. for me, going from 21 to 22 frets was a muuuuch bigger deal.

Of all the responses, yours surprised me the most. With your talent and the musical genre you appear to prefer, I expected 29 frets minimum.