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Location: Phoenix AZ | Can anyone educate me on the pros and cons of a zero fret? Thanks. |
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Location: Scotland | A nicely cut nut will wear out eventually, a zero-fret will not. Also, though this is pretty subtle, a zero fret can even out tonal diffences between fretted notes & open strings and can help eliminate unwanted resonance from behind the nut. The downside is that adjusting the action at the nut is a pain. Zero-frets were common on cheapo Italian & eastern-European guitars and even though they were used on decent European instruments such as Hagstrom & Hofner there is a stigma attached to them because they are perceived as a less skilfull way to manufacture. Consequently, zero-frets are rarely seen on US-made guitars |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | As expected, Professor T. (not to be confused with Mr. T.) comes through as the fount of knowledge. Although the term "nicely cut nut" does make me tense up a bit. |
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Location: SoCal | Doesn't Fender use zero frets? Chet Atkins was also a big proponent of them. |
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Location: Scotland | Gretsch were one of the few USA manufacturers to routinely install zero-frets. Can't recall seeing a Fender with a zero-fret |
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Location: Minden, Nebraska | Steinberger guitars have a Zero Fret. I don't know about Klein and other high end boutique guitars that are based upon Steinberger guitars. |
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Location: NJ | the zero fret basically means you don't have to be careful where you place the nut since that fret determines the scale length.
the current mojo is the buzz feiten system |
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Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Martin has a zero-fret; it's one of those signature models, the Martin Carthy 000-18MC. List price is $3,199.
My Hagstrom Super Swede electric has a zero-fret (although up here in the winter it becomes a sub-zero fret!). |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | they suck.
next question. |
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Location: SoCal | Duncan, how old is your Hagstrom? Are they still in business? I remember seeing ads for them in Guitar Player in the late 60's thru the 70's and that was it. |
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Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | It's a strange story. Apparently a bunch of these Hagstroms sat in a warehouse or something for years, until they were "discovered." A local store got hold of a few in the 1980's, and I grabbed one; my brother also bought one. I really like it; it's a heavy beast, but has great sustain. |
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Location: Scotland | Hagstrom are back in business, they relaunched at Frankfurt in March & at Summer Namm. A Jazz guitarist friend of mine has a couple of the 70's D'Aquisto-designed Hagstrom "Jimmy" guitars and they are very nice. Their Super Swede Les Paul style guitars were quite popular in Europe for a while. The Patch 2000 system which was available on certain Hagstrom models was one of the first reasonable guitar synths back in the mid-70's |
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Location: NJ | PT
I doubt if those hagstroms are swedes they are probably made in china |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | I remember back in the 80's watching the winter Olympics on TV at Helmut Schaller's house drinking wine with Karl Hagstrom. I think there was another Hagstrom brother and Rene, Helmut's son was there too. We solved all the world's problems that night. Don't remember who won the olympics though. |
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Location: Scotland | Originally posted by alpep:
PT
I doubt if those hagstroms are swedes they are probably made in china
Al, you're probably right. At the Shanghai show I saw Orange, HiWatt & Burns. All classic Brit gear from the 60's, with the bulk of their current production now coming out China.
http://www.hagstromguitars.com/ |
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Pros and cons of zero fret
