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AcornHouse

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I had a Gibson ES-339 for about a week - bought at Guitar Center, so easy return. Love the size and feel of the guitar, but those "nibs" drove me crazy! I kept sliding off the high E string off the edge.

If anyone cares, here's a great article about them, how they are made, etc., and why they are not as popular as Gibson hoped:

https://hazeguitars.com/blog/the-great-big-gibson-fret-nib-debate

walrus
It was never about thinking they would be popular, its all about ease of manufacture. When fretting a bound neck the correct way, you need to grind off the tang where the frets will go over the bindings, which is a larger labor expense. The Gibson way is just cheaper to do, since they don't have to do any tang grinding. And, as the article say, they're a PITA if you have to refret them (or play on them.)
 

kakerlak

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walrus

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It was never about thinking they would be popular, its all about ease of manufacture. When fretting a bound neck the correct way, you need to grind off the tang where the frets will go over the bindings, which is a larger labor expense. The Gibson way is just cheaper to do, since they don't have to do any tang grinding. And, as the article say, they're a PITA if you have to refret them (or play on them.)

Thanks for that insight, Chris!

walrus
 

amnicon

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It was never about thinking they would be popular, its all about ease of manufacture. When fretting a bound neck the correct way, you need to grind off the tang where the frets will go over the bindings, which is a larger labor expense. The Gibson way is just cheaper to do, since they don't have to do any tang grinding. And, as the article say, they're a PITA if you have to refret them (or play on them.)

Forgive my luthier ignorance here. It seems in my uneducated mind that removing material in 20+places on both sides of the binding would also be labor intensive. Is it that much easier than removing the back sides of the frets?
 

AcornHouse

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Forgive my luthier ignorance here. It seems in my uneducated mind that removing material in 20+places on both sides of the binding would also be labor intensive. Is it that much easier than removing the back sides of the frets?
Yes, because it’s easy to automate removing plastic following the contour of the fingerboard and frets. They fret the fingerboard, using a long roll of fret wire, only making one cut per fret; sand down the fret ends flush, then glue on the binding and machine the binding down to the surface of the board and frets. It’s not a very skill dependent method.

To do it the correct way, each fret must be cut first to rough size, then the tangs are ground down with a file, Dremel, or cut with a nipper. Then the fret is hammered or pressed in over the already installed binding and cut flush, then beveled with a file. It’s a lot more skilled handwork.

By the way, that’s why stainless steel frets cost so much more. It’s so hard, that the tools to do all of the above don’t last too long.
 
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