Jet Fretz...WTF?

[Matt_B]

http://www.jetfretz.com/

I admire folks for coming up with new ideas but this seems like snake oil so some degree. I can understand how increasing the mass of the frets will affect the tone and sustain but I wouldn't want to carve up any of my necks to use these frets.

The creator states that Jet Frets will:
- Increase your sustain by 35%
- +/- 1 dB tonal balance across the neck. I find this amusing because that difference is so small it's unnoticeable.

I love when people attempt to attach actual numbers to tonal changes because tone is so subjective.

[dg]

"Nothing enhances your playing like extended sustain and Jet Fretz delivers that sustain unlike never before!"


:ROTF:

[m2pmd70]

Try my new Teflon-coated SlickFretz! You can fry eggs on 'em and they won't stick!

[Newc]

Saw these at NAMM a couple of years ago. The demo booth was tragically sad: there's the player using a Les Paul Standard with these JetFrets on it, through a TripleRec set for maximum saturation/gain, using EMG 81s, shredding.

Now, mass = sustain, true, but IMO they were seriously padding their claims by:
1) Using a solid mahogany guitar known worldwide for having massive sustain.
2) Running that guitar through a high-gain amp and 4x12 set up for sustain-enhancing gain.
3) Using high-gain active pickups which are designed to enhance sustain.
4) Not playing anything that required or showcased the sustain of either the guitar, the amp settings, the pickups, or the JetFrets.
5) Not having a side-by-side comparison of a non-JetFretted guitar with the same pickups through the same amp.

Seriously, she was ripping out Yngwie-style licks and not once did she do anything that put the "increased sustain" claim to the test.


Then again, the guy at the Sustainiac booth really wasn't faring any better: once he had to stop and explain that you have to mute the unwanted strings, and that single-notes worked better than chords, and then realized that moving from one fret to another was nearly identical to picking the string anew, he seemed to doubt the product.


Best one was the BigBend's NutSauce guy. He had this machine hooked up to an old Strat that would do a full-step bend of the high E string 1000 times a minute near the pickups (normal picking position), then stated "the vast majority of string-breakage occurs at the bridge.....". I took the long pause as a sign that he had just then realized - after years of selling this product - that he was selling NUT Sauce rather than SADDLE Soap.

[Luafcm]

Jet Fretz are the newest technology on the market!
Holy crap boys!

The dovetail base slides into a specially slotted fret board. :think:
Ruining your guitar for years to come!

They now come in radiuses!
For those of you who want to play your guitar once the upgrade is complete!

:ROTF:

[Spivonious]

http://www.jetfretz.com/

I admire folks for coming up with new ideas but this seems like snake oil so some degree. I can understand how increasing the mass of the frets will affect the tone and sustain but I wouldn't want to carve up any of my necks to use these frets.

The creator states that Jet Frets will:
- Increase your sustain by 35%
- +/- 1 dB tonal balance across the neck. I find this amusing because that difference is so small it's unnoticeable.

I love when people attempt to attach actual numbers to tonal changes because tone is so subjective.

It's been shown that the human ear cannot detect a volume difference of less than +/- 3 dB, so their claim of +/- 1 dB is totally bogus.

And I fail to see how adding mass to the frets would affect anything. All the fret does is create an "end" to the string.

[Axewielder]

So the fret slots require special routing? I'm going to pass on this.

[Matt_B]

It's been shown that the human ear cannot detect a volume difference of less than +/- 3 dB, so their claim of +/- 1 dB is totally bogus.

...which was precisely my point. They might be able to measure that difference electronically but the player will never be able to hear the difference.

[Danno]

[QUOTE=Spivonious;1324303]It's been shown that the human ear cannot detect a volume difference of less than +/- 3 dB, so their claim of +/- 1 dB is totally bogus.

Not to be argumentative, but I thought 1 dB represents the smallest change in volume that most people would recognize as a change in volume, which is why 1 dB is 1dB (meaning its the baseline volume measurement). Or maybe I'm off on this...

[Spivonious]

1 dB is simply "10 times the base-10 logarithm of the ratio of measured power to reference power" (wikipedia). It means nothing without a reference point. In this case I'm assuming the reference is the guitar sound before the new frets.

For example, a 100W amp putting out 20W would have a decibel measurement of about -70dB. (10 log (20/100)).

Now, for sound levels, the given "dB" measurement is actually dB(SPL). It's the sound pressure relative to 20 micropascals. This is where you get the "rock concert is 90dB" statistics.

Someone with very good hearing maybe could pick up the difference of 1 dB if they A-B'ed the two sounds a couple of times, but normally this amount is only detectable with sound measurement devices.

Normally 3dB is the first "easily detectable" difference for an adult with normal hearing.

The deciBel has nothing to do with human hearing capabilities.

Then you can get into recording (dBFS), where the reference level is set to the point of clipping. "Line level" is normally set to a value of around -18dBFS.

It can get pretty confusing.

[Ben...]

"Buy Jet Fretz! Be dissatisfied! Have an irreparable guitar neck! WOOOOOOO!!!!"

I'm not cutting what appears to be at least a half centimeter of material out from around the fret slots on any of my guitars thank you.

[Danno]

1 dB is simply "10 times the base-10 logarithm of the ratio of measured power to reference power" (wikipedia). It means nothing without a reference point. In this case I'm assuming the reference is the guitar sound before the new frets.

For example, a 100W amp putting out 20W would have a decibel measurement of about -70dB. (10 log (20/100)).

Now, for sound levels, the given "dB" measurement is actually dB(SPL). It's the sound pressure relative to 20 micropascals. This is where you get the "rock concert is 90dB" statistics.

Someone with very good hearing maybe could pick up the difference of 1 dB if they A-B'ed the two sounds a couple of times, but normally this amount is only detectable with sound measurement devices.

Normally 3dB is the first "easily detectable" difference for an adult with normal hearing.

The deciBel has nothing to do with human hearing capabilities.

Then you can get into recording (dBFS), where the reference level is set to the point of clipping. "Line level" is normally set to a value of around -18dBFS.

It can get pretty confusing.

I think you're right that I'm getting confused around SPL. Thanks for the corrections, Scott. Dan