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I made the trip up to Elderly Instruments in Lansing, Mi today to play the '66 Ventures that they have had for some time. I have played several other Mos, but this was the first one with the original speed frets. I have to say that it was a life changing experience. I couldn't believe how much I loved them. My RC Allen has little frets which I had thought were close, but not quite as low. I will be taking it to the luthier to have them lowered for sure now!
So how many others really like them?
BTW- the guitar is OK, but not worth what they're asking IMO.

I love the speed frets. I play #9 boomers on mine. It took about a 6 mo. for me to get the speed fret/slim neck thing to work for me. Now I can see why Semie made them like that, it is so easy to make runs and bends. I never have understood why you would put 11's or 12's on a Mosrite.

brutus wrote:I love the speed frets. I play #9 boomers on mine. It took about a 6 mo. for me to get the speed fret/slim neck thing to work for me. Now I can see why Semie made them like that, it is so easy to make runs and bends. I never have understood why you would put 11's or 12's on a Mosrite.

....one word......"AGREED" .....
p.s. I DO have some Mo's that were upgraded with 'medium jumbo' frets along with Mosrite Humbuckers and they will kill a GxxxxN,
PxxL RxxD SxxxH, etc, or any other guitar with that type of set up, but I still like the 'Speed Frets' as well ...................

I love the speed frets, and I like the slim neck too. Not that I'll ever be able to play like Nokie, but with the Mosrite and light strings I'm able to get a little bit closer.

The speed frets took some getting used to for me. I had to learn to use light gauge strings, .010 for me. Now I understand Nokie's attraction to Mosrite, playability, tone, comfort, style.

Dennisthe Menace wrote:

brutus wrote:I love the speed frets. I play #9 boomers on mine. It took about a 6 mo. for me to get the speed fret/slim neck thing to work for me. Now I can see why Semie made them like that, it is so easy to make runs and bends. I never have understood why you would put 11's or 12's on a Mosrite.

....one word......"AGREED" .....
p.s. I DO have some Mo's that were upgraded with 'medium jumbo' frets along with Mosrite Humbuckers and they will kill a GxxxxN,
PxxL RxxD SxxxH, etc, or any other guitar with that type of set up, but I still like the 'Speed Frets' as well ...................

Scratching out those names! When I go looking for one I definitely have to get a vintage one now, I was going to put .9s on it anyway but now I absolutely know I need 'em.

Hey--

After reading on this forum about the speed frets, I had a chance for the first time today to play guitars so equipped.

I LOVE THEM!!!

It was a totally different feel than I expected and I can imagine that they would be a lot of work to create. The three guitars were an early Ventures-model solidbody and two Celebrities; one with a set neck and one with a bolt-on neck. The strings were 9s, I believe, on all three guitars.

They belong to a respected guitar builder who I won't name here, and that way his insurance won't go sky high.

Anyway, I am wondering if something similar could be done to a modern-day guitar with good results. I could see that on these Mosrites the original fret wire was very thin, and I suspect that thin a wire might be hard to come by. So what if, say, you just filed the existing frets very low on, say, a Fender or Hallmark guitar?

Also, the genius to whom these guitars belong said that speed frets were for those with a very light touch, and that is true of my style. So maybe that is why I instantly fell in love with them.

Take care--

--Jim

JimPage wrote:After reading on this forum about the speed frets, I had a chance for the first time today to play guitars so equipped...//...I can imagine that they would be a lot of work to create.
Anyway, I am wondering if something similar could be done to a modern-day guitar with good results...//...So what if, say, you just filed the existing frets very low on, say, a Fender or Hallmark guitar?

Hey Jim, I once sanded down the medium jumbo frets on my early nineties American Standard Fender Strat which I bought brand new and it was definitely an improvement and worked well for me but it wasn't the real thing though. I never liked the sound of the pups and 'Delta-Tone' feature and sold it off...

Interestingly the '72/73 Fender USA Strat that I used to own (my son's now) has what seems to be Fender speed frets on it (was like that when I bought it new in 1973!)

No surprise that the two Strats I currently own have VINTAGE frets on both of 'em

I am fairly new at understanding all of the complexities of the Mosrite models. So, forgive me if my questions sounds silly. But, how do you tell if you have speed frets? My 1966 Celebrity has a thin neck and the frets seem small to me. I know they are smaller than any of my Gretches or other guitars. And I know they are lower as well. This guitar is so much easier for me to play than any other guitar that I've ever played in the past. I am not sure if I have speed frets or not, but I love it nonetheless!

Hey, Sarah--

Sounds like you have the speed frets to me. They are thin, front to back, and low in height, and the tops are flatter than other frets I have seen. They almost look like filed-down mandolin frets.

I have a 1953 0-18 Martin acoustic with thin frets but they aren't filed or sanded as flat as the Mosrite speed frets seem to be.

Hope that helps; I am certainly no Mosrite expert, but am enjoying this Forum and the learning experience--

--Jim