You say “jumbo” vs. “thinner” - in my experience, height is what matters. Some Jumbo frets are wide but lower, for fast action. If the LP frets are higher, that could be your issue.
The other issue could be related to what Ranger Jeff says. If you are playing the LP with a shorter scale, the feel is a bit “slinkier” vs. a longer Fender scale. Bends are a bit easier for instance. If you are “playing with force” and are gripping harder with your fret hand, you could be “smearing” the strings a bit - pulling them out of place but not noticing because you are focused on playing.
It is something new players face with cowboy chords simply because their fingers don’t hold their place in a chord form quite yet, so they are yanking the strings out of tune. Could you be doing the same thing? Per scabpicker, a heavier gauge string might help…
So I think you guys might be onto something with the scale length. My LP Special clone does the same thing, something I’d never noticed before. Both guitars are strung with 10s (all my guitars sport 10s, except my Strat which has bridge-cable 12s), which I wouldn’t call all that light, just normal strings. I have no way to measure fret height, but just running my nail on the LP’s fret and comparing with my Tele the same way, the fret heights seem very very similar.
I think nut height is also involved, as the problem is worse closer to the nut. You have to press mighty hard at the 12th to get a bend, but on the 5th you can make it happen pretty easily. Of course, at the 1st fret you can easily get a bend if you press slightly too hard, but every guitar does that.
In any case, it’s not a horrid issue, just something I have to be aware of when playing that guitar, and compensating is not difficult. Besides, over-pressing on the fretboard is poor technique, so it’s actually good to have a reason to not do so.
I like them medium - not too thin and not big honkin jumbo’s either. More importantly I want them crowned correctly with a narrow crown. I hate jumbos with big flat tops - I am a sloppy player on my best days; that type of fret adds to that.
The minute I posted that, I asked myself why that was. Lemme think about it. I think part of it is that the intonate over a broader piece of metal so have a bit more slop in how they nail pitch. I have the amount of slop my playing can withstand built in already.
Slide is a blast, glad you’re enjoying it. Is he teaching you slide in standard tuning or some other? I’m guessing the latter, since you mentioned tuning in the first place.
Personally, I prefer wide, low frets. They don’t sound any different to me, they just feel right. However, I’m not particular enough to pick up another guitar over the frets.
I love slide playing. Are they starting you on open D or G? What finger are you putting the slide on?
ETA: Oh D, cool. That’s the one I started out with. If/when you go to open G, you can play the same riffs one string higher in pitch.
ETA2: And there’s no such thing as a “proper” slide, when it comes to metal slides. Even Johnny Winter used a piece of pipe cut from drum hardware.
The frets on my '99 Gibson LPC (low, medium-wide) feel normal to me, especially when paired with the ebony fretboard. Mostly because that’s been my #1 guitar for 12+ years now. It feels fast, but substantial. I string it with 10-52s, a little thicker than factory spec, because I like my guitar to fight me just a little.
By comparison, the frets on my '13 AmStd Tele feel like…I dunno, driving a sports car. Big shiny medium-jumbo frets, against a high gloss fretboard (and matte neck), along with the 9.5" radius, feel simultaneously fast and comfortable.
Can you help me find these picks? I have a pick that I really like and I can’t remember where I got it. I ordered a dozen from Sweetwater but they turned out to be much larger than I thought, standard 351 shape (package shown in photo). I am still trying to find these smaller versions, the one on the right.
WordMan, I have a few Dunlop Jazz III picks but I like the Fender better. Something about the material. BTW I was up the coast last month and bought an Eastman AR910CE from Jazz ‘n’ Guitars in Summit, N.J. I don’t know if that’s anywhere close to where you are.
Squeegee, that’s it. I ordered some from Sam Ash, $6 a dozen. Thank you!
Blonde. I am really impressed with the workmanship at this price point ($2839). *Much *better build than the Hofner New President I bought about 10 years ago for $2K.
Here is a video I did on Christmas day: The Christmas Song - YouTube BTW I don’t have a rig set up for high quality sound recording, just the built-in mic on my camera, but you may get some idea.
