UPDATED 8/26/19 – I recently did a neck reset on a very early 1971 FG-230 12 string with .028″ frets. I’ve updated the table to reflect what fret wire I used.
With every neck reset I’ve done I’ve measured various dimensions of the 15th fret, which were removed to be able to inject steam into the neck joint to remove the neck. They were all the same until I removed the 15th fret from a 1969 FG-230. It had a much wider tang (the part that is driven into the slot in the fretboard). .028” wide vs. .018”. Since it was the first FG-230 I has seen I thought maybe the heavier FG-230 neck got heavier tang frets. Until I did a neck reset on a 1970 FG-180, which had the same .028” tang frets.
The width of the fret tang may not seem to be a big deal. But it is if you need to replace a few badly worn frets, or do a complete refret. In some cases it’s very difficult to get the 15th fret back in after the neck reset. There’s nothing to hold onto to keep it straight while hammering. Holding it with pliers can damage it. It’s sometimes easier to cut a new longer piece of fretwire and hold it with pliers while hammering it in. It’s more work to trim, file, level, crown, and polish a new fret. But it’s even more work to fix the chips in the fretboard when the old fret keeps falling over while trying to hold it straight with your fingers.
After finding Yamaha used 2 different fret sizes I realized neither of them had a modern equivalent! Modern frets have .020” wide tangs. While .002” is slightly less than the thickness of a human hair, it’s still an interference fit. .002” x 21 frets = .042”, which will cause the neck to back bow if doing a full refret. I also found the fret slot wasn’t actually .018”, checked with feeler gages, they were more like .016”. I had to use feeler gages in .001” steps to force the slot open to .020” to be able to get the 15th fret back in.
Then I found fret manufacturer’s recommend using a .023” fret saw for installing .020” tang frets. That way the fret isn’t putting pressure on the slot, the tang studs hold it in.
A .024” tang fret fits into the slot for a .028” fret without any interference. For the (1) FG-230 I did a full refret on, I elected to use water thin super glue to glue the frets in, just in case.
As usual, curiosity got the best of me and I attempted to contact everyone who’s contacted me to see what with tangs their guitars have, including a PDF template of both tang sizes to compare to theirs. Nearly half the people responded but unfortunately not all understood what I was looking for. And in some cases the lacquer on the neck partially fills the end of the fret slot, making it unclear what the actual tang width is.
I did get enough data to determine that the .028” width tangs were used starting January 1969, and they probably used up the last of them in the first month or 2 in 1971. Why, we’ll probably never know. Whatever the reason, the change must not have had the desired result and they went back to the .018” tang frets. Adding another mystery to the Yamaha legacy.
I’ve spent a “few” hours looking for vintage Yamaha FG replacement frets. There are far more fret options than I imagined. Quite a few for the standard .018” frets, but very few for the .028” frets.
Like my Neck Reset guide, the following table won’t be of any interest to 99% of vintage Yamaha FG owners, but will be valuable to anyone who needs to replace some or all of the frets on their FG and doesn’t want any surprises.
The more I research Yamaha FG’s, the more little surprises I find. Many of them will remain a mystery due to the language barrier and information being not recorded or lost in the last 50 years.
If you have any comments or questions feel free to contact me in the forum or email to YamahaVintageFG@gmail.com.
PDF version of the table below. Vintage Yamaha FG Fret Specifications and Replacement Options
