Talking steel-string only here and curious if the high frets make a major difference in note clarity and volume? I plan to acquire one or the other in the coming year and I do want to be able to play up the neck. My time with a fully fretess Nylgut banjo has convinced me that I will need to "cheat" a bit going up the neck, so there will be markers or frets. I like the idea of flush fret but I will probably not be playing on fingertips/nail edge and may need those frets for clarity.
Just curious if anyone had dealt with similar issues and what worked best for you?
And related questions, on a half-fret, how is the transition from fretless to fretted, is there a slope or bump? Can you slide smoothly into that fret? And, at which fret is your transition and do you ever wish it were at a higher or lower fret? I feel like I really need a clear fifth fret first string and was wondering if a four-fret-space fretless was enough fretless space, for lack of a better term! I see some going up the seventh. These are not exactly common in stores so just looking for some real-world feedback here.
