Refret time. What frets for this Strat?

6230 is the dunlop number associated with "vintage" frets. 6105 is a bigger fret - not too wide, but really tall.

How much time did you get out of the original frets? If you got 20 years out of them, then refretting with the same ones might be fine. If you want a big fret, go for a big fret.

The radius in itself won't have any bearing on what fret wire you can use, you can put any fret into any FB radius you want.

If you want to leave as much vintage vibe as possible but want some extra height, the Stew Mac #155 wire is great. Think the height of a medium jumbo/jumbo wire, but vintage width. They feel great, they don't turn the guitar into a "modern" guitar. I've done this on vintage and vintage style guitars many times and it always goes well - the customers who are worried about a bigger fret killing the vibe/tone are always very happy. It has a small tang, so it goes in easily into vintage guitars that might have a very skinny fingerboard, though that shouldn't be an issue for you.

The #152 is a funny goldilocks wire - never stands out as big or small. It is just sort of... there. I put it in acoustics when someone wants something a bit bigger, and they never feel like they've been fretted like an electric. The #154 is what I like for the "medium jumbo".... a bit narrower and a bit taller than the typical 6150, which is usually what is called "medium jumbo".

www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/materials/fretwire/

Stew Mac sizing is really different from other brands, which is part of why I love using them. Getting good in between sizes is really hard in other brands, even though other brands are arguably better made. A lot of my customers get nervous asking about fret sizes, because often the options can seem like either vintage or railroad tracks with no points in between.

The #152 (which I called goldilocks) is .092"x.048"... so, wider than vintage, but narrower than most anything else we'd call "medium". To compare, 6105s are only .094" wide, but that can get confusing because there are a LOT of frets out there people THINK are 6105 but aren't, so a person's frame of reference can be off when they ask for 6105. They aren't tiny, but you still hear/feel some fingerboard in there. The #155 is .080"x".050"... the width is at the top end of the range to be considered "vintage" (usually the high 70s), but at .050" tall, it is pushing "jumbo" status. They kinda feel like a vintage fret that you can get your fingers under for bending. At quick glance they seem like a vintage fret that is just a bit abnormally tall - they don't look weird at all.

Fret sizes can seem different depending on whether there is a FB finish or not, and factory fret dresses can sometimes be pretty aggressive. Other times, there are just weird perception issues I can't figure out. I have the stainless #152 that I SWEAR is smaller than the regular one when I put it in, but my calipers say they're the same.

Great information guys. Gives me a lot to look into. I really appreciate it.

It looks a little strange because we're used to seeing big frets on flat boards and narrow frets on round boards, but it works fine.  And yeah, letting you hit the centers of the frets pretty hard with a block is a nice advantage of a bigger fret.  I generally don't flatten boards too much during a refret because you run the risk of changing the sound, but I will give those fret centers some extra love if I have enough material to work with.  

If you're in 6150 territory, check the StewMac #154.... .100"x.050", so a bit narrower and a bit taller than 6150.  

That reminds me of the one and only time I pulled out giant frets to put in vintage frets. A guy bought a CS Tele, but was too used to little frets and was pulling it out of tune. It definitely gave it a different sound, and to my ears you "hear" the fingerboard more with smaller/lower frets. It was an interesting experiment, because refrets happen in that direction so rarely. It was a pretty big jump, too. I don't remember what frets were in there, but Fender Custom Shop sometimes does Dunlop 6100s or 6000s and it might have been those.

Thanks for the input all. I've decided to go with Jescar Nickel Silver FW47095 Electric Medium Pre-radiused. Billed as "Vintage Medium", just slightly taller and wider than the stock vintage. I really just want a slightly wider fret, not really tall, so I think this will suit me. We'll see what happens.

Let us know your thoughts after they're installed!

Wandering on with this topic...

I've gravitated to a bit of a hybrid fret profile lately. I've been ordering necks with Warmoth's (Jescar) 6115 wire.

warmoth.com/guitar-neck-fret-options

It's a SS offering that is, essentially, a peaked version of medium Jumbo. I really like the way these frets set up and play.

I've been on the SS kick for a while now. Harder to work on, for sure. But I love the durability.