I had a Stewart for a while. I believe that those low frets were standard for that time. EVO I think may mean a harder, less-wear fret wire. Myself I prefer the higher frets, medium range. I'd look at what you are comfortable with the other banjos and duplicate it. Let's see what the BHO Jury has to say further. banjered

Your Stewart was designed to have gut strings and be played in the "parlor" finger style. I would have nylon or nylgut strings on it, and wouldn't expect it to play like a modern banjo. If the frets are not worn, I wouldn't do anything.

A refret on an instrument of this vintage, if necessary, should be done by a pro, IMHO. Others might be more current then I am about cost.

Play it as it is. It will be good at some things; for other stuff play your Pisgah or Bacon.

On a banjo 140 years old, who knows how many times the frets were replaced or filed down. Just because there are no grooves at present doesnt mean the frets are in original condition. 
 

New frets are typically in the .039" - .043" region in height. The is about 1 mm.  When they get worn to about .030", that's when there is difficulty getting a good clear tone.  
 

If the frets are .020" or 0.5 mm, replacement is needed.  Definitely get someone who had worked on old instruments before. The fingerboard wood could be very fragile. 

Another thing to watch out for is 5th string spikes won't work if frets are too low.

For instance if 5th string spike is .012 with clearance needed and rairoad spikes aren't consistant. Mine mic out at around .016 and can vary quite a bit. Plus the clearance on top of spike. Getting close to .040 frets needed to eliminate buzzing.

Thanks for everyone's comments. If those low frets were standard on the Stewart, that would be one reason to keep them, though playability is ultimately the deciding factor. (At the risk of bringing down the flames, I replaced the stiff old friction tuners with geared Peghead tuners, and now I can actually play it in jam sessions.) As @John-Yerxa said, maybe my different banjos just get reserved for different tunes.

I do have railroad spikes in this banjo, and they've always worked fine. Maybe the banjo tech who installed them (at the old Fretted Instrument Workshop in Amherst, MA) was just really good at what he was doing.

Are they tang frets or bar?

The frets may not look worn, but are they level? First thing I'd do is check the whole board with a fret rocker. Unless they've been leveled quite recently, I bet you'll find at least a few spots that are off a few tenths of a thousandth. Make sure they're as level as you can get them, and decently crowned, before you start thinking of replacing any frets. Oh yeah, it's worth spending some time getting the action at the nut dead on, too.

I like the feel of low frets, but they sometimes need to be fingered closer to the fret than taller ones to note clearly. I play fretless banjo a lot, and fiddle, too, so I'm used to being picky about finger positioning, but it's worth putting some practice into in any case. With tall frets, you can get a clear note fingering right between the frets, but (with wire strings, especially light ones) that note is going to be a bit sharp. Maybe more than a bit, if like to mash those strings down hard.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Brett

Are they tang frets or bar?

---

Sorry, I don't know what those terms mean. (I know "tang" as part of a knife, but I'm struggling to apply that to frets.)

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dan Gellert

The frets may not look worn, but are they level? First thing I'd do is check the whole board with a fret rocker. Unless they've been leveled quite recently, I bet you'll find at least a few spots that are off a few tenths of a thousandth. Make sure they're as level as you can get them, and decently crowned, before you start thinking of replacing any frets. Oh yeah, it's worth spending some time getting the action at the nut dead on, too.

I like the feel of low frets, but they sometimes need to be fingered closer to the fret than taller ones to note clearly. I play fretless banjo a lot, and fiddle, too, so I'm used to being picky about finger positioning, but it's worth putting some practice into in any case. With tall frets, you can get a clear note fingering right between the frets, but (with wire strings, especially light ones) that note is going to be a bit sharp. Maybe more than a bit, if like to mash those strings down hard.

---

Thanks, Dan. Honored to get your reply!  I don't have a fret rocker or even know what that is. If leveling frets involves filing them down (I have no idea), that could explain why, after so many years, they would all be so low but so even, and maybe justify refretting. I take your point about finger positioning and have always tried to play as if I were playing a fretless, but I might be even better at that. One of these days, I'll actually get a fretless.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Diulin

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dan Gellert

The frets may not look worn, but are they level? First thing I'd do is check the whole board with a fret rocker. Unless they've been leveled quite recently, I bet you'll find at least a few spots that are off a few tenths of a thousandth. Make sure they're as level as you can get them, and decently crowned, before you start thinking of replacing any frets. Oh yeah, it's worth spending some time getting the action at the nut dead on, too.

I like the feel of low frets, but they sometimes need to be fingered closer to the fret than taller ones to note clearly. I play fretless banjo a lot, and fiddle, too, so I'm used to being picky about finger positioning, but it's worth putting some practice into in any case. With tall frets, you can get a clear note fingering right between the frets, but (with wire strings, especially light ones) that note is going to be a bit sharp. Maybe more than a bit, if like to mash those strings down hard.

---

Thanks, Dan. Honored to get your reply!  I don't have a fret rocker or even know what that is. If leveling frets involves filing them down (I have no idea), that could explain why, after so many years, they would all be so low but so even, and maybe justify refretting. I take your point about finger positioning and have always tried to play as if I were playing a fretless, but I might be even better at that. One of these days, I'll actually get a fretless.

---

They did use smaller fretwire on banjos back in the day, so they were probably lower than you're used to when new.  

If you've never done any fret work yourself, take that banjo to someone who has.  Leveling and recrowning is something every fretted instrument needs once in a while.  You'd be surprised at how little metal gets taken off (unless the frets are badly damaged)-- even skinny little frets can handle the process several times. 

You should also look up fret leveling on YouTube, whether or not you're interested in learning how to do it. Whatever you can learn about how your instrument works can only be good for your playing.