Question for Light: Stainless Steel Frets

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zaphod B
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Zaphod B

Zaphod B

Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
Hey, Light -

Based on one of your posts in another thread, I understand that stainless frets will add cost to a refretting job because they are difficult to work with.

Other than that, what are the pros and cons of stainless frets?

Thanks! :)
 
I'm not Light, but since I use stainless steel frets in my main guitar I figure I could share my experiences with them.
They did indeed cost more than standard frets when I had them put in. But for the amount of time they have lasted, the extra money was definitely worth it. I have already played on them alot more than I had the original frets and the wear is hardly noticable at all.

There is a little difference to the tone. It's not huge, but it's noticable. You'll have a little more bite and overall the sound will be a little brighter. It's not something you can't counteract somewhat with your settings and if you're like me you may even prefer it. I like what it does for my sound.
The number one pro for me is the feel. They are alot harder than standard frets, therefore vibrato and string bends are much smoother feeling. It has an almost slippery feel.

Now that I have used them I'm sure I'll always use them. There are no cons in my opinion, other than the price...and that's really no big deal if the playability is important to you.

By the way I got turned on to stainless frets by playing a Parker guitar that had them. If you've never felt stainless frets I recommend you go try one out if you get the chance. Those are great playing guitars.
 
Well, I'm dubious of any sound difference. I've heard a lot of people say stainless frets are a little brighter, but I haven't noticed it, and more importantly, the human ability to percive subtle differences in sound is very short (about 3 minutes), so I can't think of any ligitimate experiment to figure it out. I think that a lot of times what happens is that people bring in their guitar to be worked on, and when they get it back it has new strings on it, and they ascribe the brightness of new strings to the frets. But I could well be wrong. I haven't noticed a difference, at any rate.

The biggest reason for stainless frets is the wear issue. Stainless is significantly harder than the traditional 15-18% nickle-silver (which is made of nickle and tin, by the way, and contains no silver). This means it will last quite a long time. I would say you are going to get at lest ten times the life span out of stainless frets.

The other issue is the way they feel. A lot of people find that they feel a bit "slicker" than nickle-silver. I've never heard a single person complaign about this, and most of them like it a lot.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Metalhead and Light -

Thanks, guys, I appreciate it. :)

My old LP Special is way overdue for a re-fret, and it sounds as if stainless may be the way to go if my local shop will do it.
 
Light, I imagine you're right about the sound difference. For what it's worth, the reason I cite the sound difference is becasue I have 2 nearly identical Jackson guitars that I use to play live in different tunings. They always seemed to sound about the same, but now if I go from one to the other the stainless fretted guitar always seems noticably brighter to me. I probably wouldn't notice it if I just stuck to that one guitar.
It's safe to say that nobody has ever told me that my guitar sounded different...in fact it may be worth mentioning that most of the time when someone plays my guitar the only thing they say is "I've gotta get those frets put in!" :p
 
metalhead28 said:
Light, I imagine you're right about the sound difference. For what it's worth, the reason I cite the sound difference is becasue I have 2 nearly identical Jackson guitars that I use to play live in different tunings. They always seemed to sound about the same, but now if I go from one to the other the stainless fretted guitar always seems noticably brighter to me. I probably wouldn't notice it if I just stuck to that one guitar.
It's safe to say that nobody has ever told me that my guitar sounded different...in fact it may be worth mentioning that most of the time when someone plays my guitar the only thing they say is "I've gotta get those frets put in!" :p
Click to expand...


I'm afraid I've got a mixed reaction to stainless. I like the durability, and I like the idea of the playability, but I HATE WITH A VIRULANT PASSION working on them. They ruin tools, I always get blisters from cutting them, and I'm in even more pain than usual after doing a stainless fret job. The untrimed fret ends also always seem to bite me in the wrists. They are not too bad to dress, but that is at least partially because I'm always extremely careful with my fingerboard prep.

Oh, and it eats files for lunch. One fret dress on stainless, and a brand new file is all but useless.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
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Geez, Light. You're making me feel guilty for thinking about cursing some local guitar tech with a stainless refret job. :)

-C
 
Light said:
I'm afraid I've got a mixed reaction to stainless. I like the durability, and I like the idea of the playability, but I HATE WITH A VIRULANT PASSION working on them. They ruin tools, I always get blisters from cutting them, and I'm in even more pain than usual after doing a stainless fret job. The untrimed fret ends also always seem to bite me in the wrists. They are not too bad to dress, but that is at least partially because I'm always extremely careful with my fingerboard prep.

Oh, and it eats files for lunch. One fret dress on stainless, and a brand new file is all but useless.
Click to expand...
Wah, wah, wah!! :D

That's why you charge more money, right? :p
 
I gotta join in, stainless is a bastard of a material to work with, period. Whether you machine it, weld it or fabricate it.
 
Clive Hugh said:
I gotta join in, stainless is a bastard of a material to work with, period. Whether you machine it, weld it or fabricate it.
Click to expand...



BUT, when all is said and done, and everything is right, it sure makes a nice product.


And yes, that is why we charge extra for it. It's still a pain in the ass.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
On another board some years ago, before a stainless steel became readily available, I had somebody tell me that stainless steel frets shouldn't be so bad, because it's not that much harder than normal steel. The problem with this statement is twofold: first of all, normal frets are not stainless steel they are nickel silver, which is a very soft metal; second of all, he was so fucking wrong.


Light.

"Cowards can never be moral."
M. K. Gandhi
 
so that's Parker's secret!

I've always told people that they should try a Parker because it doen't feel like anything else, it's so slippery. I assumed it was some special process they did to the fretboard. Now I know why.

Is there any fretboard material that SS won't work in, or is particularly better with? I would think ebony and stainless would make a killer combo.
 
Cardioidpotent said:
I've always told people that they should try a Parker because it doen't feel like anything else, it's so slippery. I assumed it was some special process they did to the fretboard. Now I know why.

Is there any fretboard material that SS won't work in, or is particularly better with? I would think ebony and stainless would make a killer combo.
Click to expand...

I have a bound ebony board with stainless, so there you go ;)

:D
 
Cardioidpotent said:
I've always told people that they should try a Parker because it doen't feel like anything else, it's so slippery. I assumed it was some special process they did to the fretboard. Now I know why.

Is there any fretboard material that SS won't work in, or is particularly better with? I would think ebony and stainless would make a killer combo.
Click to expand...




They don't use frets, as such. Or, more acurately, their frets don't have tangs. They just glue the frets to the fingerboard (which is a composite material, if I remember correctly). They were one of the first companies to use stainless steel for frets, but I don't think thier necks fell much different from any other guitar which has stainless frets. The original guitars were light as shit, and were very cool (I almost bought one myself, which I never do). They did have one problem (at least in my mind): That bass side horn had a corner which dug into my sternum, which I would think would hurt if you played it for too long.

I don't actually like their fretting process, though, because you basically have to send the guitar back to the factory for any kind of fret work, and I've seen guys who had frets simply fall off of the guitars. Not many, and never more than one or two, but still...


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
OH, and there is no reason for it not to go into any kind of fingerboard with ease.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
OH, and there is no reason for it not to go into any kind of fingerboard with ease.
Click to expand...
You mean the tang of the fret?
 
Zaphod B said:
You mean the tang of the fret?
Click to expand...


Yeah. They go in just fine. The problems are MOSTLY with cutting the shit. But as long as the fingerboard prep is good, they go in pretty well. You want to make sure the fingerboard is in perfect shape, though, because dressing them takes forever.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gadnhi
 
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