Did Gibson use cryogenically treated frets recently?

[ICTGoober]

As I remember, the fingerboard was carbon fiber....... Which, as it turns out - does wear out.

[Hsb]

That is exactly the one I was thinking of. Thats about the closest thing I can think of to innovations in frets

Ok sorry for thread highjacking back to regularly scheduled program

[Mincer]

Never had a chance to play one, but it was a cool idea. I don't know how they handled 'wear' since the fret was part of the fretboard. You can sort of see it in this pic.

[Hsb]

Yes thats it, thanks Goober

[ICTGoober]

Wasnt there a guitar company that made a fretboard that the frets were a molded part of the board? Each fret was kinda like a little triangle where the peak of the triangle was the fret.

Yes - the Bond. Back in the 80's.

[Hsb]

Now that I think about it, other than materials, there hasn't been a huge advancement in fret design for years. However, I think in the 70s there were experiments with triangular frets and sawtooth frets as well.

Wasnt there a guitar company that made a fretboard that the frets were a molded part of the board? Each fret was kinda like a little triangle where the peak of the triangle was the fret.

[Mincer]

Now that I think about it, other than materials, there hasn't been a huge advancement in fret design for years. However, I think in the 70s there were experiments with triangular frets and sawtooth frets as well.

[VinceT]

Someone suggested depleted uranium which would be heavy as hell, but resists heavy artillery.

60-cycle hum ALL the time - and who needs LED fret markers anyway?


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[ICTGoober]

Most repair guys would think the cryo frets are uncool.... because fret levels and refrets are money in the bank....

[Ewizard]

I am in the camp of using a harder fret that pasts longer. 95% of guitars perhaps never get refretted and if they do, it is only done once, and generally only for repair. There is only a small percentage of guitarists neurotic enough to want to reduce the thickness of a perfectly good fret, but they do exist. I own three guitars that could probably use a refret, but apparently, the low and invisible fret is a thing I was not aware of? I don't particularly care for low frets, but I will live with whatever I am handed. I prefer medium jumbo frets with a very small flat spot on the top, not ever totally rounded. Why do you ask? Well, I am a string bender and found with perfectly crowned frets, that I quickly develop a flat spot anyway on the strings I bend most often. This obviously creates an uneven fret landing where it transitions between round and flattened. I found with a slightly flattened top ( all the way across ) the increased surface area resists wear a little longer before it gets too flat.

I have had some weird requests over the years repairing guitars, but I guess I have not come across the guy that wants to spend lots of money to make their perfectly fine frets be flatter and lower.

I feel that using a harder fret such as Cryo treated frets of simply Stainless just makes a guitar that once you get it where you want it ( based on the frets original profile ), it just lasts longer and you may never truly need a refret. You only get a couple or few refrets, before the neck is at risk of needing much more involved work or other tricky solutions to retain the frets securely. So I try and build guitars to need that job ONCE, when it was built.

[alex1fly]

Someone suggested depleted uranium which would be heavy as hell, but resists heavy artillery.

.

[ICTGoober]

Could you really make cast iron frets?

We put a man on the moon didn't we? No one would want them, so why bother?

[Erlend_G]

Could you really make cast iron frets?

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Silver please hehe.

[Mincer]

You have suggestions, Dave? Got your engineering degree handy?

Don't say titanium - it's strong and light, but not easy to form. Good wear resistance? Believe it or not - cast iron is tough as hell. You want exotics like Inconel or Waspalloy? High dollar. Someone suggested depleted uranium which would be heavy as hell, but resists heavy artillery.

I'm making fun of you, Dave. There's a reason nickel silver has been used almost 100 years. It works.

Nothing that exotic. Just stainless steel.

[Demanic]

Could you really make cast iron frets?

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