Stainless frets

Got them on my Parker there is nothing not to love. I never have to be concerned about wear they are set it and forget it. Those frets will outlive me.
 
I have plenty of experience with playing on them, though I haven't actually done any of my own fretwork on them.

I always order necks with them now (unless the neck is pre-made), and I will always choose them for re-frets, except perhaps on certain "vintage" instruments on which I want to retain fully original specs.

No real-world tonal difference and no appreciable difference in feel IMO. They have the great benefit of making future fret levels and re-frets a very rare thing.

Any time you can install something that makes no real-world difference in the tone or playability of the instrument, and prevents future heavily invasive surgeries from having to be done, it's a good thing.
 
Last edited:
I think we will see more and more stock instruments come with them. There are lots of upsides, and it will be a selling point.
 
I only buy guitars and basses with SS frets now. I have been playing on them for over a decade now. I love things that last and I am a bit rough on frets. I have a bass without them and yikes it needs work. I have a guitar without them and it needs some fret work after 13 years. My SS frets look like they are still new! So, yeah, I am a believer...
 
I have 1 guitar with stainless steel frets and they're the best. Super easy to bend strings on them and they don't wear out. Highly recommended.
 
If I have the option for stainless, I choose it. First experience was on a Parker and I immediately wondered why that wasn't the standard 20 years ago. Every Warmoth neck I order has them.

Today, it warms my heart to see that they are becoming somewhat commonplace and even "budget" guitars are being introduced with them.

Absolutely no downsides aside from the installation standpoint. There's even a company in Texas that specializes in stainless refrets...they don't even bother with nickel-silver anymore!
 
Yeah, we should have been adopting them on everything 20 years ago. Guitar companies are pretty slow to adapt to new things, unless they are forced (like finding alternative woods because the ones they use aren't around anymore).
 
Yep like Richlite. I think if more people played Richlite necks more people would adopt the material. I absolutely prefer it and I can feel a difference now when I am playing rosewood or ebony.
 
Securb said:
Yep like Richlite. I think if more people played Richlite necks more people would adopt the material. I absolutely prefer it and I can feel a difference now when I am playing rosewood or ebony.
Click to expand...

My Godin has a Richlite fingerboard. I dig it.
 
I custom ordered a bass neck with Richlite, white binding, and no inlays. It's basically Bakelite/Garolite – phenolic sheet, just like the early Telecaster/Esquire/P-Bass guards. I plan on using a Garolite guard on the bass, and gloss coating both the guard and the board. It will look fantastic. It feels great too. I feared what will happen on this material during re-frets...which is why I ordered the neck with stainless 6230s.

Also, my 2018 Les Paul Classic Player Plus has a Richlite board. It gave me a highly desirable set of features that I want in a Les Paul: P90s, WHITE binding (not cream), vintage sunburst finish with an intense yellow in the middle, only mild flame, and a black fretboard. The Richlite looks and feels great. I don't care that it's not ebony. The fact that this set of specs was put together by Henry J's Gibson still astounds me. I'm not going to split hairs about ebony vs. phenolic, as long as it's black.

There are other cases in which I would spec ebony for a build. But I am not against either of these materials.

Here's the Classic Player Plus (not mine, but the same model):

ns2g5mznrn0f5baofpxl.jpg - Click image for larger version Name: ns2g5mznrn0f5baofpxl.jpg Views: 0 Size: 62.9 KB ID: 6018330
 
Last edited:
I will only use ss frets. I ain't spending 12 hours of free time doing a fret job on nickel frets only to have them hacked into with visible divits after a week lol! Ss don't wear at all and they also have a smoother feel when bending. I do notice a brighter tone tho.
 
At this point, I think all my guitars have SS frets. I see no downsides. Most will probably not need a fret dress in my lifetime given how often I play them... :(
 
ItsaBass said:
I custom ordered a bass neck with Richlite, white binding, and no inlays. It's basically Bakelite/Garolite – phenolic sheet, just like the early Telecaster/Esquire/P-Bass guards. I plan on using a Garolite guard on the bass, and gloss coating both the guard and the board. It will look fantastic. It feels great too. I feared what will happen on this material during re-frets...which is why I ordered the neck with stainless 6230s.

Also, my 2018 Les Paul Classic Player Plus has a Richlite board. It gave me a highly desirable set of features that I want in a Les Paul: P90s, WHITE binding (not cream), vintage sunburst finish with an intense yellow in the middle, only mild flame, and a black fretboard. The Richlite looks and feels great. I don't care that it's not ebony. The fact that this set of specs was put together by Henry J's Gibson still astounds me. I'm not going to split hairs about ebony vs. phenolic, as long as it's black.

There are other cases in which I would spec ebony for a build. But I am not against either of these materials.

Here's the Classic Player Plus (not mine, but the same model):

Click to expand...

I am a fan of Richlite, too. So far, I've only seen black on guitars, but that stuff can really be any other color. I'd love to see a guitar with a red or purple fingerboard, too.
 
I have them on one guitar. I do not feel a difference in playability that I can attribute to the ss frets. I do like thinking that this guitar needs little to no maintenance in the long run and I wish I also had ss frets in my other guitars.
 
We are starting to see sub-$1k models come stock with SS frets. It will eventually trickle down to sub-$500 models, too. It is a main selling point, and certainly machines can be designed to install them on a mass scale.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top