Stainless steel fretwire

Re: Stainless steel fretwire

aleclee said:
Why is it hard to believe? If nut material affects tone, why wouldn't fret material? Most folks accept that maple fretboards are brighter than rosewood and the string never even touches the fretboard.
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Didn't say that it doesn't affect tone, but that the difference would be barely noticeable.

The rosewood/maple fingerboard is more to do with it's effect on neck stiffness.

My point is that there are other issues of construction that have a greater effect on tone than the fretwire material, such as the timber used, the type of neck, the presence or absence of a tremolo unit even the tidiness of the player tuner wrap. all of these will have an effect on the harmonic content of the string and since the material the fret is made of can never be responsible for putting harmonics back into the string after they have been absorbed elsewhere it is unlikely that the difference in hardness between nickel silver and stainless steel is going to make that much difference. The difference between plastic and metal frets would be noticeable, but the difference between frets made of two different metals of similar hardness is likely to be imaginary.

In fact, the biggest source of harmonic damping at the fret is the guitarists finger which absorbs high frequency harmonics through a vector component of the strings tension...
 
Re: Stainless steel fretwire

jmh151 said:
Brass shouldn't be super bright. Nickel Silver frets are supposedly brass with a small percentage of nickel added, which turns the color silver and adds hardness. Brass is relatively soft, alot softer than stainless steel. I've easily stripped brass screws and bolts, stainless is alot harder to strip
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Cool thanks bro.
 
Re: Stainless steel fretwire

I'm guessing the brightness can be solved by turning the EQ down a half point :laugh2:

slade
 
Re: Stainless steel fretwire

octavedoctor said:
Didn't say that it doesn't affect tone, but that the difference would be barely noticeable.
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+10K

The benefits of playing on SS frets (along with virtually zero wear) outweigh any brightness issues.

On a scale of 1 to 100, SS frets seem to be about 2 points brighter. In other words, negligible.

BTW, I used a dremel and compound to polish up my SS frets (to chrome). Talk about smooth, slippery bends...it feels like sliding on a sheet of ice!
 
Re: Stainless steel fretwire

I would have to agree with the statements about the brightness being very subtle. I have several Parkers and they are a dream to play on, but no brighter than my other guitars with standard fret wire. Someone stated that the stiffness of the neck will have more of an impact on tone, and I have to agree that it is more of a tone factor than the fret material. I love SS frets.
 
Re: Stainless steel fretwire

Binnerscot said:
I would have to agree with the statements about the brightness being very subtle. I have several Parkers and they are a dream to play on, but no brighter than my other guitars with standard fret wire. Someone stated that the stiffness of the neck will have more of an impact on tone, and I have to agree that it is more of a tone factor than the fret material. I love SS frets.
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Yes, the other thing that makes the difference is the mass of the object supporting the string. A fret, whatever its composition has very low mass, so this will diminish its effect on tone spectrum.

You would, for example notice a difference in response between bridge blocks or made of Aluminium, Zamac, Brass or Steel; nuts made of aluminium and zamac would sound distinct but perhaps not brass or steel, but you would be unlikely to notice the difference between frets made of these materials (assuming that were possible)
 
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