stainless steel vs nickel

[BloodRose]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

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Not to chip or diss ya man :

How so on the gold ?

This doesn't make sense .

I have gold nuggets ( little ones ) they are very easy to bend & misshape .

Easy man :

Hurricane Ramon

Yeah, Gold is a very soft metal.. a refret with gold would be Uber expensive and it would probably grind away really fast..

The good news would be that once you are done playing, you could probably brush off you fret board and sell your former frets to Goldschlager... haha

 

[Quencho092]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

people will explain the reason for their preferences using pseudo science when it's as simple as 'better fit'.

SS frets are fantastic. I don't know why more guitars don't have them, perhaps fretwear can lead to more instrument purchases.....just maybe......an SS fretted instrument seems like a more permanent solution than a nickel fretted workhorse that needs refretting every 10 years, my strat's med jumbo's are getting worked hard and warmoth is going to benefit the day I need replacement because im not going to spend the money on a refret, might as well get a bubinga/ebony with SS frets....

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

SS frets are fantastic. I don't know why more guitars don't have them.

Actually it comes down to cost. The tooling needed to cut and shape stainless frets is much more expensive than to do nickle its also more time consuming. Couple that with guitarists being a pretty traditional lot and its something you have a hard time convincing manufacturers to do. But if you notice as time has gone on they are getting more an dmore accepted. The cost of the carbide tooling is falling in comparison to what it used to be. Soon enough people will be asking for them that they start to become standard on more models

 

[orpheo]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

SS frets are so annoying to level etc etc but once it's done, you don't need to have it done for well.. much longer than nickel. IMHO, a self respecting luthier, who will stand behind his or her product (no discrimination here, huh? ) will offer SS frets despite the difficulty, just because it makes the product so much better. On my 3 custombuild guitars I got SS frets, and it was just a 50$ upcharge on each guitar. they play a w e s o m e.

 

[uOpt]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

SS frets are so annoying to level etc etc but once it's done, you don't need to have it done for well.. much longer than nickel. IMHO, a self respecting luthier, who will stand behind his or her product (no discrimination here, huh? ) will offer SS frets despite the difficulty, just because it makes the product so much better. On my 3 custombuild guitars I got SS frets, and it was just a 50$ upcharge on each guitar. they play a w e s o m e.

Weeeeeeeell...

The way I see it the reason for unevenness requiring a fretlevel is often as not that the fretboard wood worked itself into a slightly different position over time, maybe with the help of environment changes.

If so the SS frets screw you pretty good.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

Weeeeeeeell...

The way I see it the reason for unevenness requiring a fretlevel is often as not that the fretboard wood worked itself into a slightly different position over time, maybe with the help of environment changes.

If so the SS frets screw you pretty good.

In which case, can solid state frets be leveled, and how?

 

[uOpt]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

In which case, can solid state frets be leveled, and how?

It takes longer and wears your tools down really fast.

As a side note, in my opinion a new guitar should have a fret level, too. But most manufacturers just put the frets in with what is high precision at the time. But the fretboard has just been made, so that can't possibly be permanent.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

Anyone coming with steelfrets here.......they will have to look at a bigger bill!!
Sorry but they are a pain in the arse to work on, even with good tools!
And frankly...stick them up where the sun do not shine too

 

[B2D]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

I have stainless on my #1 player, a Music Man.

The tone got a TINY bit brighter when I had them put on... emphasis on tiny bit. So I changed the presence knob on my amp down one notch.

2+ years later and zero visible wear and they play/feel awesome. I love 'em.

 

[Sruffie777]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

2+ years later and zero visible wear and they play/feel awesome. I love 'em.

+1 I'm sold, just have to pick the right size fret since they last so long. :approve:

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

Yeah, Gold is a very soft metal.. a refret with gold would be Uber expensive and it would probably grind away really fast..

The gold colored frets Jescar sells arent made of gold lol, they are made of an alloy and it is hard as hell. Every bit as hard or harder than stainless, its a ***** to work and lasts a long, long time.

Everything uOpt said above is correct RE you may still need leveling due to the wood shifting etc., and it is more expensive because it wears out even diamond files fast, so the tooling cost and time involved for whoever is doing it is high.

That doesn't stop me from using them personally, but YMMV.

 

[aleclee]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

Just got my guitar back from its stainless steel fret job. Based on my experience with my Driskill sounding a bit plinky unplugged, I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of tonal change. It sounds pretty much the same, just like Phil's web site predicts.

Bends are a bit more liquid but other than that, it feels pretty much the same. The 47x95 wire is only a bit bigger than the stock wire so it just came back with a much more playable setup that should hold up for quite a while.

 

[JeffB]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

My question is, how much harder is it on strings? I already destroy pure nickels with their softer nature in a weeks time...harder stainless frets would tear them up in half the time, i would imagine.

 

[TattooedCarrot]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

Acoustically? Sure. Through the pickups? Nah. If anything the fret size (weight) plays a role.

However, the truss rod that Warmoth puts in there (they have 3 or 4 variants) will have a major impact. I advise caution.

Ordered a few, this is all true.

The SS frets do clank a little acoustically, but not through the pickups. Bends are way easier.

The truss rod makes a big difference. If you want traditional sound get the all vintage or vintage modern. If you get the modern double-expanding neck it sounds different. Not bad, but not vintage-esque either.

 

[robertkoa]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

The Jescar Gold EVO is technically halfway between Jescar's Nickel and Jescar's Stainless in terms of hardness.

Most Luthiers feel it lasts almost as long as Stainless.

I played it on a Les Paul Supreme ( standard fret wire on that Guitar) and it's really nice- feels like polished Nickel and sounds very close to Nickel- I think the only complaint people will have is the color- which is a small problem, but I really doubt many will dislike the Tone, even unplugged.

 

[Kostas]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

I have SS frets in three of my guitars, I will put SS frets in my oldest when I will refret it. For me it's not a dilemma anymore. Unless you are a vintage correct freak I don't see the reason of putting nickel frets in your guitar.

My local luthier does not charge extra for SS frets when he does a fret dress. Only when he does a refret.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

I have one guitar with SS frets. I've never not had SS frets on that guitar so I can't really comment on any tone differences because it wouldn't be an apples to apples comparison.

They definitely are different feel-wise.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

I havent polished my frets or anything and I absolutely love how they feel straight from warmoth/SS/vintage fret size.

What grit paper would be good for just getting a really slick polish on SS frets without doing any kind of leveling?

 

[DarkMatter]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

I mask off the neck. Then 600 grit under my fret file. Then I use a demel with a felt wheel and polishing compound

 

[B2D]

Re: stainless steel vs nickel

Then I use a dremel with a felt wheel and polishing compound

I've heard the heat generated from the friction from dremel-polishing can loosen the fret glue and cause problems. I dunno if it's true but it's made me cautious enough to not do it anymore.