Stainless steel frets opinions

[icycool123]

Was getting my carvin built done. Then i realized that all the carvins that they brought in for display and sale had the normal nickel frets. I had to ask, why not bring in stainless, after all it could be a major differentiator compared to the normal "retail" as opposed to build to order guitars. Also the upcharge on stainless is small, less than a $100.

He mentioned that many customers actually prefer nickel cause of supposed brighter tone of stainless etc..Also the supposed ping/zing i've heard on many net sites. Its the same at the shop where they build suhrs. All guitars brought by the shop for display and sale so far use nickel. Of course you can specify stainless in your own build/order. Even the non custom (pro series) are available for order with the stainless steel option.

So do many of you really dislike stainless steel frets? For those with who would prefer the non stainless option, have any tried stainless steel yet? By the way all of my own custom order/builds are all stainless.

 

[J.custom]

I love stainless steel frets. Plays like butter, doesn't wear much and IMO, not that much change to your tone because you can always compensate for it somewhere else. So far I've tried stainless steel frets on about 5 guitars and the way they play feels different from guitars with nickel frets. There is very little resistance when bending and playing it just feels so smooth.

I'm in the process of refretting my tele with stainless steel frets as well, and this is one upgrade that I would do to all my guitars and be willing to pay for it because it is seriously worth it.

 

[edgie]

I used to have reservations on SS frets as I've heard boutique guitars with them before and I kinda noticed the fast decay of notes and brightness. So I inquired to Juha of Ruokangas guitars before I had my Mojo Classic(Tele-style model). Here is his reply:
I love stainless steel frets. When you order you can choose either nickel/silver or stainless, and I always recommend stainless. In my honest opinion, between expertly installed nickel/silver frets and expertly installed stainless frets there is no sound difference what so ever. I think the myth or stainless sounding brighter or bringing more zing to the guitar is caused by experience of poorly finished stainless frets. Stainless is MUCH harder than nickel/silver, and we've learned over the years that it takes special toolery and buffing compounds to finish them perfectly. If stainless frets are finished less than perfectly, they DO add zing to the tone cause they act almost like files under the strings, and when you do vibrato with your fingers, the frets make a nasty (zingy) noise. They also wear down strings more. And since stainless steel is so hard, the unevenness doesn't wear off by itself like it does from poorly finished nickel/silver frets. With perfectly buffed stainless frets there is no such friction and no such sound. So - in my opinion stainless steel is better in every way - but there should be a law against other than experts installing them, haha! :-D Yes, we use Jescar fretwire.

All the best,
Juha
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So I went ahead with SS frets thinking that should it add brightness and zing, it's ok for me because I mean it to sound as a traditional Tele. When my guitar arrived, I'm so happy that the sound is still very much like the Nickel Silver sound and feel that I'm used to in my Tyler. So it is true that it depends on the skill and methods of the luthier.

One word of wisdom from a friend about SS frets though is that you still have to be careful not to debt them so put some fret protectors(cleaning cloth or something like what Suhr guitars come with). They maybe wear resistant but if you dent them, it'll be quite hard to fret dress them.

 

[CyanideJunkie]

They're great in terms of hardiness as they can take a hell of a lot more punishment than nickel frets, but the downside is that they cost quite a bit to replace when due as they wear out the equipment at an increased rate when it comes to refretting.

 

[namle]

I'm a believer of SS frets too. Edgie's post with Juha's reply pretty much sums it up. I don't believe there's so much sonic difference between nickel and SS. Unless you can prove it with two identically built guitars. The perks lie in the playability. I find SS frets are much smoother for bend. And I don't have to worry about frequent fret polishing and such. I believe that SS frets can actually last forever, if not outlast nickel for a long time. Unless, as mentioned above, blunt force onto the frets that cause dents. SS frets require proper tools and more intensive labour, this option should only be made with skilled and experienced luthier to ensure proper installation. Another concern is that I'm not aware of any local tech that does installation/repair of SS frets.

 

[J.custom]

Yup, there'll definitely be an upcharge when installing SS frets. I know that Sound Alchemy has started accepting SS refret jobs for the past 1-2 years, and they do quite a good job, tried some of the guitars they've refretted. will be sending my tele to them for refretting.

 

[gunihoon]

Got SS frets on my Thorn and Ruokangas. Love them Silky smooth and like most said, less maintenance. No audible difference vs my other nickel frets. Most builders do not offer them as they require specialised tools and is harder to work with and go through the tools quite fast and thus higher costs.

Definitely going for SS in any future builds

 

[icycool123]

the downside is that they cost quite a bit to replace when due as they wear out the equipment at an increased rate when it comes to refretting.

So has anyone ever needed to replace their ss frets yet? Anyway its really good to know that sound alchemy has started accepting ss refret jobs. At least now i know where to have my refrets done.

 

[namle]

My experience so far with a few custom builder, SS upcharge shouldn't cost more than 100USD. I find that a fair price considering the pros that come with it.

And that's great news to know Sound Alchemy has SS refretting now. Gonna check out their work one day.

 

[Godsmen]

The only reason I would refret with Stainless steel frets is they will wear out gods know when but I have so many guitars on nickel that is wearing to fast. I will also like j custom bro says hope to refret all it with SS ones.

 

[Satrionic]

Which shop in sg does stainless steel regret and how much?? Anyone can enlighten me?..?

 

[russ5254]

So has anyone ever needed to replace their ss frets yet? Anyway its really good to know that sound alchemy has started accepting ss refret jobs. At least now i know where to have my refrets done.

i agree with the comments about SS frets by the bros here.
i have a '96 parker fly which comes with stainless steel frets.
personally, i think they do sound a teeny little bit brighter but to me, more significantly - "smoother" to bend.
but as someone posted, best is use same guitar for a fair comparison.

how do i describe the "smoother to bend" part??
it's like when you rub/scrape your fork on a metal plate.
in the case of nickel, you have a "metallic" feeling but with SS frets, it is really very smooth, kind of like having less "friction" or less of the metal-on-metal feeling.

finally, the durability factor is true... my fly frets look like brand new after all these years, no wear OR tarnish AT ALL.

Wanted to re-iterate again - SS frets are very very very very hard so if you encounter fret levelling issues, it is EXTREMELY difficult to polish/flatten it back down....
i know because my fly frets are glued on and there were some frets that fell off and had to be re-glued.
Malcolm helped me to glue them back but some of the older repaired ones were not level and he needed to file them down. He told me he had a TOUGH time doing it!!
Interestingly, after the filing, the fret actually still doesn;t look that obvious that it had been filed..
So pls make sure your re-fret job is done well to begin with.