Stainless Steel Frets and Fret Wear

[holoholo]

Stainless steel frets are the tits. I’d have them on every guitar of mine if I could.

 

[dk_ace]

I’m hard on frets and it drives me crazy. I have to play a lot of quiet clean single note lines and the change in timbre or any buzz annoys me so much.

My only problem with SS frets is that it just moves the problem. The frets last longer, but they chew through strings faster. A refret is more expensive than strings, but breaking more strings is a bigger problem to me than frets getting a little worn.

Here is my LP that just turned 3. I’m already starting to think about a refret

View attachment 9922

I’ve been wondering about that, for someone who wears frets pretty aggressively but gets good life out of strings does going to stainless frets reverse that and by how much? I basically never break a string, it’s been years since I had one break. Does that then become a common problem? I could deal with them wearing out a little faster and needing to be replaced for tuning/intonation issues, but actually breaking them frequently wouldn’t be a great tradeoff.

D

 

[hemmelight]

I haven't found that I go through strings any more than with nickel frets.
Buuut, I've also been using coated strings exclusively for almost ten years at this point - so maybe uncoated strings are more prone to that?

 

[DrewJD82]

I’ve been wondering about that, for someone who wears frets pretty aggressively but gets good life out of strings does going to stainless frets reverse that and by how much? I basically never break a string, it’s been years since I had one break. Does that then become a common problem? I could deal with them wearing out a little faster and needing to be replaced for tuning/intonation issues, but actually breaking them frequently wouldn’t be a great tradeoff.

D

I chew through nickel frets fairly fast as I’m heavy handed, I’ve got SS on 2 guitars and a bass right now, can’t say I’ve noticed strings dying any faster than previously, I haven’t snapped a string in nearly 20 years. For the most part I get 4-5 hours of actual play time on a pack of strings before they start sounding dull, that’s the same for SS or nickel frets for me.

 

[James Freeman]

I change strings only when they break.... years.

 

[TSJMajesty]

I’ve been wondering about that, for someone who wears frets pretty aggressively but gets good life out of strings does going to stainless frets reverse that and by how much? I basically never break a string, it’s been years since I had one break. Does that then become a common problem? I could deal with them wearing out a little faster and needing to be replaced for tuning/intonation issues, but actually breaking them frequently wouldn’t be a great tradeoff.

D

Nope.
Edit: EB Slinkys 10-46

 

[laxu]

But don't fret have "barbs" that require sliding them out? I seem to remember EVH telling a story of his trials with pulling out frets, and in doing so, chipping the fretboard.

Some old frets might be better off tapped out from the side. Here's a video of that technique:



You can't do it with binding though, so the frets need to be just pulled out. They are typically heated to loosen any glue they might have and then you use pliers to kind of squeeze them out. You don't actually pull with the pliers, but when you squeeze them together they lift the fret out slowly. When done right they come off without damaging the fret slot too much.



When refretting a guitar with binding that had "nibs" at the end of the fret like Gibson does (and most others don't), you either sand off the nibs, then remove a piece of the fret tang and install the fret so the end goes over the binding like how most guitars with binding have it.

If the nibs have to be kept, the fret could be extremely precisely measured to install right against them but you would most likely need to sand it much lower because the nibs sit lower, removing potentially several fret leveling's worth of material.

Another way to do it would be to just build new nibs by melting some binding material of the same color using acetone, building a mound at the fret end, letting it harden again and shaping it to a nib. I used this technique to fix some blunders on my Yamaha where I managed to melt a bit of the binding when removing the fret by heating it more because it was stuck. The repair turned out pretty close to invisible after it was sanded flush so I'm glad I managed to save it.

 

[nicolasrivera]

I’m hard on frets and it drives me crazy. I have to play a lot of quiet clean single note lines and the change in timbre or any buzz annoys me so much.

My only problem with SS frets is that it just moves the problem. The frets last longer, but they chew through strings faster. A refret is more expensive than strings, but breaking more strings is a bigger problem to me than frets getting a little worn.

Here is my LP that just turned 3. I’m already starting to think about a refret

View attachment 9922

I personally did a SS refret on my Goldtop, was a hard job but it came out great and I now play as hard as I want with out any fear of fret wear whatsoever, just for the peace of mind it worth what ever they charge for a SS refret job.

Sound wise they sound great, there is a slight spank added to the pick attack, its great. Cant understand some folks that say SSF sound bad on LPs.

 

[la szum]

Stainless steel frets also put forth a slightly brighter tone with a more immediate attack
than Nickel frets. So there is that.

Funny, too, how you can feel the increased hardness in your fingers. How's that for
some evolved sensitivity??

 

[Jarick]

What happens to the neck binding when the frets are replaced? My LPC needs a refret.

Gibson is weird because they put the binding in after they install the frets, then they file the binding flush to the board, so the frets have the weird binding on the edges. When Gibsons get refretted, they pull the frets and file the binding flush on the entire board, and then you get frets installed normally like any other guitar.

 

[nicolasrivera]

Gibson is weird because they put the binding in after they install the frets, then they file the binding flush to the board, so the frets have the weird binding on the edges. When Gibsons get refretted, they pull the frets and file the binding flush on the entire board, and then you get frets installed normally like any other guitar.

The nibs on a refret are hard to keep, doing so has a higher price and only a very well experienced luthier could do it like it was factory new.

 

[metropolis_4]

The problem I had with strings was the frets eating through the windings in the wound strings. I had to stop using pure nickel strings with SS frets

 

[nicolasrivera]

The problem I had with strings was the frets eating through the windings in the wound strings. I had to stop using pure nickel strings with SS frets

oh yes, this is very true.

 

[itchyfingers]

I had SS frets on a Balaguer and I felt like the frets were TOO slick! I kept bending everything sharp because I'd go right past the note I was bending to. I'm sure I'd get used to it over time, but I sold it, and now everything I have has nickel frets again. My strategy is just have 50 guitars and rotate through the herd often.

 

[Mooselake]

Stainless frets are pretty much a must for me. 3 of my 4 playable guitars came with them and the fourth is out for a refret with stainless after I wore the nickel jumbos on it down to nothing.

I use either DiAddario NYXL or Ernie Ball Paradigm strings, 10-52 on one and 10-46 on the others. Haven't had any issue with strings breaking until after they are pretty old. I'm switching to 9s on the one that's getting refretted so we'll see how they last, but I have a lot of faith in the luthier working on it so I'm not anticipating any trouble.

 

[the swede]

Warmoth tele SS neck from 2015. I don’t put in hours each day, sometimes the guitar is put away for a month or more, when I play much it’s like 20 minutes per day.
Anyway, SS do wear. I have a very small spot that’s starting to show a small “indent”, but I mostly feel it when bending. Very subtle, but it’s there. Funny that’s there is a song I often play where it’s a bend part… only one bend in the whole song. That’s where the small wear is at

A hardcore player that’s puts serious time in, will wear on SS frets. But then there’s different qualities off SS I guess…

 

[Eagle]

The problem I had with strings was the frets eating through the windings in the wound strings. I had to stop using pure nickel strings with SS frets

I have a few customers that do that . You can relax your grip slightly and it goes away. One guy I know who was destroying a set of nickel frets a year had this bad when he swapped to ss .

 

[State of Epicicity]

But what matters is hardness.

Funny, too, how you can feel the increased hardness in your fingers.

 

[Eagle]

Stainless steel frets also put forth a slightly brighter tone with a more immediate attack
than Nickel frets. So there is that.

Funny, too, how you can feel the increased hardness in your fingers. How's that for
some evolved sensitivity??

I would argue with both of these points. I think and IME the exact same size fret in the same guitar is so close that you couldn’t reliably tell the difference. As for feel the thing you can detect is the way the strings slide over the surface and that varies depending on the quality of the fret dress. A newly well dressed nickel fret is almost the same. But even a few hours wear and the surface of the nickel is affected. Did you see the Warmoth video on fret tone?

This is very helpful because as close as possible you can hear the affect of this one aspect . A lot of people will play a Suhr strat along with a CS Fender and say the difference is the ss fret but it is actually a lot of other things too.

 

[Eagle]

Is it something you consider when buying a new guitar?
How important is it to you?

My trusty Edwards LP (10+ years old) started to develop some fret wear, I don't feel it when I play and there is no fret buzz or anything.

View attachment 9918

I've seen an interview with Brian May that his original red guitar the his father built him still has the original frets.
Probably flat as a pancake after 50 years of playing?

Maybe fret wear is not so bad?
I've heard Joe Bonamassa likes the fret a little worn too.

Brian May has a feather light touch and a custom set of strings lighter that a standard set of 8s. Joe on the other hand gets everything refreted by Joe Glazer before he uses it.