Stainless steel frets

blfrd · Post by **blfrd** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:07 am

Anyone have a guitar with stainless steel frets?

What did you think of it? Too bright?

Post by **Scumback Speakers** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:28 am

I have them in my Fool SG. They're great. Strings bend easier. 10's feel like 9's. They're not bright, I don't know where that came from. My guess is that rumor/thought came from those who got new frets put in after years and also had to change to new strings.

Any refrets I do in the future will be with stainless frets.

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:13 pm

The last Warmoth neck I got I was 2 seconds away from pulling the trigger on the SS frets. Damn. I didnt do it because of the 'bright' thought process too. I wish I got em now. I figured I was already getting their baseball bat neck size in maple/maple. It would be bright enough. Wish I had a mulligan.

I think I remember the thread but did you have someone paint your Fool SG?

fillmore nyc · Post by **fillmore nyc** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:22 pm

I bought a fatback Tele neck from Warmoth with the SS6115 frets (true jumbo's) and it is killa. Forget that "too bright" train of thought. Its an urban legend. The fretboard material, and type of bridge you use will have tons more effect on the brightness than the fret material. SS frets wear WAY longer than nickel-steel, and string bending is a lot smoother as well. Great stuff!!

Post by **Scumback Speakers** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:51 pm

Billy Batz wrote:I think I remember the thread but did you have someone paint your Fool SG?

Yeah, my friend (and scuba diving buddy) Jim O'Connor did the Fool SG paint. He's had famous people hire him for work. You can see some of his other work on this web page I did for him.

http://southbayampworks.com/ocd/OCDART.html

chad · Post by **chad** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:31 pm

Southbay Ampworks wrote:
Billy Batz wrote:I think I remember the thread but did you have someone paint your Fool SG?
Yeah, my friend (and scuba diving buddy) Jim O'Connor did the Fool SG paint. He's had famous people hire him for work. You can see some of his other work on this web page I did for him.

http://southbayampworks.com/ocd/OCDART.html

Damn!! Mr.Jim O'Connor is a fantastic artist. Very , Very bueatifull work. I have never heard of him until now! Thanks for the link. Chad

GUITARmole · Post by **GUITARmole** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 11:45 am

After getting the stainless steel frets on my Tele I'd always choose them over standard frets given the choice. They feel and sound great and there's no wearing them out.

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:35 pm

Both my Heritage Gary Moore models were refretted with stainless steel wire that John Zeidler got from Larry DiMarzio, they play great and sound killer.

yngwie308

JimiJames · Post by **JimiJames** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:12 pm

John Suhr is not offering them any more...must be a damn good reason considering the source.
I'll stick with nickels for now. In 30 years I have yet to refret a single one of my guitars. I have several so it could be why...
I could see it being beneficial for players like SRV abusing their axes and refretting after a year or so...
I see soo many pitted frets on guitars I can see it being a good thing for players that have a certain technique that eats frets

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:42 pm

Probably because theyre a bitch to put in. I talked a lot with a Warmoth guy when I ordered my last neck. I got the impression they hate working with SS wire. I think they even refuse to do SS wire on bound necks.

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:34 pm

You've hit the fret on the head, or crown of the nail, you know what I mean Dan.. too hard to fit properly, makes me marvel more at the masterful job John did on my guitars....RIP John.

yngwie308

Post by **Scumback Speakers** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:40 pm

Billy Batz wrote:Probably because theyre a bitch to put in. I talked a lot with a Warmoth guy when I ordered my last neck. I got the impression they hate working with SS wire. I think they even refuse to do SS wire on bound necks.

Hmm. My luthier had never put in stainless frets before my Fool SG. It was his first. He had no problems. Keep in mind I also had a brand new Brazilian board to put them in, so maybe the issue is with replacing nickel frets with stainless.

But my luthier said there were no issues (for him), and he didn't charge me any more for it, either. The frets were $5 or $10 more than nickel, so the cost consideration was negligible. I know all of my future refrets will be with stainless.

Maybe there are other reasons why some luthiers won't do them, but I think it's because they'll never see any refret work on any guitar that has stainless. I could be wrong.

I can also vouch for the idea of how people play. I play with a light touch, so the frets on my 68 Custom have been there since 1976 with two level & re-dress jobs. But the frets haven't been touched since I quit touring in late 83. It may depend more on the technique than the material.

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:48 pm

I have ss6105's in my main strat (Warmoth). I do agree about that 'smooth' feel they have. I thought they would break strings easily at first, though this has not been the case.

Luthier's DO NOT like working with ss though, for obvious reasons.

I am 100 % confident that these stainless steel frets sound different though. They are brighter in a wierd kinda way, like more 'sterile'. I hear it alot on tremelo picked stuff. The sound has a very bright thing going on. I hear less warmth than on nickel/silver frets. I am definatley getting another neck without them. I think they would fare better on a darker/warmer type instrument, like a mahogany Gibson with the 24 3/4 scale.

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:25 pm

It makes sense to me that the fast picking is where you hear it since you hear such a repetitive attack when you play that way and stuff like this seems to effect the attack more then anything.

rdodson · Post by **rdodson** » Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:18 pm

The SS frets are really tough on fret dressing files, etc. The edge dressing effort, without marring the fretboard, is REALLY tough.