Metropoulos Forum

Hi folks i would appreciate your thoughts on stainless steel fretwire please, ie does it effect sound etc are they worth the extra dough,
the guitar is a closet classic 69 strat rosewood board and its a beauty.

also was wondering how many times can strats (maple&rosewood) and les pauls be refretted in their lifetime
thanks in advance

I love the SS frets in my 63 "Fool SG" replica. Bending notes is easier, and they play great. As for how many times you can refret a guitar, I guess it depends on how well the previous luthier did their work.

theyre brighter than normal frets. they also wear much less, but its up to your preference- do you like that sound, or do you like the more mellow tones from normal fret wire. how often frets must be replaced has a lot to do with how much you play a particular guitar and how hard you dig into frets. i have no idea how many times this can be done, but especially with a strat (bolt-on) I would say just to forget that aspect and choose what sounds best to you.

Southbay Ampworks wrote:As for how many times you can refret a guitar, I guess it depends on how well the previous luthier did their work.

+1 on that.

A luthier can ruin a neck in one refret. A good one could get 5-6 re-frets before major fingerboard re-work if he's careful. My Ibanez Jem had 3 refrets before the fingerboard was replaced. The luthier that did the first job pretty much ruined it - That's why I got into repairing and building guitars.

It also depends on the type of fretboard wood and age. Always clean your fretboard with some lemon oil when you change your strings. That will help in keep the wood "moist" and prevent chip outs when removing frets.

my 62 veneer board strat has had 3 refrets and the luther said it could have many more. He also said only oil the board about once a year or it will get too soaked and be bad for it

I have had DiMarzio stainless steel fretwire on both my Heritage Gary Moore guitars since back in the early nineties. They give a very sharp defined tone to the fretted notes and besides the wear factor, they add to the attack as well..
yngwie308

yeah stainless is supposed to be brighter. I used to be attracted to it because it has like zero wear compared to normal fretwire, BUT all the sounds of my hero's are on normal fretwire. That neck you have has that veneer fingerboard though so I'm pretty sure you cant have a refret done more than 2 or 3 times. The moral of the story is buy more strats! less wear on just one.

thanks for the replys much appreciated.

T.L. wrote:For whatever it's worth, EVH claims that SS frets don't affect the tone...

Ok then...
Sure on open strings it dosen't...I would have to respectfully disagree with the "Tone Chaser" here as I have played guitars before and after stainless steel frets, lst time I checked pressing the string down on the fret, completes the note and thus is part of the tone equation, just as different nut materials affect the sustain, ect., of the guitar, the fret material, if considerably harder in construction surely has some effect on the 'tone'..
yngwie'Washburn'308

yngwie308 wrote:

T.L. wrote:For whatever it's worth, EVH claims that SS frets don't affect the tone...

Ok then...
Sure on open strings it dosen't...I would have to respectfully disagree with the "Tone Chaser" here as I have played guitars before and after stainless steel frets, lst time I checked pressing the string down on the fret, completes the note and thus is part of the tone equation, just as different nut materials affect the sustain, ect., of the guitar, the fret material, if considerably harder in construction surely has some effect on the 'tone'..
yngwie'Washburn'308

Okay, I guess the real question would be it it a positive or negative affect?...

G: You use nickel silver and stainless steel frets?

JS: We use both. I really like stainless frets. I don’t see any reason not to use them. Anybody who has said bad things about stainless usually doesn’t have any scientific explanation. I have a hard time believing people when they say stainless changes the tone and I honestly don’t know. I might be a little superstitious if I was making a vintage-style instrument and say I’m gonna stick with standard nickel alloy frets, I’m not going to take the chance. We’re not talking about pure stainless, it’s an alloy, and not everyone’s stainless is the same either. Parker’s stainless is much harder than ours because of their installation method. I still need to be able to file and grind and mill my frets so they can’t be that hard and in reality they’re not much harder than our regular nickel silver, I’d say maybe you’ll get three times the wear. If I was a gigging musician I’d use stainless and I wouldn’t think twice about it but, ultimately, it’s the customer’s choice.”
This is what John Suhr said about stainless steel frets..
Check out John Suhr interview thread in guitars..
yngwie308