Question ebmm: stainless steel frets?

[sanderhermans]

I was just wondering, what kind of frets does ebmm use on it's basses (and guitars)

I presume standard is (and always has been) nickel. Are there anny other occasions ebmm used ss frets on basses or guitars?

The Neptune blue package included stainless steel frets. IMO they look and feel very nice but the sound is much more shrill to me. all my basses are set up in the exact same way, but the Neptune blue one has a very noticeable fret buzz compared to the others.

 

[djaxup]

the 2012 honey roasted PDN have them, too. And I concur, the fret noise is different and more trebly than on my Stingray with nickel frets.

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

.
From a previous thread (Dudley G):

"The material we use is a copper alloy referred to as 18% Nickel Silver.
The material composition is 62% copper, 18% nickel and 20% zinc, with
some other alloying materials comprising less than 1% of the volume.
Material properties are as follows:

Density: 8.71 g/cm^3
Modulus of Elasticity: 135 GPa
Hardness: 215-240 HV5 (Vickers Scale)
Ultimate Tensile Strength: 650 - 750 GPa
% Elongation: 3%

The "Nickel-Silver 65-18 (752) Hardened" on the MatWeb site is very
close, except that our material is harder so that is has a higher
resistance to wear. The Ultimate Tensile strength also increases as the
material is strain hardened."

 

[MrMusashi]

.
From a previous thread (Dudley G):

"The material we use is a copper alloy referred to as 18% Nickel Silver.
The material composition is 62% copper, 18% nickel and 20% zinc, with
some other alloying materials comprising less than 1% of the volume.
Material properties are as follows:

Density: 8.71 g/cm^3
Modulus of Elasticity: 135 GPa
Hardness: 215-240 HV5 (Vickers Scale)
Ultimate Tensile Strength: 650 - 750 GPa
% Elongation: 3%

The "Nickel-Silver 65-18 (752) Hardened" on the MatWeb site is very
close, except that our material is harder so that is has a higher
resistance to wear. The Ultimate Tensile strength also increases as the
material is strain hardened."

now that is what i call detailed information

MrM

 

[Golem]

So thaz why a certain amount of fret noise
is considered to be part of the MM voice ?

I'm not too fond of frets anywho ...

`

 

[sanderhermans]

So thaz why a certain amount of fret noise
is considered to be part of the MM voice ?

I'm not too fond of frets anywho ...

`

It is a part of the mm voice! But stainless make it just a bit too much. I find that so on my own bass but on some recordings ive heard of those pdns ive noticed it too...

 

[djaxup]

It is also a different voice, not only louder/harsher. It makes the PDNs truly unique, and a bit of EQing can keep it in check.

 

[sanderhermans]

Ive just put 110 strings on mine and that helps to keep the fret buzz down too....

 

[guitvai1]

I don't have any of this harshness and fret buzz you are talking about with my PDN LIII's or Silo Special.

 

[sanderhermans]

I do believe that it is not the same for guitar because the notes you make on them are much more high pitched and the harshness will blend in more easily. But the contrast between a low e on a bass and the high pitched fret buzz is way greater. Know what i mean?

 

[Golem]

I do believe that it is not the same for guitar because the notes
you make on them are much more high pitched and the harshness
will blend in more easily. But the contrast between a low e on a
bass and the high pitched fret buzz is way greater.
Know what i mean?

Well I for one know exactly what you mean and have explained it
many times in almost exactly your same words.

But, it's not only the pitch range that works in favor of guitars, it's
also the strings. Compared to the near-zero mass of guitar strings,
bass strings are sledge hammering the frets ... thus a much louder
fret impact noise [not discussing buzzing, just impact].

`

 

[tunaman4u2]

Love my SS frets, no extra buzz or difference along those lines that I can tell

 

[drTStingray]

Love my SS frets, no extra buzz or difference along those lines that I can tell

I tend to agree with you - I used my Neptune blue PDN Sabre (Ss frets, roasted flamed maple neck) at an outdoor gig on Saturday and listened for this particularly. We had a great bass sound - LM3 with one MB 210 HF standard plus PA support. I did have to pull the treble down from full for pop and slap as it was too much - no fret buzz though. There were a couple of songs with slap throughout but I was able to get the sound I wanted.

The guy from the other band used my rig but with a Squire Jazz which also sounded excellent.

 

[Golem]

I don't pop-slap, but from hearing so many
others doing it, it seems clear to me that
since impact sounds are part of that effect,
"nasty" frets would be no problem. Where I
get bugged about fret noise is in fingerstyle
cuz all I wanna hear is the vibrating strings.

In many bands, I hear the fret noise during
fingerstyle play ... when my ears focus in on
the bass [we all do that, right ?] But when I
widen my focus to the full band, moderate
fret noise is covered up by the drummer and
sometimes by other goings-on in the overall
sound of the band.

Many rock-blues bassers I've observed will
play nearly totally fingerstyle, but whenever
they solo, it's all pop-slap ... thus altho their
band breaks down and so can't cover-up any
fret noise, it doesn't matter when the solo is
all pop-slap-happy.

And then acoarst, noise-wise, there's always
the Audience Factor ... meaning, no matter
what hits their ears, they never hear a thing
objectionable it ... IOW, they're all noncritical
listeners as long as they can keep on dancing,
drinking, and hoping to get laid


`