Stainless Steel Frets

[Stratty316]

Yeah, my point is that I've been playing my gold Axis for 17 years and have only had the frets leveled once about 8 years ago... And even then my tech said it really wasn't necessary at that point. You may be ultra sensitive to any difference in your fret levels or maybe you have a heavy touch and SS is a benefit to you but SS doesn't really offer me any benefits. (Not meant to be a dig at you) Would I buy a guitar with SS frets? Yes, that PDN Roasted Silo Spec would totally be on my list... But the frets aren't a selling point for me as I don't have any issues with nickel. I think the argument about the ability to make bigger bends or what not are more mental than due to the frets. There are things I can do on my Green Axis that I can't do on my Gold one... They are exactly the same but my confidence level is different on each guitar. My point about playability was that a nice playing guitar is a nice playing guitar regardless of the fret material. If someone doesn't have issues with Nickel frets then they would not care about SS frets... Look at Steve Morse... How many times has he had Dudley re fret #1... 600-700 times now? Money obviously isn't the arguement for him .. Nickel seems to be a preference or I'm sure #1 would be sporting SS frets by now.

 

[Kenji20022]

That's true, just preference! And that's incredible, I wish i didn't have such a heavy touch sometimes. It's not a big deal now with my current guitars, but yeah I definitely see a benefit to them in my playing.

People who say it lets them make bigger bends, it eats through strings faster, and those other myths are full of BS haha. If anyone wants to make larger bends, they can just use a lighter gauge of string and it makes those bends easier. And that's true about Morse, although he may not have tried them yet! Who knows haha.

 

[ksandvik]

I do think fret wear depends on each guitar player. I have an old Ibanez that finally shows fret wear (got it early 1981.) Might be that SS is not needed for my playing style. However, if I see a lot of wear constantly I would switch to SS just for economical reasons.

 

[tbonesullivan]

I am yet to witness anyone being able to distinguish between nickel/silver and stainless steel in properly recorded blind tests - I thought I could, but failed miserably, when put on the spot.
There simply is no downside to stainless steel frets for me as a player and I will never purchase another instrument without stainless steel frets.

Cheers

Eske

Funny, as people go on for hours about the best materials for guitar slides, and guitar nuts, but frets won't make any sound difference? that makes no logical sense. If you change the hardness of the mechanical interface, you change the tone. end of story.

whether it can get through the pickups and speakers with limited frequency response, well that's another thing. but you don't see people running out to put SS frets on acoustic guitars, do you? I would wager there's a reason for that.

 

[Stratty316]

SS frets don't make nearly as much difference in tone as body wood, neck wood, pickups, trem or no trem. Playing style, amp settings,type of amp, etc are all more influential then fret material. I was given a few sets of stings that are different than what I like and my Axis sounded different. I believe EVH said he was only using them on his new guitar because they didn't influence his tone in a negitive way... Longevity is their main plus... They are not there to boost tone.

 

[killerburst]

... you don't see people running out to put SS frets on acoustic guitars, do you? I would wager there's a reason for that.

I rarely bend on an acoustic. That would be my reason for not insisting on having my Taylor refretted. Yet.

 

[DrKev]

but you don't see people running out to put SS frets on acoustic guitars, do you? I would wager there's a reason for that.

Bob Taylor has stated that they tried it on some guitars but THEIR preference was for standard frets, and that was the production decision. There is no right or wrong to tone, their decision was based on what they were trying to achieve, not on "good" or "bad". But that's not to say that it wouldn't suit anybody else. And remember, acoustic players are just as traditional/stubborn as many electric players are. The die-hard Gibson or fender traditionalists won't put SS frets on their guitars because they think it will get in the way of a traditional tone. Many acoustic players think the same way. The market will usually lean to the wishes of the majority, whether or not the majority has any logic to their position.

 

[Stratty316]

That was my point entirely. It's a preference thing and totally subjective. Years ago I worked work a guy who wrote and entire research paper on how a quilt top and a flame top have different effects on the tone of the EBMM EVH guitar. He swore that a flame top made the guitar sound more brittle than the quilt top. It's crazy what people will go through for "tone"...
Now, if EBMM wants to send me an Armada and let me play it for a month then come out and swap frets I'll be more than happy to see if I can feel and hear the difference. My guess is that 99% of us couldn't tell the difference in a blind test on a new instrument.

 

[tbonesullivan]

With an acoustic guitar... it's not the same ballgame though. Classical guitarists have preferred softer nickel silver frets for years because they feel it gives a better sound, and because it wears strings less (or so I've heard). I have talked to classical guitar luthiers and the stuff that real classical players will hear and want fixed (like a slight overtone on a certain note) denotes a level of hearing discrimination that most of the general population will never come close to. Also given the general level of hearing loss among the rock community, particularly among the high range (which is what goes first) often makes me wonder if many people would be able to hear a difference if there was one.

Anyway, with acoustics, you don't have the limited frequency response of guitar pickups and speakers. You've got a full frequency response, so things like increased high end will be noticed, and there isn't any way to dial that out on an acoustic.