Stainless Frets, or Nickel? Whats the deal?

[DoomBuggi]

What is the difference. I have read into it, and there seems to be allot of heated debate over the manner. The stainless seems more durable, yet most techs & luthiers hate working on them. Then there is the tone debate. I don't have a reference for it. Never played stainless. But I'm have a neck made, and there is the option. Durability sound nice. Is there really a big difference in the tone? Enlighten me.

 

[MrDan666]

Go with Stainless frets, they have that amazing polished feel to them all the time which makes it feel much nicer to play on. The tonal difference between Stainless and Nickel frets isn't night and day IMO.

 

[JTyson]

Go with Stainless frets, they have that amazing polished feel to them all the time which makes it feel much nicer to play on. The tonal difference between Stainless and Nickel frets isn't night and day IMO.

What Dan the man said

 

[technomancer]

Go with Stainless frets, they have that amazing polished feel to them all the time which makes it feel much nicer to play on. The tonal difference between Stainless and Nickel frets isn't night and day IMO.

Yup, exactly. I've got a couple guitars with each and far prefer the stainless frets.

 

[Electric I]

Go with Stainless frets, they have that amazing polished feel to them all the time which makes it feel much nicer to play on. The tonal difference between Stainless and Nickel frets isn't night and day IMO.

This.

Have 2 warmoth builds, both with ss frets & the above rings true.

 

[PlayAndersons]

Stainless steel is sooo smooth it's like playing on glass. Just put stainless frets on my Les Paul and love it...

 

[TeleBlaster]

Well I'll cast the dissenting vote. Stainless is brighter sounding, adds a little "plink" tone to the note, and slight buzzes that accompany very low action which are inaudible through the pickups with nickel frets become audible with stainless.
I do like the feel of them and they will last forever and not require dressing, but they do have drawbacks as well. I've also noticed that the wound strings wear faster.
Edit: If you play jumbo frets like 6100 or 6000, you won't notice a very big difference in feel. On smaller fret wire sizes they do drag way less than nickel and the difference can feel significant.

 

[DoomBuggi]

Thanks for the quick responses guys. I'm having a Warmoth built as well. Scored a Warmoth alder strat body for pennies. Now I'm having the neck made to spec. I'm pretty excited actually. I am use to playing set necks and neck throughs. But I have some friends that wield strats, and every time I pickup one up I really like the sound and feel of it. So, going with the Warmoth. Its got the vintage trem set up, and I'm use to string throughs or tuneomatics, but it may be nice to have something that different. It has one route for a bridge humbucker, and one volume knob. Pretty cool to me, simply and straight to the point. Got a Duncan Distortion sitting around, but I may go for a BK Holydiver or A5 Nailbomb. Not sure about that piece.

Sounds like the stainless will do the trick for me. I'm not concerned about string wear. I change my strings regularly. Thanks.

 

[Valtyr]

I have a couple guitars with stainless frets. Both are over a decade old and the frets still look new. They aren't noticeably brighter but strings do wear out a little quicker. Bends are smoother.

Overall I prefer them to nickle frets.

 

[SLOgriff]

I have a couple guitars with stainless frets. Both are over a decade old and the frets still look new...

WOW! No indents in the frets at all? Is this pretty normal for Stainless?

 

[rupe]

Well I'll cast the dissenting vote. Stainless is brighter sounding, adds a little "plink" tone to the note, and slight buzzes that accompany very low action which are inaudible through the pickups with nickel frets become audible with stainless.

My findings directly contradict this. I found no appreciable enhancement of brightness when I had a neck refretted with SS. I also didn't notice any "plink" or additional fret buzz although my action on that particular guitar isn't really conducive to fret buzz (its not high but its not super low either).

Tom Anderson did extensive testing and said there's no real tonal difference...I agree.

 

[TeleBlaster]

If I may qualify it a little more, I play a lot of clean stuff. I have one neck that is fretted in stainless.
Started with the same size fret in nickel and had it re-fretted. Immediately noted the changes in tone.
I did want to try one and see. Yup it feels slinkier, and after a year and a half it shows 0 fret wear.
If you want to drop names, fine. Tommy Rosamond says yes they do make a difference in tone.
Whatever, it's not what anyone says, I hear the difference. Won't be ordering any more necks with SS.

 

[rupe]

If I may qualify it a little more, I play a lot of clean stuff. I have one neck that is fretted in stainless.
Started with the same size fret in nickel and had it re-fretted. Immediately noted the changes in tone.
I did want to try one and see. Yup it feels slinkier, and after a year and a half it shows 0 fret wear.
If you want to drop names, fine. Tommy Rosamond says yes they do make a difference in tone.
Whatever, it's not what anyone says, I hear the difference. Won't be ordering any more necks with SS.

Understood...if you hear something I can't argue with that.
As for name dropping, that's hardly what I did. I referenced a known authority on the subject of building guitars...I didn't say "so me and Tom were hanging out at the lodge and he told me...".
And when Tommy gains Tom's reputation, you'll have a stronger counterpoint...you just brought a knife to a gunfight

 

[TeleBlaster]

And when Tommy gains Tom's reputation, you'll have a stronger counterpoint...

LOL if only you knew.

 

[zuel69]

Couldn't agree more, none of the alleged downsides on my new Anderson...love the SS frets.

Well I'll cast the dissenting vote. Stainless is brighter sounding, adds a little "plink" tone to the note, and slight buzzes that accompany very low action which are inaudible through the pickups with nickel frets become audible with stainless.

My findings directly contradict this. I found no appreciable enhancement of brightness when I had a neck refretted with SS. I also didn't notice any "plink" or additional fret buzz although my action on that particular guitar isn't really conducive to fret buzz (its not high but its not super low either).

Tom Anderson did extensive testing and said there's no real tonal difference...I agree.

 

[SBlue]

Played nickel frets my entire life. About three years ago I've bought my EVH Wolfgang. I've used SS frets on every guitar I have that needed a re-fret. Including a 58 Jr DC, a 72 4001, a 67 SG and a 83 Stingray.
No regrets. SS frets for me.

 

[Valtyr]

I have a couple guitars with stainless frets. Both are over a decade old and the frets still look new...

WOW! No indents in the frets at all? Is this pretty normal for Stainless?

No visable wear at all, mirror finish on all frets. I got my Nitefly in 1998, my Fly Classic was made in 1999 (I got it less than a year ago).

I can't speak to any tonal difference caused by the frets because my guitars had SS frets stock, so I have never heard them with nickle frets. They are not overly bright sounding guitars.

 

[5150clone]

Stainless here too. Ill never go back. Feels like glass. And no noticeable tone difference. No more fret job. Win win. .just do it

 

[rcm78]

I had my Wolfgang refretted with SS. I've had this guitar for 9 years and play it everyday. I'm extremely tuned in to this instrument. After the refret I noticed no tone difference whatsoever. My action is low 1.5mm above 12th fret at the high E and there's no buzzing at all. This guitar was also Pleked as part of the refret.

The feel took a few days to get used to. The SS is so smooth it's like skating on fresh ice. Almost zero drag and I found myself going sharp while bending. It's all good now and I'f I had the cash there's two others I'd like to have done...

 

[DoomBuggi]

Thanks everyone. All this feedback is helpful. I'm going to go with the Stainless