Stainless Steel Frets vs Nickel Frets

[67mike]

How did you come to this conclusion?

From the guitars I bought and rapidly sold that had ss frets.

To be fair they were telecaster type guitars with maple necks, which can be bright/ pingy bitches regardless of fret material.

 

[67mike]

Odd thing is that SS seems to come on mid level even lower level guitars nowadays. Jackson USA for example don't even have them. My cheapest LTD has SS frets

There could be a reason for that.

 

[midnightlaundry]

I think you notice them the first time before you plug in the guitar, but really it's negligible on the tone..
My Luthier hates them because they are hard as hell to work on..

 

[squealie]

I had a Warmoth neck with SS frets 15 years ago. I fucking hated the zing.

looking back, the ebony fretboard and 4 pounds of metal truss-rod that is in the Warmoth modern construction probably contributed.

 

[JimAnsell2]

one of the biggest gear mistakes of my life was selling my two norlin LP's (74 deluxe and 81 custom) both refretted with SS by Micheal Tuttle. this was mid 2000's before he started only doing his own guitars. those didn't need a set up for like 5 year after i got them back. So i'm totally sold on ss as long as the are dressed and installed right the first time.

 

[fek]

I am on the stainless fret bandwagon. Had a 2010 LP refretted with SS jumbos in 2020 when the original frets were done. Also have a Chubtone with SS jumbos. Love them.

 

[Eazy-ESP]

I can tell ya stainless frets do indeed wear out, I’m not sure if some of y’all meant they literally don’t wear. 15 years in and my main axe needs a fret level, and tbh I should have done a few years ago.

lol. 15 years? I start getting wear at my e and b string after a year in nickel.

 

[romanianreaper]

I'm not anti stainless steel frets but I prefer nickel. When i've had them on guitars, it sounds similar to when I put on fresh strings. There is an added brightness and I prefer a more broken in tone.

I wouldn't have an issue with having them though.

 

[VonBonfire]

Alright, here is the clip. I close micd the cab on this one, because @DanTravis62 always bitches about me using a phone mic

I can see how this might be annoying for heavy music. Was that the stone pick?

 

[glpg80]

I will make you a recording of the chirp. It is really just something that you notice when you clean up the amp a bit, but I don't mind it a little...it just gets ridiculous for what I am doing when it is happening on every note

I use gravity picks exclusively and have for decades. No chirp from my ears regardless of the fret material. I have definitely heard the chirp from using coins or metal picks before though and it’s VERY annoying.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

I'm 100% sold on stainless after my Anderson Shorty T and Ibanez Timmons guitars

 

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

I can see how this might be annoying for heavy music. Was that the stone pick?

It was titanium i think

 

[CoreyW]

Last year I refretted my Ibanez RG770 with SS.. After all was done there were a lot of improvements clarity wise... but I do not totally credit that to the SS, more so my old frets were just that dead.

To me, fret material doesn't matter that much as far as playing and sound go but, SS has less upkeep and maintenance, my nickel guitars I have to polish the frets more frequently, and the idea of significantly slower fret wear is a huge benefit. I have guitars with the fender 60s vintage radius and frets, up to SS jumbos, the back of the neck carve is a lot more important to me than the fret size or fingerboard radius,

 

[mikey]

All my guitars have nickel silver. Those of you who have gone to SS, have you dismissed your guitars with NS? I'm curious how much of a feel difference there is between the two.

 

[SonVolt]

And the highest end guitars have them. There is no audible difference, only feel.

All my guitars have nickel silver. Those of you who have gone to SS, have you dismissed your guitars with NS? I'm curious how much of a feel difference there is between the two.

I have both, and much prefer stainless, but I still play my guitars with nickel frets daily. It’s just nice when you’re doing boomer bends you’ll never get that gritty feeling if you just keep rocking the string back-and-forth.

 

[SFW]

I prefer stainless. Just had my Les Paul Standard redone with SS jumbos. Wish I would have done it years ago. Currently saving my pennies to do my R7 Custom. The difference in playability is worth any perceived brightness.

 

[Devin]

I prefer stainless. Had my main guitar refretted with stainless years ago - no difference in sound, but a massive difference in tarnishing and crud reduction

I also have other guitars with stainless, they all sound like normal guitars to me

 

[Rackman]

There could be a reason for that.

Yeah, companies don't like the extra work involved on fixed-price guitars. Jackson Custom offers SS.

In Indonesia they have an infinite supply of inexpensive labor to do bad fret jobs on any kind of fretwire.

 

[Findthetone1]

All my guitars have nickel silver. Those of you who have gone to SS, have you dismissed your guitars with NS? I'm curious how much of a feel difference there is between the two.

Not really. But I prefer the stainless on guitars that have them. Goal is to pretty much convert them all. Feel wise, a well-dressed and polished nickel fret feels great. It just won't feel like that forever.

 

[Rackman]

All my guitars have nickel silver. Those of you who have gone to SS, have you dismissed your guitars with NS? I'm curious how much of a feel difference there is between the two.

Not totally but anything that still has NS is definitely in line for conversion the first time it needs fretwork. The possible exceptions would be my Heritage Eagle jazz box and acoustics.