Fret wire...stainless 'vs' nickle?

[Soap]

This may have been asked before and if so my apologies.
Can anybody share the main difference between the two, as far as, playability and maintainence, wear and tear is concerned?
Thanks.

[noodlesatf]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

Stainless steel frets practically don't wear at all. There really is no comparison. I'd use them on every guitar, if I could get past the tone. Everything becomes brittle and harsh IMHO.

[Twisteramps]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

I didn't notice a difference with two necks - one with stainless, one without. I think the tonal aspects of the stainless frets are very minor.

Pete

[bonghits]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

I agree with Noodles completely. SS seems to sound brittle and piercing. I'm still a big proponent of 18% hard nickel/silver frets eventhough there isn't any silver in its chemical makeup. It's all made of brass and nickel.
Apparently, 18% nickel makes the frets look like silver. [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] Go figure.

[zeegler]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

What's nickle?

[MetalMedal II]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

[ QUOTE ]
What's nickle?

[/ QUOTE ]

A misspelled word! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Actually, if you google it, you get:

"What is Nickle?
Nickle is a programming language based prototyping environment with powerful programming and scripting capabilities. Nickle supports a variety of datatypes, especially arbitrary precision numbers. The programming language vaguely resembles C. Some things in C which do not translate easily are different, some design choices have been made differently, and a very few features are simply missing."

[guitgeek]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

I just got a jeff beck strat refretted with stainless and I couldn't be happier, sounds awesome. It seems beneficial in that playability will be more consistent due to the slower wear. Cost was about the same also 250$.

[11thDay]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

From Tommy Rosamond at usacustomguitars.com:

"A note from Tommy about stainless steel frets (in case you were wondering)...

Quite honestly they look great and they wear great, but I am a little old fashioned and think they will affect the overall tone of the instrument in a bright way - kind of like a big truss rod. Some things are just magical and shouldn't be messed with. We really feel they would change the tone of the parts we so carefully make for you - we have formulas that we know work well for parts. Sometimes it's scary to mess with a good formula!"

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

[ QUOTE ]
From Tommy Rosamond at usacustomguitars.com:

"A note from Tommy about stainless steel frets (in case you were wondering)...

Quite honestly they look great and they wear great, but I am a little old fashioned and think they will affect the overall tone of the instrument in a bright way - kind of like a big truss rod. Some things are just magical and shouldn't be messed with. We really feel they would change the tone of the parts we so carefully make for you - we have formulas that we know work well for parts. Sometimes it's scary to mess with a good formula!"

[/ QUOTE ]

Call me a skeptic but I translate quotes like this from builders as, "Sure they're great for players because they don't wear but they're difficult to work and we can't justify the time/cost differential to our clients easily so we'll just tell everyone that they sound bad."

[Twisteramps]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

Well, Ed Roman doesn't like stainless steel frets... you guys agree with Ed Roman? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Pete

[jgcable]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

I didn't notice any difference although I prefer standard frets because there are more options and more places to get fret work done. Cheaper too.

[MikeE]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

Everyone is going to have different opinions on this. I personally don't have 2 of the same guitar, one with each wire, to do an A/B comparison. I think that is the only way to know if it makes a difference in sound. There have been no "scientific" studies on it. If there is a difference I am content with turning down the treble on my amp to reap the benefits of SS frets. I am going to have a hard time buying a guitar without them installed or getting them installed.

This is a post from John Suhr on The Gear Page about SS frets.

"As far as Stainless goes I fretted a neck all 6105 with half stainless (every other fret) I couldnt hear any difference but maybe I'm just getting old. I dont say that there is NO difference to everyone, just that I cant hear it and all things considered I beleive there are many other variables that would change your tone more. You have to remember the Stainless wire is NOT 100% stainless, it is also not hardened, it is just an alloy mix with a little stainless in it. Brass and steel are so much more different than the stainless alloy wire compared to the nickel Silver. The strings are vibrating, the frets are not so I dont think you can compare those 2.
There is an alternative wire we are working on as well which is inbetween stainless alloy and regular nickel silver.

This is my experience and I wish to hell I could say that stainless sucked since my life would be a LOT easier but I would say in the scheme of things it means very little to the tone. However I'm not as convinced as Anderson who has switched to 100% stainless, we offer you guys a choice and we will see how it all falls"

[MikeE]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

[ QUOTE ]
Well, Ed Roman doesn't like stainless steel frets... you guys agree with Ed Roman? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Pete

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh oh, here comes pages of Ed bashing. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[img]/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif[/img]

[txcharvel]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

I have two guitars with stainless steel frets and they are both my best players. They always feel new and never get dirty. I think the tonal difference is very minute...if anything I think the stainless frets "sing" a little more than standard frets (if that makes any sense [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] )

[Deneb]

Re: Fret wire...stainless \'vs\' nickle?

For what it's worth, you're going to have to play a guitar for a long time before you need to refret, and in most cases, a leveling will do.