Dave King
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Stainless Steel Frets?
Hey,
I had my guitar in to a local luthier to have some minor repair work done.
We discussed the frets on my Martin HD-28 because they are starting to wear. He suggested that if I have it re-fretted, I should get stainless steel frets because they do not wear.
I haven't heard of this before (especially for acoustic guitars). He said he's been using stainless for the last 5 or 6 years.
I'm not sure what the standard material is for fret wire (maybe, nickel?).
Has anyone here tried stainless steel for frets on an acoustic?
Thanks.
Dave King www.davekingmusic.com SONAR X2 Producer 64-Bit
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batsbrew
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Re:Stainless Steel Frets?
2011/06/28 12:56:34
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stainless steel on an acoustic, will make the overall sound a tad brighter.
this can be a good/bad thing.
same on electrics, but once you go electric, the difference is negligable.
if WEAR is the issue, then go for it.
if TONE is the issue, try some out first.
if you don't play super hard, and wear frets out in a year or two, why not simply get a fresh fret dressing?
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DeeringAmps
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Re:Stainless Steel Frets?
2011/06/28 13:17:23
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STAINLESS, YIKES!
Nothing I've ever played from the "Golden Era's" of Gibson, Fender or Martin had stainless frets!
Sounds like something Nashville might foist on you; "We finally, finally, finally got it right".
I don't think on a Martin...
Just me.
(I've got my nomex on, so fire away!)
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spacey
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Re:Stainless Steel Frets?
2011/06/28 14:10:29
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Stainless frets are a hassle for luthiers.
They are a benefit to guitarist that play all the time.
As with most players it'll be the size which matters most....unless
you have gold hardware lol.
Personally...I don't want to hassle with installing them and I don't
have a guitar in my hands 16 hours a day anymore.
And, "starting to wear" isn't what I'd call something worth taking
the chance of harming the fretboard for. That leaves getting them dressed
and that'll mean taking them all down to the worst one and/or replacing a few.
Personally if the guitar is playing with no issues a little wear isn't a concern....IMO
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drewfx1
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Re:Stainless Steel Frets?
2011/06/28 16:14:06
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I love SS frets on electric because they are a bit smoother & easier to bend.
I don't bother with them on basses, as wear isn't a big enough issue for me.
 In order, then, to discover the limit of deepest tones, it is necessary not only to produce very violent agitations in the air but to give these the form of simple pendular vibrations. - Hermann von Helmholtz, predicting the role of the electric bassist in 1877.
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craigb
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Re:Stainless Steel Frets?
2011/06/28 18:20:14
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SS good for electrics and my "acoustic" guitars are all buried in the electronics of one of my electrics so I don't have any comment there.
Time for all of you to head over to Beyond My DAW!
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Starise
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Re:Stainless Steel Frets?
2011/06/28 19:39:42
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Never heard of them on an acoustic. I have played SS frets on electric and I didn't notice any difference in the sound(but maybe my ears are wanky too) The high end Carvins , Parker sand some others have them.
It always made perfect sense to me. What wears on a guitar? Tuning machines are pretty stable. Strings, frets, and maybe the nut?.... I can see where it might be a headache for a luthier for sure.Stainless is much less flexible to work with.
I would also like to know more about this.
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webbs hill studio
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Re:Stainless Steel Frets?
2011/06/28 20:18:20
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Starise
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Re:Stainless Steel Frets?
2011/06/28 21:34:28
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Very Nice!! This guy certainly knows what he is doing and I really admire his wonderful craftsmanship!Well documented too!
Intel 5820K O.C. 4.4ghz, ASRock Extreme 4 LGA 2011-v3, 16 gig DDR4, , 3 x Samsung SATA III 500gb SSD, 2X 1 Samsung 1tb 7200rpm outboard, Win 10 64bit, Laptop HP Omen i7 16gb 2/sdd with Focusrite interface. CbB, Studio One 4 Pro, Mixcraft 8, Ableton Live 10 www.soundcloud.com/starise Twitter @Rodein
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