Do Stainless steel strings damage

[WindsurfMaui]

So will Stainless steel strings damage stainless frets? Do stainless steel strings damage nickel frets? I put a set of stainless steel strings on a nickel fret neck and am showing some pits in the frets. I assume it is because stainless in the strings is stronger than nickel frets. But I am worried that stainless strings may also hurt stainless frets over time. Who has experience with this? Thanks

 

[Cagey]

Stainless strings will eat N/S frets for lunch. I've used them on stainless frets, but don't have enough time on them to judge how much they'll affect them. Pretty bright, though. One or two sets will certainly not hurt anything, so you could try them on for size to see if they suit you.

 

[Logrinn]

We all have experience with this.
Why?
Because all strings are made of steel.
Specifically the unwound ones.
So when you buy a set of nickel strings, you’re only getting nickel on the wound strings. The other strings are steel.
So do you have much wear on the frets under the unwound strings? The one that we mostly bend.
If not, then I’d say you don’t have to worry too much.

 

[WindsurfMaui]

I'm not a metallurgist but I thought Stainless steel is harder than regular steel. I will check the neck for the exact location of the dings in the frets but I just know there shouldn't be dings in any of my frets and I'm not seeing any dings in those nickel fret guitars that don't have stainless steel strings on them.

 

[TBurst Std]

The issue is with SS wound strings.  The wrapping is SS.  Will it eat into nickel frets sure.  For guitarists this is some what new.  Bass players have had this option for years LOL (Believe me with SS Rotosounds on nickel frets for almost a decade).
Bending strings actually helps mitigate the issue. It’s a moot point.

I say play the strings that sound best on your instrument.  Frets are like tires, you are going to have to replace them.

Now if you go SS frets, view that as an 80k mile tire vs a 30k tire

 

[TBurst Std]

I am trusting also you know that all string materials are tougher than nickel frets.  If not, then frets would never wear down.

 

[WindsurfMaui]

Oh no I'm expecting my stainless steel frets to last the lifetime of the neck. I expect the wood to splinter before any frets wear out!!  I don't care how good Stainless strings sound I'm going back to nickel strings unless you tell me stainless strings never have to be changed for a lifetime. Then I might consider them.  ???

 

[dmraco]

I have not used SS strings for this reason.  All my guitars have SS frets and I expect them to last the life time.  I really like the Ernie Ball Cobalt strings.  They feel great and do not corrode easily.  I am not sure where they rank o the hardness scale but I am sure Cagey does!    :laughing8: :dontknow:

That being said if it was my primary guitar an I was playing DAILY for several hours.  With the sheet number of guitar I have and I suspect many of us do, it may not be an issue.  If you are seeing pitting already, I would be switching to non-SS frets.

 

[Ace Flibble]

Unless you're bending your wound strings a lot, you shouldn't notice any additional wear. I used to use SS strings a lot, but I switched to using titanium strings on a few guitars and the only one that has shown any wear, after a decade of those strings, is a single neck getting a bit of a dip around the 5th fret of the D string, since that's the one place that guitar gets a wound string bent (and it gets it often). And that's it. A solid decade with titanium strings and the only damage to show for it is one fret around one string on one guitar. Stainless steel is even less aggressive.

You've got to be basically grinding the strings into the frets to purposefully wear them down in order to notice a difference between stainless wear and regular string wear.

 

[MikeW]

I've switched over to Cobalt and M-Steel strings on all my Strats, and all of them have stainless steel fret. One neck I have that setup on is 11 or 12 years old and there's no sign of fretwear anywhere on it.

I also have an older Epiphone LP with nickel steel frets that I tried some M-Steels on. About three sets of strings later I noticed that they were already starting to divot the frets on the low-end strings. Swapped back to Regular Slinkies after that to try and avoid having to redo the frets on it.

 

[dmraco]

I've switched over to Cobalt and M-Steel strings on all my Strats, and all of them have stainless steel fret. One neck I have that setup on is 11 or 12 years old and there's no sign of fretwear anywhere on it.

I am really liking the Cobalt strings too.    Just a bit more expensive but I find they hold their tone and feel well.

 

[MikeW]

I've switched over to Cobalt and M-Steel strings on all my Strats, and all of them have stainless steel fret. One neck I have that setup on is 11 or 12 years old and there's no sign of fretwear anywhere on it.

I am really liking the Cobalt strings too. Just a bit more expensive but I find they hold their tone and feel well.

Yep. I'm easily going a couple of months between string changes where before I was changing the strings on the daily players once a month. And what I've found is that there is very little tone loss until the very end of the life of the strings. I can always tell when it's time when the D starts to sound dull.

 

[Bob Hoover Ross]

Do stainless steel strings damage nickel frets?

I suppose they will eventually... Depends how much you play.

fwiw I have two or three basses in my collection that have sported stainless-steel roundwound strings for decades, and for at least a 10-year stretch at a time each one was my main go-to instrument, so they were getting played 1-4 hours a night 7 days a week and none of them has required a fret job

...yet.

 

[Rick]

Only one way to find out ...

 

[BroccoliRob]

i use dead strings to cut my boutique artisanal cheese. an unwound g from a 10-46 set is perfect at the right tension (tune it to nice, high B). just boil the string first to get rid of any nasty shredbutter (finger, hand, fret junk). i tried wound D's but the texture they leave on each slice of cheese is not desireable. you might even say it's less than desirable. it looks amateur hour, i wouldn't be caught dead servin' that at a nice dinner party (of which i have many). But if I did have to use round wound to slice a cheese, stainless doesn't leave a weird tang on the flavor like nickel strings. so, like i tell my computer buddies, if you have any questions, just ASCMII.  And no, I haven't tried flatwounds yet.

 

[mayfly]

i use dead strings to cut my boutique artisanal cheese. an unwound g from a 10-46 set is perfect at the right tension (tune it to nice, high B). just boil the string first to get rid of any nasty shredbutter (finger, hand, fret junk). i tried wound D's but the texture they leave on each slice of cheese is not desireable. you might even say it's less than desirable. it looks amateur hour, i wouldn't be caught dead servin' that at a nice dinner party (of which i have many). But if I did have to use round wound to slice a cheese, stainless doesn't leave a weird tang on the flavor like nickel strings. so, like i tell my computer buddies, if you have any questions, just ASCMII.  And no, I haven't tried flatwounds yet.

I don't know where to begin with all this.  Just too much win.  I just have to use dead strings on cheese now...