Dose anyone, not like stainless steel frets ? Why would you buy non-stainless?

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So I regularly search the Reverb site for Warmoth guitar necks and I am amazed that about half of the Warmoth necks listed come with nickel frets. Why would anyone choose nickel frets at this point ?

My reasoning is this. Stainless steel frets are like a $25 option on a Warmoth neck. Now there is on line luthier in Georgia who offers stainless steel re-frets  for $365 https://aperioguitar.com/stainlesssteelrefretting/ which apparently is a bargain price. Regular nickel steel re-frets range from say $250 to about double that.

Now depending on you you believe, stainless steel frets either (A.)  never wear out or (B.) last two or three times as long as nickel steel.

So if you work on the stainless steel frets never wear out assumption you would spend $25 when the neck was purchased and that would be it.

If you work on the stainless steel frets last free times as long assumption, you would spend $25 when the neck was purchased, plus  $365 for one  stainless steel re-fret for a total of  $390 . It's nickel steel cousin would have undergone three re-frets in the same period, for a total of $750. This price doesn't include nut replacement and the set up that normally goes along with a re-fret, just that those are going to be 3x for the nickel steel and 1 x for the stainless.

For those of you who have stainless steel frets, and play a lot, or play in harsh environments (cruise ships, smoky bars, refineries) how are the stainless frets holding up?

Bye for now
 
Dunno.  I have them on two guitars and wish I had converted sooner.  Given the cost of re-fretting, I might just have to order a few new warmoth necks just to switch everything over!

BTW, the SS frets are holding up very well, thank-you-very-much.  I am definitely wearing down the nickel silver frets however.  :headbang:
 
Cost of Warmoth vs a refret makes it almost a non starter. But I have a early 80's Zion with a unique logo. Only a couple hundred made with that logo I'm guessing, if that.  It's ESP, but I love this neck and want to preserve the logo. Especially now that Ken Hoover has passed on.

It's prone to wearing on the g & b strings between 3 and 5. And I like stainless strings but finally took them off for wear reasons.

This neck I might consider refretting in stainless some day. Anything else? New neck for cost of refret? Double action side adjust truss Todd? Hello Aaron buddy!
 
For me, it comes down to a few things, ...

[list type=decimal]
[*]I hate the feel of SS frets. Sure, I could get used to them, but there is a lot of subjective taste in guitar. I've sold every guitar I ever bought with SS frets
[*]I hate having to level, crown and dress them on a new neck
[*]I'm not a pro, I don't use SS strings, and rotate between a few guitars, so leveling every 8-10 years and refretting every 20+ years is not exactly a major inconvenience
[/list]

 
I don’t hate them but not a selling point for me. My playing time gets split between a number of guitars these days, and I don’t have a problem refretting if needed. I installed a set of SS and it wasn’t worth the extra elbow grease.

If I owned one primary guitar and played 40 hours a week like I did many years ago they’d be more appealing.



 
My simple answer: I don't play so frequently to wear out frets.

Therefore, no need to spend the extra $25 on something more durable when I'm never going to need that durability.

I'm lucky if I can carve out 15-20 minutes to play anything every 2-3 weeks before someone in the house starts losing the plot and I have to put everything down again.

#dadlife
 
I like stainless a lot but also have nickel on a couple of guitars. One was being on a super tight budget when I spotted a unique choice fretboard I knew could be gone at anytime and one was for a guitar I knew I wasn't going to use as much or enough to worry about wearing anything out. Millions of people are using each kind of fret.
 
Its not necessarily a cost equation. Some prefer nickel frets and that is fine as not everyone has to like the same thing.

I have both SS and nickel silver. I would normally go for SS on new builds for myself, but I have a project planned that is more vintage in aspect so I may go for NS on that. At my age and with the amount of guitars I have I suspect I will have little chance of needing to re fret.
 
After having played on stainless I can't see myself ever wanting to play on nickel ever again, but there's the rub. They feel totally different.

For me playing on nickel feels like playing on gravel now, but then I like strings on the heavier side and higher action than a lot of players. There are probably folks out there who don't understand why anyone plays anything heavier than 9s and think of 11s and 12s the way I think of nickel frets.
 
Me too, I used to shy away from SS due to fear of them being too bright.

I bought my first neck with SS frets some years ago and haven't looked back since. No point in going with Nickel-Silver frets. SS frets look like new even after years of intensive playing. I don't have the hardest touch, but my Nickel-silver fretted necks become dull whereas my SS fretted necks still shine bright.
Plus I love the feel when I do bendings on SS frets.

But tastes differ...
 
I love stainless. Aperio is also about 15 minutes away from me and Greg refretted my Les Paul with stainless and it’s hands down the best fret work I’ve ever seen. He’s also a wonderful person and absolutely a blast to talk to. I can’t recommend his work enough.
 
Funny I was just watching again this video from Warmoth yesterday before seeing this thread:
  [youtube]https://youtu.be/eLstfUO9OZ8[/youtube]

I could hear a difference clean, but not one I personally care about either way.

Some don't like the feel of it:
- too slick/slippery when polished 'properly'.
- too rough if the person working on the frets didn't understand that, unlike nickel frets, you really should polish those frets to get that ultra slick feel.


I've almost exclusively ordered SS frets on the countless necks I've had.
I like the feel when polished properly, and don't have to worry about wear. Also the necks seem to resell better.
 
Your fingers aren't supposed to touch the frets when you play the guitar, so if you're feeling the frets, you're playing wrong.
I notice no difference in "feel" with SS frets versus Nickle.
 
Street Avenger said:
Your fingers aren't supposed to touch the frets when you play the guitar, so if you're feeling the frets, you're playing wrong.
I notice no difference in "feel" with SS frets versus Nickle.

yo i think they're talkin bout the feel of the string against the fret. Like when doing bends or some wicked vibrato. I feel noticeable diff in that regard but no diff in terms of sound. i'm #teamstainless all da way.

Speaking of preferences Does anyone know where to buy scuits or monoscuits? I can find Biscuits and Triscuits but not the original, which i prefer. I don't need complicated scuits.
 
Your jest is not far off the mark. Biscuit's etymology comes from french for "twice baked".  So just cook them once. Or is that half baked? I'm confused
 
BroccoliRob said:
Street Avenger said:
Your fingers aren't supposed to touch the frets when you play the guitar, so if you're feeling the frets, you're playing wrong.
I notice no difference in "feel" with SS frets versus Nickle.

yo i think they're talkin bout the feel of the string against the fret. Like when doing bends or some wicked vibrato. I feel noticeable diff in that regard but no diff in terms of sound. i'm #teamstainless all da way.

Exactly, lol. How rough or slick bending strings feels depending on how great or how badly the person polished those frets.
Worth noting that highly polished nickel frets can feel deceptively as slick when bending, the difference is it doesn't last.
 
a $20 upcharge now can save you $100's later.

I liken the feel of stainless over standard nickel to be like going to a glass slide from a brushed brass slide.

Smooth as butter on SS.
 
And here I am, hanging out on the UW forum instead of wearing down my nickel frets even more :D

(no seriously, my kids just went to bed an hour ago. I'm not going to screw that up by plugging in and jamming)
 
I rarely have more than 3-4 guitars at a time. But my favorite has been levelled twice in the 30 years I've owned it. The first time the wear was mostly the previous owners, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.
 
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