Stainless Steel Frets

[Volitions Advocate]

We did about 20 of them and put them on the showcase. It took a little over two years before the last one sold, and we had to sell it cheap to get rid of it!  :laughing7: .... Not a real mover we found.

What kind of shapes did you have?  I'm a big dean fan but im not too into the metal thing.. the big V headstocks were never my thing. the ML's and the Razorbacks and all that fun stuff is cool, it's just not very...    me.

Did you have any of the more traditional styles ? ie. Hardtail, Vendetta, EVO, Cadillac or Soltero?  And if you did is there maybe some little bit of data on a disk somewhere for the CNC that might be pursuaded with enough money to make a special order?

Just throwing the idea out there..... *cough*

 

[riarojr]

dude i got 2 guitars with Stainless frets on em....my Ibanez JC and my warmoth build....and BOTH of them sport all dimarzio setups so i guess i'm doomed :laughing11:

but 4real i love the way they both sound and i assume the frets got a bit to do with that.  my warmoth build does sound pretty bright, but then again i got the ash body, ebony board and went with a bright pickup selection intentionally and as far as "not sounding natural" goes i don't know jack about this guy, but he can lick a left nut for all i care.  this thing can just about elicit a 12 sound and the Ibanez isn't harsh on the ears at all.  it's actually pretty warm sounding, but with articulation.  arty07:

Rico

 

[rahimiiii]

Well, considering that it costs over 200 dollars (for a good luthier who knows what he's doing) for a refret (which you might as well buy a new Warmoth neck) 20 dollars extra for a fret that NEVER wears out even if you play like crazy, smooth feel, and tone difference? I couldn't hear any. The amp probably makes more tone difference than the fret anyways. Its a small price to pay... Also stainless steel fret stays shiny forever if you polish it, can't say that about nickel fret...

 

[Nando Vallart]

To Warmoth stuff:
I understand that warmoth does sells the stainless still frets alone. I'm correct in think this way?

 

[-CB-]

Stainless frets... tone difference?  You'll get more difference with different strings than with stainless vs nickel frets.

Ed Roman?  Pompous blowhard from Nevada, who has narrowly escaped implication various times, as customers have brought his "deals" to the light of day.  A clever manipulator of words, and self proclaimed.....  forget him, he's not worth going on about.

-----

I'm also amazed at folks who SWEAR that a bone nut, ivory nut, brass nut, micarta nut, plastic nut, all change the tone in dramatic ways, even though, they rarely pick an open string.....

Mythology runs deep in the guitar world

 

[jackthehack]

Stainless Steel frets? I've ordered them on a couple of necks and see no tonal difference at all, you order those ostensibly to avoid having to do fret work on a heavily used guitar as the frets will wear more slowly than nickel alloys

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

All this being said, it's clear that stainless steel rivals nickel any day of the week hands down, just look at everything else that stainless steel is used for that nickel is not, ie; Fine cutlery, machine work, drill bits, dies, airline and auto parts, etc...

Stainless is used because in conjunction with wear, it stands the test of time, nickel does not.

 

[-CB-]

Well.....

Stainless is more wear resistant than nickel-silver (really a type of nickel brass), and thats a given, a no brainer.

However, there is stainless, and then again, there is stainless.  That is, stainless steel - high chrome (or other things) steel - has some interesting properties.  Some stainless is non-magnetic, some is magnetic.  Some stainless is hard, some quite soft (I'm sure our frets are the soft stuff).  Some stainless... most of it that I've had the pleasure of working with, can be a bitch to cut if you dont know how.  The secret being high rake, higher feed pressure and low speed, and... coolant.  The preferred method when removing lots of tough stainless in a machining process is progressive EDM.  I could cut abuot 9 cubic inches from a block in a day that way, then start on the final shape the next day (talking injection molds here).

Stainless wire - must be soft in order to be extruded, then worked to the shape of a fret.

Heat treating stainless is not too bad, no worse than other treatments but....  when you reach the point of decalescence strange things can happen, like... it no longer has stainless properties! (and changes in magnetic makeup, but all steels do that).  And, some stainless work hardens, and work softens.

There are 1000's of types of stainless steels.  Saying "stainless" is a about like saying "meat".... you're talking about a pretty big pool of possibilities there.

 

[jackthehack]

My reference was explicitly in regards to the Warmoth supplied stainless steel frets option.

 

[-CB-]

I know that Jack, just adding some flourish for general confusion <ggg>

I'm trying to figure out what stainless alloy they use.  Not that it matters, but I wanted to see how tough it is versus other metals, other stainless.  You'd think stainless steel - wooo sounds like tough stuff - would be REALLY tough.  I have some stainless steel gun barrels that are akin to chewing gum.  They are actually very mushy, to the point that a fine file wont really cut them well, and sandpaper leaves little galled putty balls of metal.  In short... they're stainless, but... totally useless for more than a couple of hundred shots in a .45.  On the other hand, they'd probably never blow in an overcharge, just swell.

FWIW, I've had stainless electrical enclosures that we were only able to cut with plasma.... hard beyond belief.  I'd love a tele bridge made of that stuff <ggg>

 

[rahimiiii]

Well, the one from Warmoth they won't get cut by regular files at all, in fact most regular fret file just glides right over the fret without cutting, well it cuts a little but then it smooths out the file enough that it won't cut at all. You must use diamond tool to cut this stuff.

 

[boltboy]

Does anyone else have any experience w/ the stainless 6115 frets? Some people say the triangle shape feel weird. I normally like the 6100 frets but this is the largest ss fret they offer.  Any wear issues? I do go through frets fast. Thanx

 

[DiMitriR33]

the tryangle shap isn't that pronounced. it has a radius at the top. not too diferent from the 6105 in feel, just slightly taller and a tighter radius.
and no wear issues, none at all. the stainless is super hard and extremlly smooth. get these or 6105 if you like a big fret. both are awesome.

 

[ss396]

6115 stainless frets are awesome. i converted from 6100 nickel and won't go back. they about the same size as the 6100 but the pyramid shape lets you slide over them easier. they make bends effortless, and i can't tell any tone difference.

 

[vegababy]

I wish they made 6100 in stainless steel. Would buy them immediately. I can't really see myself getting used to other frets once again while all my other guitars have 6100s on them.
Does anyone know why they are not available ? 6100 is one of the more popular choices in frets since ages...

 

[bpmorton777]

looking at fret wire sizes....SS6115 are pretty close. probably close enough that you wouldnt notice.

Brian

 

[-CB-]

Well, the one from Warmoth they won't get cut by regular files at all, in fact most regular fret file just glides right over the fret without cutting, well it cuts a little but then it smooths out the file enough that it won't cut at all. You must use diamond tool to cut this stuff.

Its all in the way you use the file.  The trick is to have a very solidly supported neck - totally free of vibration, and supported close to the point of where you're filing.  The file must not chatter - and chatter it will try.  Solid hold, solid neck, smooth strong cuts.

 

[rahimiiii]

Well, the one from Warmoth they won't get cut by regular files at all, in fact most regular fret file just glides right over the fret without cutting, well it cuts a little but then it smooths out the file enough that it won't cut at all. You must use diamond tool to cut this stuff.

Its all in the way you use the file.  The trick is to have a very solidly supported neck - totally free of vibration, and supported close to the point of where you're filing.  The file must not chatter - and chatter it will try.  Solid hold, solid neck, smooth strong cuts.

Well, I heard alot of lutheirs won't even work on stainless steel frets because it destorys fret tools, unless those luthiers are equipped with diamond tools. Anyways I have one maple neck with regular 6100 fret and the koa/ebony neck with SS frets and the SS fret is so much easier to bend on, the 6100 fret sorta drags the string when I try to bend... Kinda regretted not using SS.

 

[simple]

Well, I heard alot of lutheirs won't even work on stainless steel frets because it destorys fret tools,

The cheaper the tools, the less they perform well and the scarier stainless is to them. A guitar tech doing service work for others and only using cheap tools?.......uh......priceless?   :icon_scratch:

 

[dave.r]

Hey folks;
I actually come to this board with a question that picks up right where this discussion ends off.

My Warmoth strat I got with stainless frets on the neck was involved in an incident and now two of the frets have nicks that make those frets unplayable. Though they're sharp and catch the strings they're not too deep.

I figured this could be remedied by getting the frets leveled, but i've had no luck finding a tech who wants to work on stainless steel frets. I'm in Los angeles and don't want to mention any names, but even the highly-reputed techs I looked up in hollywood had no interest in working on them. This is just somewhat disheartening because I did the research before ordering the neck and believed what I'd read about SS frets being no harder to work on than nickel in the event something like this happen.

In any case, I really just want to get this fixed so I can use the guitar again; it played and sounded fantastic. Does anyone know any actual techs who have done or would offer to work on SS frets? Hopefully in the Los angeles/so-cal area? :help: