Went to town on the stainless frets on my Warmoth build....fantastic!!!!!!!

[rauchman]

Greetings,

Got home from a vacation with the wife in Amsterdam (great great trip) this past Friday.  On Sat, finally had time to finish the last remaining thing on my Warmoth Tele, and that was to really do a fret job.  I had ordered the neck with Warmoth's 6115 stainless steel frets, and upon initial assembly, had done a cursory fret job (this makes it sound like I have vast experience doing fret jobs....I don't, I'm just barely out of fret job diapers).  At this point, there were some scratches on the frets and I was getting a light buzzing sound on the high E around the 7th fret.

On Sat, out came the Dremel with a polishing head and polishing compound, some Stew Mac fret sand paper/polishing paper and a Stew Mac fret leveler.  I spent about 5 hours on that neck polishing, polishing some more, and polishing yet even more.  The end result is by far the nicest feel I've ever experienced on a fret board.  FANTASIC!!!!!!  When bending a string there is zero resistance.  The string just effortlessly glides across the fret to the desired note.  I've never experienced this effect when fretting on the guitar.  Just amazing.  Smooth doesn't  describe this enough.  Effortless is better. 
The frets on my other guitars (2 LP's, Gibby Midtown, Fender Strat MIM, G&L USA Legacy Special) feel crude by comparison.  They are notchy and not smooth or effortless by comparison.  It is inspiring me to do fret jobs on these guitars as well.

Thanks to Stratamania and some of the other regulars on this site for inspiration in doing the fret job.  Totally totally worth it.

 

[stratamania]

Thanks, glad you are enjoying the result.

Oh and glad you enjoyed Amsterdam. I lived there for many years and have family there.

 

[rauchman]

Thanks, glad you are enjoying the result.

Oh and glad you enjoyed Amsterdam. I lived there for many years and have family there.

Amsterdam was fantastic.  Definitely a place where it seems like the focus is on living vs working (probably more related to Europe in general?).  I'm sure I'm looking at it through the rosey colored perspective of a tourist.  How is it to live there?

 

[Cagey]

Well-polished stainless frets are a joy to play. It's like gliding on glass. Almost feels like going down a gauge set in string size. What's even better is they tend to stay that way. But, as you say, they sure do make your other necks feel like there's something wrong  :laughing7:

 

[stratamania]

Amsterdam was fantastic.  Definitely a place where it seems like the focus is on living vs working (probably more related to Europe in general?).  I'm sure I'm looking at it through the rosey colored perspective of a tourist.  How is it to live there?

I enjoyed living there. I lived at the edge of a suburb so polder fields were nearby with cows and places to cycle and walk. But I could take a metro train into the city quite quickly. People, in general, are friendly.

European working hours can be less than for example in the US but like anywhere living somewhere you do have the realities of daily life to do compared to being on holiday.

 

[Rick]

Stainless steel frets are the bomb.  Amsterdam, nice too.  :bananaguitar:

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

To me, after playing for 46 years, the difference between nickel frets and stainless steel is like this.

Nickel Frets = brass slide
Stainless Frets = polished glass slide

 

[musicispeace]

Ya, when I play something I have with stainless frets after playing nickel again for awhile its immediate that I notice how smooth they feel. My tele has stainless and the bends are nothing short of a pleasure.