Frets - Nickle Silver or Stainless?

[Ritchie200]

Having played my "old" guitars for what seems like forever, I don't think I have ever played a guitar with stainless frets.  Any opinions?  I am building one and never thought about it, until now!

Thanks!
Jim

[SILVERGUN]

Hey Buddy

The last guitar I assembled was from Warmoth parts, and it was for my boss,, so it had to be right...
I have ss frets on my funny looking guitar,,,and after many years of pounding them, they are super smooth with no divots....

SO, I decided to use ss and he is thrilled with it !.....we were also able to use the smallest wire they offer, because there is no fear of wearing them down,,,and he LOVES the feel, because he describes it as not having speed bumps....
I always thought I liked bigger frets,,,but really prefer the feel of his, and actually believe it's the fastest setup I've ever felt!

The only tradeoff is that there IS more highs than nickel,,,so I would give your pickup selection a little more thought...
BUT, with the increased highs, there are also much more harmonics, that just seem to jump out of his guitar, and I really do like it!

Maybe not a great choice for a combination of bright woods and high output pickups,,,,,but definitely a great choice for playability and punchiness........

Just build a Tele and get it over with!

[G._Hoffman]

I use stainless steel frets on all of my guitars, but mostly because I don't always know who is going to be buying it.  Our general rule of thumb for doing refrets for customers is to base it on how hard they wear on their frets.  Most people just don't need them.  We have a few customers who used to get full refrets every 12-18 months.  Those guys (all of whom basically play one guitar 6-12 hours a day) NEED stainless frets.  But most players don't.  Nickle/silver is a LOT easier to work with.  A LOT easier.  And is a lot less wearing on your tools - not to mention your muscles and your hands.


Gabriel

[Ritchie200]

Just build a Tele and get it over with!

I don't know you..

Thanks guys!  Geez, I'm not sure what the heck I'm going to do...  I haven't played 6+ hours a day since I was about 10!  So I don't think wear will be an issue.  Like anyone who works with their hands, I'm sure yours takes a beating.  Gabe, this is the acrylic guitar that I talked to you about last year.  I am FINALLY trying to get back to it.  I am going to try and cob a neck together - we will see how it goes.... I've got a nice chunk of maple and some ebony.  At the very least I will learn a lot - builds character, right?  Either that or I will end up with a big clear coffee cup coaster until I can afford to buy a good one from you!

Thanks again!
Jim

[SILVERGUN]

If your saying acrylic body with maple neck and ebony fingerboard, I would say probably not ss...(bright X bright squared)

As Gabe mentioned, fretwork is much more difficult with ss, and if your laying in the frets yourself, into ebony (hard), you may have to do leveling,,,etc.,,,etc

With Warmoth installing those little frets for me, they didn't require any leveling or crowning.......
I wouldn't want to have to work them if I didn't have to.

[cyclecamper]

Personally I feel like anything softer than stainless belongs on a disposable guitar.  YMMV.

[G._Hoffman]

If you are going to use ss strings, then I would go with ss, if you plan to use nickel strings, then German silver frets. 

I got a friend whose 12 string acoustic is buzzing on the fifth fret, too much playing.  I'll bet his frets are nickel-silver(aka German Silver).  And this is with steel strings. 

That's one possibility, but it could also just need a truss rod adjustment.  Or a setup.  You can't really diagnose a problem from nothing more than buzzing. 

The VAST majority of frets are nickle-silver, and for most people that's fine.  Stainless is a very new innovation for frets - well, the last 20 years or so - and there really is no reason for them to be widely adopted.  Personally, I've been known to go 20 years of playing on my main guitars without needing fret work.  Now, partly that is because I don't play enough, but the other part is that the way I play I just don't wear out my frets.  Some people do, some don't, but the extra wear on your tools and such for stainless isn't really worth it for most people.


Gabriel