Members Grant Harding Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 The difficulty and wear on tools and wanting repeat business would be a driver for a small shop tech to use the softest stainless that can be legally called SS. Manufacturers want their frets to look new for as long as possible, so they'll use hard SS and adjust their process so there's very little levelling and crowning. That's why the frets in my Anderson have had 8 years of abuse with no visible wear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve_man Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 The next big thing is QUARTZ...http://www.crystalfrets.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted December 11, 2012 Moderators Share Posted December 11, 2012 Originally Posted by Steadfastly That is correct. It comes in different grades. It's like rice, there's white rice, black rice, wild rice, etc. See the link below. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_steel_grades You've both missed the point, its not how many different grades of SS there is but how many companies are making stainless fretwire, I'm only aware of two Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 Originally Posted by steve_man The next big thing is QUARTZ...http://www.crystalfrets.com/ Imagine having to grab your backup axe at a gig because you broke a fret... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted December 11, 2012 Moderators Share Posted December 11, 2012 Originally Posted by Ratae Coritanorum You've both missed the point, its not how many different grades of SS there is but how many companies are making stainless fretwire, I'm only aware of two Actually my estimate of two may have to been downgraded to one, I though Dunlop did SS wire, but it seems it's only Jescar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 Originally Posted by Ratae Coritanorum You've both missed the point, its not how many different grades of SS there is but how many companies are making stainless fretwire, I'm only aware of two I hadn't considered that. Good point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RockNote Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 Originally Posted by steve_man The next big thing is QUARTZ...http://www.crystalfrets.com/ I'd love to try that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Herzomud Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 There are apparently different hardnesses of SS frets regardless of number of suppliers. Parker guitars have stated, (and also read somewhere from Suhr and TAG), that tanged SS frets on tradition fret boards are slightly softer than the stuff that Parker uses on their high end composite fret boards. Apparently the shape of the fret is hard to form and the tang edge needs a softer metal to form. Parker uses the hardest stuff with the simplest shape that just glues to the fret board. This explains in general why parker frets seem to last longer than other SS fret wire. I have a Parker Mojo and also 3 TAG's all with SS fret wire. The TAG's wire is better finshed in terms of shape on the edges and I assume this is due to the slightly easier to work with metal, (as well as TAG attention to detail). However all of the guitars bend like the frets are as smooth as glass. I am actually curious why nickel frets never seem so polished. Even when new on supposed high end expensive guitars you can always get that grating noise by side to side vibrato which is much harder to hear on SS frets. However by high end I mean Fender/Gibson custom shop or PRS. I have never played a TAG or Suhr with non-SS frets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steadfastly Posted December 11, 2012 Members Share Posted December 11, 2012 Originally Posted by Ratae Coritanorum Actually my estimate of two may have to been downgraded to one, I though Dunlop did SS wire, but it seems it's only Jescar I wonder if that's where Stewmac get theirs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ihavenofish Posted December 12, 2012 Members Share Posted December 12, 2012 Originally Posted by Steadfastly I wonder if that's where Stewmac get theirs? both stew mac and warmoth frets are jescar if i recall correctly.the stainless used in frets is not particularly hard. its an austensic grade, so after being turned into wire it will be very faintly magnetic but probably not enough to detect. they should last alot longer than 12% or 18% nickel silver brass frets, though not due to hardness. they are of course not indestructable either.off hand, im not sure of an easy way to tell if the wire is stainless, without damaging it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted December 12, 2012 Moderators Share Posted December 12, 2012 Originally Posted by ihavenofish off hand, im not sure of an easy way to tell if the wire is stainless, without damaging it. The only non destructive or quantitative method would be to get another piece of austenitic ss of the same alloy and a nickel silver fret and rub them together, the one that feels less frictional is the stainless one as like materials always create less friction, but even that is "eye of faith" stuff.Anybody who has got a guitar back after switching from nickel silver frets to stainless frets will tell you they have an almost glass like property, devoid of any friction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nuke_diver Posted December 12, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 12, 2012 Originally Posted by harold heckuba I would ask that tech to take a polygraph. He has installed regular fretwireon your guitar. I'll probably go see him over the holidays to get a comment at least Originally Posted by Kevman This thread is lacking without pics. I don't think my camera will show the wear cause it's very small and I have a cheap camera Originally Posted by ashtray Are you using stainless steel strings?! No EXL110 D'addarioAgain the strange thing to me is that the worse of it is on the 1st fret which rarely gets fretted at all compared to 2-20. I probably play the 20th fret more that the 1st and certainly that is true for the G string Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ihavenofish Posted December 12, 2012 Members Share Posted December 12, 2012 without a picture, its hard to even guess what you are talking about with wear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members McCain Posted December 12, 2012 Members Share Posted December 12, 2012 Rub a regular metal file on the fret-end, if it marks the file instead of the fret it's probably ss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ihavenofish Posted December 12, 2012 Members Share Posted December 12, 2012 Originally Posted by McCain Rub a regular metal file on the fret-end, if it marks the file instead of the fret it's probably ss. ha, no. a regular file will happily eat stainless. they recommend diamond because it works faster lasts longer, not because a regular file doesnt work at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members McCain Posted December 13, 2012 Members Share Posted December 13, 2012 Originally Posted by ihavenofish ha, no. a regular file will happily eat stainless. they recommend diamond because it works faster lasts longer, not because a regular file doesnt work at all. I don't know...I used a usa made Nicholson mill bastard on some stainless and it ruined the file.Not saying a file won't work but I could see the damage to the file almost instantly before doing hardly anything to the ss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steadfastly Posted December 13, 2012 Members Share Posted December 13, 2012 It's quite possible that he put the fret wire on, thinking it was stainless steel. It could have been sent to him wrong, got mixed up in his shop or labelled wrongly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted December 13, 2012 Members Share Posted December 13, 2012 Originally Posted by Steadfastly It's quite possible that he put the fret wire on, thinking it was stainless steel. It could have been sent to him wrong, got mixed up in his shop or labelled wrongly. I would expect any experienced tech to know the difference instantly once he started cutting wire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bluffalo Posted December 13, 2012 Members Share Posted December 13, 2012 like others have said, my parker is a 1998 and it has PERFECT frets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Puppetyr Posted December 13, 2012 Members Share Posted December 13, 2012 Originally Posted by nuke_diver Again there is virtually no wear on frets 2-9 where with normal frets that is where I see the most wear. The wear is on the 1st fret only. It also does not look like the wear on the normal frets which tend to be a wider groove, this is almost a string thickness wear as opposed to a v like groove. Could it be that that 1st fret isn't SS and the rest are This makes it sound like the string was somehow bashed into the fret with a hard impact. SS frets are still prone to denting in this fashion; that's why high end brands like Anderson ship their guitars with a plastic fret protector which sits under the strings and on top of the frets.The other point which may have been mentioned (I didn't read all the replies) is that there are different grades of SS: some harder than others. If the luthier that did the refret used a softer grade than is usual you may expect some wear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steadfastly Posted December 13, 2012 Members Share Posted December 13, 2012 Originally Posted by mrbrown49 I would expect any experienced tech to know the difference instantly once he started cutting wire. Likely, unless he is an experienced tech but not experienced with SS wire. I'm just saying it's possible. It's better to go at it this way rather than just accuse the guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted December 13, 2012 Moderators Share Posted December 13, 2012 Originally Posted by mrbrown49 I would expect any experienced tech to know the difference instantly once he started cutting wire. Yes, only if he had had previous experience with SS. I do all my fretwork now with Dremel cut off wheels, no nippers, so I'd be blissfully unaware of any difference, until that is I strung it up and bent a G or a B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members McCain Posted December 13, 2012 Members Share Posted December 13, 2012 Is a capo used at the 1st fret a lot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nuke_diver Posted December 13, 2012 Author Members Share Posted December 13, 2012 Originally Posted by McCain Is a capo used at the 1st fret a lot? I don't think I've ever used a capo on that guitar.I tried to take a picture last night but needed the flash and it doesn't come out at all. I'll have to try on the weekend when it's light when I'm at home (dark when I leave for work dark when I get home ). I don't recall ever bashing the fretboard hard at any time so I doubt that's the cause.Regarding the luthier who did it. He is very experienced (~200 refrets a year according to him) and runs one of the best repair shops around. There was an delay because the original wire that came in was not SS and he had to reorder it so I do wonder if somehow the 1st fret got done with the wrong wire and the rest were ok. Like I said I'll go see him and see what he thinks as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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