| Stainless is generally a harder alloy than nickle, but the amount of wear on either frets or on a fretless fingerboard is the result of how coarse the wrap wire is, the hardness of the specific alloy used by the string maker, how the player frets the string, whether they use side-to-side vibrato much, how hard they attack, etc. Whether it's "damage" or it's "normal wear and tear" is pretty subjective and open to debate. While I don't care at all for Rotosound RS-66 because of the sound and limited life I experience with them, if they sounded right to me I'd use them.
And that's despite their deserved reputation for being hard on frets and fingerboards. Rotosound uses a more coarse outer wrap than most other stainless rounds, and the alloy they use is different from most others as well. All those contribute both to the wear they cause AND the characteristic sound. It's an instrument, not a one-of-a-kind painting that can never be replaced. So, my philosophy is use what sounds right to YOU when YOU play YOUR bass. Do what it takes to maintain the bass, but the sound is the very reason for the bass' existence, so don't compromise the sound in an attempt to "preserve" the bass. That's like refusing to drive your car because you'll put wear on the clutch.
John
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JTE
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"Without space, music is just noise piling up on itself." TRK
Lakland Owners' Club # 248
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