Stainless steel frets

[Benjamin Strange]

The string had better not be vibrating against the fret at all - or else you're not fretting the note correctly. That's called fret buzz. The fret point is a node for the string (the other node being the bridge), and it should be essentially motionless.

This would only be true if the string were not moving. The tolerances for fret clearance with a low action are measured in the thousandths of an inch, and since a bass string can oscillate wildly, you're going to have a certain amount of fret buzz in almost every setup, unless your action is really high. The trick is to minimize buzzing by having perfectly leveled frets and a good setup.

 

[TheEnergy]

its new to me for discussing frets,and i don't know what's my frets....does anybody knows what's the frets of fender precision MIA?

 

[throbgod13]

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20090724/NEWS/907239956/1077&ParentProfile=1058

Quartz Crystal Frets are where it's at.. lol..

 

[mongo2]

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20090724/NEWS/907239956/1077&ParentProfile=1058

Quartz Crystal Frets are where it's at.. lol..

New Agey as that sounds I find it interesting.

 

[adube810]

the tone is all in the hetty crystals

 

[xgator4u]

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20090724/NEWS/907239956/1077&ParentProfile=1058

Quartz Crystal Frets are where it's at.. lol..

Quartz Crystal F.T.W.


Now if we could only get crystallized carrots...

 

[nastyn8c]

I had my Dingwall ABII refretted to SS about 2 years back. I *did* notice a slightly brighter tone. Not overly significant, but noticeable to a trained ear.

They are holding up far better than the nickel frets I had before. Better yet, because they obviously don't oxidize at all, they look as gorgeous as the day I got them.

Overall, SS frets get a big thumbs up from me.

 

[johnk_10]

as a luthier for more than 36 years, IMO, EVERY aspect of an instrument has an effect on its tone. IME, SS frets are a little brighter than NS ones, and take more time to mill/level/recrown and polish, but once you do, their only benefit (to me) is that they last longer. personally, i don't care for the brighter tone that they create (since i'm 'old school' and set in my ways), but if you had a duller sounding bass, it might actually help it.

IMO, fret size also has an large effect on tone as it is mostly due to the amount of having more metal mass in the neck.

i refretted a '63 P bass for one of my clients years ago, that had just been refretted by a well known luthier (who shall remain nameless). the client was a pro player and original owner of the bass. he was very accustomed to his bass' tone. the previous refret had replaced the original small frets with meduim jumbo sized ones and its owner said that his bass lost alot of its 'woody' tone, and now sounded brittle and clacky. i let him play my original '62 100% stock p bass and he said that it was alot closer to how his used to sound. being the the fret sizing was the only difference, i told him that i'd remove the new refretted frets and install original sized ones. two days later when he picked it up and played it, he smiled and couldn't thank me enough. he said that it sounded exactly how he remembered it, only now, it played alot better. not being that i owned his bass for all those years, i too, could immediately tell that it lost all of its previous clackiness, and sounded much closer to my original '62 p.

 

[Jazz Ad]

Would you rather have your strings wear your frets out first? Something has to give.

My oldest bass is 15 yo, fretted silver nickel. I played it daily since I got it and only had to refret once. I have to change strings every few months. So yeah, I'd rather save on strings.

 

[Rickett Customs]

as a luthier for more than 36 years, IMO, EVERY aspect of an instrument has an effect on its tone. IME, SS frets are a little brighter than NS ones, and take more time to mill/level/recrown and polish, but once you do, their only benefit (to me) is that they last longer. personally, i don't care for the brighter tone that they create (since i'm 'old school' and set in my ways), but if you had a duller sounding bass, it might actually help it.

IMO, fret size also has an large effect on tone as it is mostly due to the amount of having more metal mass in the neck.

i refretted a '63 P bass for one of my clients years ago, that had just been refretted by a well known luthier (who shall remain nameless). the client was a pro player and original owner of the bass. he was very accustomed to his bass' tone. the previous refret had replaced the original small frets with meduim jumbo sized ones and its owner said that his bass lost alot of its 'woody' tone, and now sounded brittle and clacky. i let him play my original '62 100% stock p bass and he said that it was alot closer to how his used to sound. being the the fret sizing was the only difference, i told him that i'd remove the new refretted frets and install original sized ones. two days later when he picked it up and played it, he smiled and couldn't thank me enough. he said that it sounded exactly how he remembered it, only now, it played alot better. not being that i owned his bass for all those years, i too, could immediately tell that it lost all of its previous clackiness, and sounded much closer to my original '62 p.

+1, The man makes a good point.

 

[Horny Toad]

I had a Carvin with SS frets. Every note I fretted would make a *clack* sound. After the clack I would have a very clear tone with great sustain. But I couldn't get over *clack clack clack clack>!!!!>>!>* So I got rid of it.

clack clack clack clack clack!!!

Just got a Carvin Icon with SS frets. Haven't noticed any clacking at all. I'm sure my use of Chromes is a factor, but I also played it a bit with the stock strings and I don't recall any clacking.

 

[Korladis]

I would think that yes, stainless steel frets would affect your tone. Is it the only thing? Of course not, the tone of a bass is the sum of a great many factors.

Lots of people switch out their bridges. Often this changes the tone due to mass, but the difference in materials also matters. Logically, if changing what's stopping the string at one end changes the tone, changing the material of what's stopping the string at the other end would, too, though perhaps not to as great a degree due to a fret's much smaller size.

Of course, changing the tone isn't necessarily a bad thing. Many people like the change in tone they get when changing brand and/or gauge of strings. The reason a change in tone can be worrying for a refret is that such is considerably more expensive than changing strings. If you think a somewhat brighter and more clacky sound would be good, perhaps stainless steel frets would be a good idea. If you're good with EQ, you could possibly make some changes so that the difference in tone would be negligible, too. Or just continue with nickel frets, if you want.

 

[lowphatbass]

as a luthier for more than 36 years, IMO, EVERY aspect of an instrument has an effect on its tone. IME, SS frets are a little brighter than NS ones, and take more time to mill/level/recrown and polish, but once you do, their only benefit (to me) is that they last longer. personally, i don't care for the brighter tone that they create (since i'm 'old school' and set in my ways), but if you had a duller sounding bass, it might actually help it.

IMO, fret size also has an large effect on tone as it is mostly due to the amount of having more metal mass in the neck.

i refretted a '63 P bass for one of my clients years ago, that had just been refretted by a well known luthier (who shall remain nameless). the client was a pro player and original owner of the bass. he was very accustomed to his bass' tone. the previous refret had replaced the original small frets with meduim jumbo sized ones and its owner said that his bass lost alot of its 'woody' tone, and now sounded brittle and clacky. i let him play my original '62 100% stock p bass and he said that it was alot closer to how his used to sound. being the the fret sizing was the only difference, i told him that i'd remove the new refretted frets and install original sized ones. two days later when he picked it up and played it, he smiled and couldn't thank me enough. he said that it sounded exactly how he remembered it, only now, it played alot better. not being that i owned his bass for all those years, i too, could immediately tell that it lost all of its previous clackiness, and sounded much closer to my original '62 p.

YES!
Fret size has a huge effect on tone, particularly the initial attack.

I think the "stigma" of having to have frets dressed/milled/replaced is pretty over-hyped. When you've put enough hours on your bass to warrant 2 fret mills and a fret replacement then chances are you've earned the money you'll need to spend a couple hundred times over(unless you're playing for free, or practicing too much). I certainly don't have anything against SS frets, If a bass I wanted had them if wouldn't be a deal breaker or effect my purchase decision.

 

[pasta4lnch]

If you have the dough for something as extravagant as stainless steel frets, I'd recommend you save some money by going with stainless steel blocks and binding.

isn't it like a $20 option for SS frets from both Carvin and Warmoth?

Invalid Link Removed

Color is the only difference. "Bell brass" is really bronze/silver and is equally as strong as the nickel/silver fretwire most places sell. Actually, after reading that thread about the SS eating up the Warwick frets, I'm inclined to think it may be softer than the nickel/silver.

hhmm cant get this link to work - where on Warwicks site is this? interested to read it.


interesting thread - I have SS frets on a Carvin guitar I bought and never pay (which is for sale if anyone's interested - cheap!) and I was set to get them on a Warmoth P I've been gassing over, but after reading this I may need to think about that. I'm all for brighter guitars, but bass . . . not so much.

 

[Korladis]

YES!
Fret size has a huge effect on tone, particularly the initial attack.

I think the "stigma" of having to have frets dressed/milled/replaced is pretty over-hyped. When you've put enough hours on your bass to warrant 2 fret mills and a fret replacement then chances are you've earned the money you'll need to spend a couple hundred times over(unless you're playing for free, or practicing too much). I certainly don't have anything against SS frets, If a bass I wanted had them if wouldn't be a deal breaker or effect my purchase decision.

Quite so. With enough playing time, any fretted bass is going to need fretwork. Just part of maintaining the instrument. Strings need changing, and eventually frets wear down. It happens. The only way to avoid it is not to play very much if at all, but that's no fun.

 

[stiles72]

Does anyone have a photo of frets that are "worn down"? Do they mean down to the fingerboard? I hear people talk about it, but I've never seen anything I would consider "worn down". Not even on old vintage instruments. My older basses that get lots of play you can see where the strings hit the frets - but I guess I always figured that was just a natural part of a bass being broken in.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

isn't it like a $20 option for SS frets from both Carvin and Warmoth?




hhmm cant get this link to work - where on Warwicks site is this? interested to read it.


interesting thread - I have SS frets on a Carvin guitar I bought and never pay (which is for sale if anyone's interested - cheap!) and I was set to get them on a Warmoth P I've been gassing over, but after reading this I may need to think about that. I'm all for brighter guitars, but bass . . . not so much.

To be honest, I just copied the link that I found online regarding the subject - I never even clicked it.

To whomever had the Warwick fret monstrocity pics...did you email those to Warwick? It sounds like something they should be aware of.

 

[F-Clef-Jef]

Okay, now lets discuss what type of stainless steel sounds the best! A quick check of Wiki show at least 30 different grades of SS, and I know of a couple more that aren't on that chart... then we can also discuss the same for the nickle-silver frets, which although I can't seem to find a grade chart, I'm sure comes in many different grades/alloys also.

I think 316L stainless sounds the best for playing metal...

 

[Rickett Customs]

I just got done ordering 50' of ss fretwire, no nickel silver this round

 

[mikeswals]

Does anyone have a photo of frets that are "worn down"? Do they mean down to the fingerboard? I hear people talk about it, but I've never seen anything I would consider "worn down". Not even on old vintage instruments. My older basses that get lots of play you can see where the strings hit the frets - but I guess I always figured that was just a natural part of a bass being broken in.

Worn down can have different meanings to people. I've seen them where you can see deep divots so bad that relevelling would mean taking off half the fret material. Most have just been gradual levellings over decades and the frets are so low that the string is digging into the wood when pressing it down.

The low-flat frets is the point my '69 Jazz is at, so low you can't recrown them anymore, and the string hits the wood when I fret the note. My singers' SG guitar is worse....even lower-flat frets with divots and buzzes so bad.