Frets question

clarkefan

Are some brands/types of nickel fret wire "better" than others?

At some point soon I'll need to think about some sort of fret work on at least one of my Wolfgang Standards (the cheaper Indonesian ones).  The frets are getting pitted in places.

I've never had a guitar's frets dressed before which I believe would remove the pitting, but my head tells me the process would make the guitar feel different and maybe I should just go for a refret. 

That leads me to thinking about material.  I'm ruling out stainless steel.

So, if I do go to the trouble and expense of getting this refretted, are some nickel wires better/tougher than others?  Thanks all.

skullfunkerry

Why are you ruling out stainless steel? It would be the last refret you ever needed, and on the one guitar I had with stainless frets, they didn't feel any different

clarkefan

skullfunkerry said:

Why are you ruling out stainless steel? It would be the last refret you ever needed, and on the one guitar I had with stainless frets, they didn't feel any different

Fair question, and great you heard no difference. I assume the frets didn't figure in your decision to sell?

I've no personal experience with SS but the only way to hear stainless for myself is to play an SS guitar of some sort.  But I'm left handed so that's not an option for me, so I have to scratch SS.  Otherwise I'd be relying on Internet videos.

thermionic

In my experience, a fret dress can save many a guitar you thought needed a refret, no matter how bad the grooves appear.

SPECTRUM001

Yeah I agree - I was pleasantly surprised just how well a good fret dress can help (what to me looked like quite severe pitting).

The frets we’re marginally lower, but not enough to warrant any concern on my side. Of course the upside is they were levelled in uniform and played exceptionally well.

Definitely less invasive than a refret...

skullfunkerry

clarkefan said:

skullfunkerry said:

Why are you ruling out stainless steel? It would be the last refret you ever needed, and on the one guitar I had with stainless frets, they didn't feel any different

Fair question, and great you heard no difference. I assume the frets didn't figure in your decision to sell?

I've no personal experience with SS but the only way to hear stainless for myself is to play an SS guitar of some sort.  But I'm left handed so that's not an option for me, so I have to scratch SS.  Otherwise I'd be relying on Internet videos.

No, I sold because it weighed a ton & top frets access was crap (it was a Sparrow LP copy)

Roland

clarkefan said:

..if I do go to the trouble and expense of getting this refretted, are some nickel wires better/tougher than others?  

As @SPECTRUM001 said, a fret dress is your first step. When it comes time for a re-fret there are several different wires to choose from. Personally I find that stainless steel can add a ‘plink’ to the sound. Not something you’d hear under a ton of distortion, but fully apparent with clean legato. There are several other metal alloys you can choose from. My personal favourite is Jescar Gold which sits somewhere between traditional nickel silver and stainless.

richman6100

Worth chatting to Jonathan at Feline guitars. They're experts in dressing and replacing frets, so he's very knowledgeable on both.

clarkefan

Thanks all, lots of food for thought, sounds like a dressing will be a good starting point.

BlueStrat

A fret dress will probably do the trick and isn’t too expensive. 

If you do need a refret at some point consider stainless. Stainless are standard on Suhr and Tom Anderson, and my TA’s frets have no ‘plink’ at all, none. 

Never heard of this on Suhrs either. 

 Stainless are ultra smooth and you can feel the difference bending or vibrato.
Its so hard that it never needs a dress or polish ever, awesome stuff. 

I play clean or fairly low gain for what its worth.  

Defo one to trust to someone like Feline. 

p90fool

Stainless frets are the best mod I've ever done to any guitar in 40 years of modding them. 

John_A

p90fool said:

Stainless frets are the best mod I've ever done to any guitar in 40 years of modding them. 

This - Had my number 1 LP refretted with stainless and love them

WezV

clarkefan said:

Are some brands/types of nickel fret wire "better" than others?

yes, but most from reputable suppliers is fine.  Jescar and Sintoms are good.   Worth avoiding cheap stuff as some is noticeably softer

brooom

I really like stainless, I've started putting them on some of my newly built/ordered guitars. That said, they are slightly different in attack/tone/feel. They add a little "ping" artifact when the fretted string initially touches it. This doesn't bother me at all, but I've heard lots of reports of people noticing it and being annoyed by it.

They seem to alter slightly the mid push of the guitar, as if they sound more "hollow" in a way. Again doesn't bother me, and you can compensate on other areas of the guitar to offset this.

Lastly they feel different under the fingers when playing as the strings really slip on them. So you might find yourself overbending, until you learn to adapt to the different feel.

Another good option is EVO fretwire, it's really brittle, but very resilient once set it. It's quite slippery, almost as durable as stainless, it maintains an attack very similar to nickel. But it does look slightly golden (the colour of the alloy).

One consideration, which is valid as any for all you OCD people out there, is that if your guitar should fall (for example) and get a dent on a fret, a nickel fretwire would be much easier to smooth/even out. Whereas stainless could still dent, but would be a massive pain to do a simple fix.

crunchman

I've heard a lot of stories about stainless changing the sound - more top end.

I'd go for a decent quality conventional wire like Jescar.  It's harder than the cheap stuff you tend to get on budget guitars, and does last significantly longer.  It will also cost you less to get a refret done.  As stainless takes longer and is so hard on tools, a refret in stainless generally costs significantly more.

guitars4you

crunchman said:

I've heard a lot of stories about stainless changing the sound - more top end.

I'd go for a decent quality conventional wire like Jescar.  It's harder than the cheap stuff you tend to get on budget guitars, and does last significantly longer.  It will also cost you less to get a refret done.  As stainless takes longer and is so hard on tools, a refret in stainless generally costs significantly more.

I tend to agree with this

If the reason for SS frets is based on a tonal character than fine, then go with it - If it is because they state they last longer, then how long do you want them to last - How many of us have needed to get a guitar re-fretted, especially if it came with decent frets in the first place - Many players will get in excess of 10 years, maybe 20 years before even a fret dress is required, let alone a re-fret - You need to be playing many hours each week to be in need of a re-fret every 2-5 years or so - And with many of us not doing that, plus splitting time spent playing, over 2/3/-4 guitars, or more, then the workload on your frets is small 

One of the biggest causes of worn frets is dirty strings - I have known some customers 'squeeze' the chords/notes to tight and create grooves - But for many of us a fret dress and/or re-fret is a fairly small %

axisus

thermionic said:

In my experience, a fret dress can save many a guitar you thought needed a refret, no matter how bad the grooves appear.

I agree with this. I bought a strat from distance once, and when it arrived I thought that the frets needed replacing (not shown in photos!). Some plonker had tried to level them without levelling up the fretboard first and the middle ones looked very flat! I took it to a luthier (I'd do it myself now) and he said he could fix them up, which surprised me but he did!

SS frets - I love them but they do feel different. I've had them on a couple of necks and they feel a tad more 'slippery' to me, which I see as a good thing for bending. I don't use SS frets now though as I only play my own guitar builds and I can't be arsed with all that extra work!

skunkwerx

Interesting. I like a slippy slidey feel as my hands and fingertips are very grippy. Especially on slides. Clean or dirty hands make little difference. 

Dont much like the tone of coated strings but regulars are ok. 

Anyone care to comment how SS frets feel when sliding? Less speed bumpish perhaps?

RickLucas

John_A

skunkwerx said:

Interesting. I like a slippy slidey feel as my hands and fingertips are very grippy. Especially on slides. Clean or dirty hands make little difference. 

Dont much like the tone of coated strings but regulars are ok. 

Anyone care to comment how SS frets feel when sliding? Less speed bumpish perhaps?

'speed bump' effect is a function of fret size rather than material

skullfunkerry

skunkwerx said:

Interesting. I like a slippy slidey feel as my hands and fingertips are very grippy. Especially on slides. Clean or dirty hands make little difference. 

Dont much like the tone of coated strings but regulars are ok. 

Anyone care to comment how SS frets feel when sliding? Less speed bumpish perhaps?

Have you tried Fast Fret? I use it on all my guitars... back when I was gigging it went on pretty much every time I played; these days just now and again when everything feels too grippy