Dude, this does it, you need your own show. Talk about instruments, gear, accessories, whatever. You love the camera and the camera loves you. Thomann, you got your spokesperson right here.
To say there is an audible difference between stainless & nickel frets when there’s usually two types of metal in the strings alone..not including bridge & saddle metal is a bit of a stretchhh. Of course guitar makers don’t want to use them if they cost more & wear out their tools faster.
Good summary. A lot depends on the player. I don't play "aggressive" music, but do play with a pretty heavy hand, and play everyday. Because of that, I tend to get dents in my frets under the strings. I tried out stainless steel, and love it. I didn't detect a change in tone - no more than putting on a fresh set of strings, and am happy I won't need to crown or refret anytime in the near future.
Yeah I fretted my Stratocaster with stainless steel frets 2019..absolutely crazy material to work with lol.. I haven’t regretted..but just be prepared for extra hard work if you wanna jump into it...great video btw 🎸🤘
@@RogerBrenon most of the subtle change you'll get by changing materials on a guitar can be pretty much negated by tweaking the amp eq a bit. Still i'd rather lose some "creamy highs" and have long lasting frets rather than having to pay a hundred bucks for a recrown or more than that for a refret eventually. Granted, not all nickel is the same, there's HQ one and LQ one, still it wears way faster than steel and the difference it's minimal for me to prefer a weaker alloy.
i think the talk about ss frets sounding different or even worse is dumb. even if they did, it’s the difference between turning a knob on your amp by a tiny bit.
Jescars makes EVO gold fretwire that lasts a long time, its a gold colored alloy. I've been playing a D35 for about 15 years that was refretted right when I bought it with EVO gold wire. I'm a very aggressive and hard fretter, and they're barely getting divots. I'll probably be due for a fret level to eliminate buzz in about another 5 years. I gig very regularly and those frets were worth it. Also as good as stainless is, it doesn't last as long as the EVO gold alloy, and it's also much harder on your tools than nickel frets. Your luthier will probably charge you for a new dressing file because stainless frets will ruin their file.
@@superbroadcaster Jescar makes the best fret wire, especially for stainless steel. There just aren’t a lot of sizing varieties for stainless steel fret wire, which is one limiting factor which deserves mentioning. I have to have stainless frets, because I am a standard fret killer. Honestly though, how much sense has it ever made to have steel strings over lesser-grade frets?
Agreed, and I’ll add; it’s pretty sad to look at the vast majority of finely crafted crafted or boutique guitars out there and see the implicit weakness of the standard fret wire from day 1. Any luthier who has done lots of refrets and repair work should not want their creation to go out to the world that way.
@duspar1 I'd say give EVO gold a try, they last a very long time. Stainless steel is also a material that damages luthier tools. I know luthiers that don't use it because they need to replace fret dressing files
SS fret wire is great if you love low action shredding, the crown practically never wears away and you’ll have always have super low action, although I can grind through frets really fast with my heavy hand. Sounds is admittedly better (warmer, more midrange, less “plinky”) with NS fretwire although I play with lots of gain. As for luthiers having their tools destroyed - it’s true for low quality tools. I’ve been using Stewmac tools and they are holding up extremely well.
The tool thing with stainless steel frets is bull crap. I've been using the same tools for years and all I use is stainless frets. Get some big #4 wire cutters....then use a dremel to fine tune the nip and shorten them.. The only thing that takes longer is leveling....You're dealing with files and sand paper....a leveling file takes them down quickly. (You don't need the file more then 15 minutes) Sandpaper is cheap. Screw you luthiars, you're liars about the difficulty and expense.
The EVO gold frets are going to be the stuff I will use when my old Flatiron mando needs a refret job. I think the stuff from StewMac is good for a long time. Depends on how long I live.
I keep hearing about how bright sounding stainless frets are....sorry but I think that that's bullshit based on the theory of the metal being harder rather than really hearing the difference. I have made many tests in this area and I'll bet most people would never hear the difference especially people playing high gain stuff. I've been a luthier for over 40 years as well as a live sound engineer and by the way I can still hear 15k. Hear with your ears not your mind!
Why should I care about refretting stainless frets ? Has anybody here done ever a refret job of stainless frets ? That's why mid priced guitars should have stainless frets - not to talk of those up-to 500 EUR guitars.
Yep...i have refretted each of my guitars with either the jumbo or superjumbo SS jescar fretwire(pretty much the best frewire out there) going from guitars i have handbuilt from scratch to humble squier bullets and now all those guitars regardless of their original starting price feel and play like any super high end instruments....of course nothing even close to wear to any of them so they wont ever be refretted even when iam long long gone...like you said mid priced and up guitars if they still have nickel silver frets they are a joke especially for the money they are asking....
I've made about a hundred of refrets, and I often ask my clients about sound change after refret to steel, and mostly there are no changes in sound. I think if sound changes, it changes not because of fret material, but because of fret size and installation method, and obviously because of player's change in feel of neck.
@@minstrel9806 I agree with Andrey here....i have refretted all my guitars(personally) with jescars jumbo or super jumbo fretwire and although not a tech i have performed over 20 refrets for me and some of my close friends.....going from usually medium jumbo soft nickel fretwires to big super dense SS ones....difference in sound is.....wait for it...zero( i have A/B tested them many times)...difference in playability?Huge.....frets are looking daily like you polished them 5 minutes ago,very slick feeling, resulting in less friction that gives you better bending and vibrato. The people who say there are difference in sound are the same people who say metallic nuts sound like fretted notes cause frets are metallic....no they dont....i have a thing of cutting aluminum nuts for my guitars(mainly cause they look cool) and that never happens......by the way those who claim to have golden ears 99% of the time cant tell a major 7th chord from a dominant one let alone turn into a human vst....thats my 2 cents.
@@Dreamdancer11 i agree with him too, i was disagreeing with the other guy who said they make a huge difference in sound. I know they make a difference in feel, it's like having eternally polished nickel frets.
Every luthier I have spoken to say the difference in tone between nickel and SS is practically non-existent. The difference in price to refret with SS is no more than one hundred dollars in many cases.
I most certainly don't have super powers but I can assure you that I can spot the tonal differences between steel and nickel frets. I did that test a couple of times in the showroom. Also, Warmoth made a comparison video a few years ago and I spotted the one with the SS frets immediately. And again, I'm just a guitarist dude with a pair of picky ears. Nothing out of the ordinary. If you care about details in your tone, you'll hear the difference. Cheers //Kris
I disagree. There’s a distinct tonal characteristic to each type. I have never failed to identify SS frets in a comparison yet. I prefer the tone of nickel and the feel of SS. It’s never a make or break difference though. You can make both types work for you.
You 100% will notice the difference between SS & NS. I will go even further and say if you have an old neck and you refret it, you’ll lose some resonance and mojo just because you’re messing with how the neck has settled over the years. I’ll go even further..! Take a guitar neck and clamp it straight (with some leather padding on the frets) against some granite and leave it on your cars dashboard (or an oven - if large enough) on a hot summer day. Watch it bake and you’ll be surprised at the tonal differences!!!
Thank you for your video, interesting as always! A curiosity: when I purchased my Stingray Special bass (which has got SS frets), someone from the shop also told me that they're indeed sturdier, but when combined with hardwood there's a chance they can "pop out" (especially when shipped), causing uneven frets issues. Sounded like bollocks to justify a faulty instrument, but I'm curious on what's your opinion here :)
I've never been a fan of very large or steel frets. I find them to be just too harsh, and I don't like their tonalities. Too bright. I also like very low action because I play extremely fast. If I want more brightness or less I can adjust it easier by getting a different make of strings, or change my picking style, which is always evolving. I find the warmth of smaller frets can't be beat. I want all the natural wood resonance I can get.
Once again a magnificent Thomann show..by the way love Julia..wanted to let you know I bought a Harley Benton Tele and I love it..hope to buy more and work for Thomann..lol
Wolverine is my all-time favorite comic hero. Maybe, if I try really hard, maybe one day I can be as cool as he is. Haha! Don't really think so though. Cheers //Kris
Wrong = Friedman NoHo 24 all have stainless steel frets. Suhr, Musicman, Tom Anderson, LSL…. Have also a custom shop Stratocaster refretted with stainless steel frets and it sounds the same
Yet there are sooooo many who say that SS doesn't change the tone... I never understood how people can say that. There is a difference and there are guitars that work better with nickel, others with stainless steel. I like both for different vibes. Cheers //Kris
I WAS hoping to hear some sound samples for fret material differences. But video was good up till that anyway. EVO sounds like a great option but stainless is still my next neck fret material because it’s easy to find.
Hello friend. Please tell me, I want to replace frets instead of nickel silver to put jescar evo gold. Guitar acoustics Taylor, I'm afraid to aggravate the sound, they say a lot of high overtones will appear on the Internet, and there are plenty of them on my guitar. I want bronze ones because they don't wear out, but I'm worried that the sound will spoil. Is it possible to put jescar evo gold on Taylor? They don't put them in their factory, so I doubt it.
Stop saying that stainless steel destroys tools. That's only true if you start a fret job without planning and careful measurement, and then fail to take a patient approach to the job. The only tool that should see significant wear from the process is your elbow. Measure the distance across each fret slot, then mark that distance on the fretwire + .5mm on each side*, and then either snip or rotodisk the excess off. Remove 1mm of the tang from each side if you want to (very easy with a Dremmel). When the frets are pressed or hammered in, the extra fret material will result in the ends of each fret being just slightly cantilevered over the fretboard edge. It's a minimal amount that a proper file can tackle with ease. *for smaller vintage radii fretboards, leave 1mm per side
Anybody that ever played the electric guitar a few hours a day for a few years, and happens to use stainless steel strings, knows that the softer frets wear out too damn fast... it doesn’t matter how good your technique and/or setup are... either that or Fender screwed me in ‘92 with a quite pricey Strat. As far as I know, those frets were allegedly nickel silver. Caveat Emptor !!
Same here. My Les Paul Studio from 1990 got it's last fret set up 2 years a go. The next one will be impossible to do, because there is no more material left. Good thing we've PLEK in town ;) gonna opt for stainless steel frets. I play Hard Rock / Heavy most of the time anyways.
@@florianju5638 gotcha Florian, thanks for the nod. The wearability of an electric guitar fret trumps very minor differences in fret tone with all the pitch bends, vibrato bends, hammer ons, pull offs, etc. Give me a break about the ‘tone’ of a fret.. that’s really at the bottom of the list. So easy to alter the ‘tone’ so many other ways.. 🤣
I've been playing for years. Noticed a big difference between nickel and ss also the lack of rosewood makes it very shrilly. Good think I have old guitars and I'm not bothered about refretting.
What it looks like to me from reading about this across the internet is there are a lot of collectors who are terrified of their investments depreciating in any capacity.
yeh this stuff is right in the middle of steel and nickel for hardness and it rings like a bell ( the tone lasts AGES ) i feel you lose a little high end but gain a lot of middle in the sound, i re fretted my acoustic with bell bronze and it sounds wonderful. im actually in the process of bronze fretting a Jem, bronze is not softer than nickel, its harder, and it looks beautiful.
Dude, thank you! I don't even know what to say. Haha! If you translate the funny german part it's not gonna be funny anymore. It's just kidding around in a german dialect (called frankonian / fränkisch). It's just silly stuff I came up with because the church bells went off at noon and we had to stop shooting the video 'till it was over. Haha! Cheers //Kris
I'd go for narrow-tall frets on an acoustic but it's a matter of preference. That's a good middle ground that gives me a traditional feel but also enough fret material that lasts for long. Cheers //Kris
Can someone explain to me something I have always wondered: Yngwie Malmsteen has always used big jumbo frets on his guitars, even tho the frets are scalloped. Why is this? Isnt this just unnecessary and pointless? Even having a negative impact on the tone?
love your videos chris! but man if you're paying close to 2k € you want your guitar to have stainless steel, I'm saving up to buy an E-II and it doesn't come with stainless steel but im gonna buy it anyway because I want it so bad! still a bummer tho...
Thanks a lot! I'm all in for modern guitars having stainless steel frets. Not so much on traditional guitars though. The feel and the sound just doesn't fit. Cheers //Kris
Hi, Kris! I have Dunlop 6105 nickel frets on my CS Strat..I play a lot and the frets really show abuse..If I decide to refret it one day with SS frets: should I put the same size or even bigger (6100)? I like SS frets on my Suhr Alt t pro, but they look smaller than 6105. I use the same strings on both guitars (elixier optiweb 10 - 52) and I can say suhr plays faster and its easier to bend. My strat sounds warm and woody, maybe SS frets would add just a bit zing to the sound, which would maybe help it to cut better through the mix? Kris, Jescar frets are made in germany? should I consider them? Thanks and stay safe!
I've just bought your TE 70 Telecaster but the bass E string is very buzzy down to the 7th fret. I cant see how to lift the action at the bridge. Can you help?
Hey Ross, first check the neck relief (you'll find a Guitar Tech Tips episode on that) and then use the small adjustment screw on the bridge saddle (allen key came with the guitar) to adjust the string height. You'll find a bridge adjustment video on our playlist too btw. Good luck!! //Kris
Hey dude, nice video, i just want to ask you about refreting, i have prs se custom 24 and yamaha pacifica and they have a really small frets, i want to put extra jumbo frets on them, so can i replace them with stailess steel extra jumbo jescar frets or to go with the same size of fret wire? Thanks.
Try going for tall and narrow Jescar frets as the tang isn’t as wide and should fit in your PRS. Making you fret slots wider can be tricky unless you have a miter box.
i know this is a year old video but im interested in ordering a sire L7 and to have the plek and refretting option added to it would it be possible to get it refretted with evo gold frets ?
I just noticed that my 30-year-old Warwick Fortress has got brass frets. Weird. And yes, they have acquired significant grooves from my roundwound strings (although I almost never bend). They are still perfectly serviceable, though.
Warwick uses a high-quality and pretty hard brass, so called Glocken Brass (Glocken Messing). This is probably the hardest and best brass alloy you can find. This is the reason why the frets on your old Warwick are still alright. And the fact of course, that you're not bending plain strings, like guitar players do. Cheers! //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses There are different grades of "nickel-silver" and "stainless steel" too, some nickel-silver is harder than some stainless steel, something to keep in mind (best companies like Jescar likely use the hardest available?).
It depends on the fret job. Haha! If all are leveled perfectly, no need for it. If a few frets are still uneven at the end, a Plek machine can help a lot. //Kris
I’ve been a musician all my life, but guitar just under two years. Basically, I bought a cheap ‘beginner’ Stratocaster in a thrift shop, and have been modifying since day one, so now it’s actually an awesome, one of a kind Stratocaster. Besides the truss rod needing replacement, I recently discovered that my frets are worn down. That’s in addition to me making the holes bigger and adding holes to the headstock-and everywhere else on the guitar-to accommodate upgrades and mods. So instead of refretting, I’m getting a new neck, and I was worried about exactly this: what if I get the wrong frets? Should I go steel or nickel? Medium jumbo or steel? Johnny Walker or Glenfiddich? So now I watched a few videos about frets, and it seems it’s nothing to fret about, but knowledge is power. I’m going to get a basic, standard Stratocaster neck and not worry about the little, narrow, tall, jumbo or otherwise stuff.
Danke dir! :) Meine Hände waren komplett abgefroren (ca. 10 Grad im Studio), ich hab mich also gefreut überhaupt irgendwas kurzes spielen zu können. Haha! Ciao! //Kris
Don't buy from Thomann if you're in the UK. Deliveries are delayed "due to Brexit related disruption" and you have to pay import taxes which surprisingly makes prices no cheaper than the UK. I suggest if Thomann want to sell to the UK they get their act together and sort out prices and shipping!
Stainless steel frets are not "brighter." What a load of shit. They sound exactly like polished regular frets, except they stay that way. There is no excuse to use nickel silver frets unless you like scratched and dented frets after moderate playing.
I agree with Friedman...I have played on stage for over 40 years and I currently have four guitars that I use exclusively for stage. One time years ago I purchased a Warmoth neck and got stainless steel frets on it because many of the people I new raved about how great they were, and honestly I grew weary of the cost of re-honing and re-fretting my necks every six months at a cost of $300.00 a pop (I was practicing everyday and playing on stage every weekend). The idea of never having to get a re-fret again really appealed to me. I was so excited when I got what I thought was going to be a great upgrade for my strat. The neck itself looked great and Warmoth did a wonderful job on the neck shape and fretwork. But sadly, buying this neck with the stainless steel frets was a huge mistake...not only did it change the sound of my guitar but also the way it felt when I played it. I spent the next four or five years switching this neck on to other strats bodies in hopes that one of them would sound decent, but it never did. The $469.99 albatross neck now hangs on a wall as a costly reminder. Take my advice and just keep the nickel/silver frets on your guitar and if need be, just change the size of the frets. Just my 2 cents worth. Peace.
Dude, this does it, you need your own show. Talk about instruments, gear, accessories, whatever. You love the camera and the camera loves you. Thomann, you got your spokesperson right here.
His channel is Kris Barocsi. He’s great! Check it out
EVH said he couldnt hear a difference in tone using ss frets ... that's good enough for me !!
Fair enough. 😅//Kris
That is probably because he is almost always playing with high gain and the difference is quite small.
To say there is an audible difference between stainless & nickel frets when there’s usually two types of metal in the strings alone..not including bridge & saddle metal is a bit of a stretchhh.
Of course guitar makers don’t want to use them if they cost more & wear out their tools faster.
Good summary. A lot depends on the player. I don't play "aggressive" music, but do play with a pretty heavy hand, and play everyday. Because of that, I tend to get dents in my frets under the strings. I tried out stainless steel, and love it. I didn't detect a change in tone - no more than putting on a fresh set of strings, and am happy I won't need to crown or refret anytime in the near future.
Yeah I fretted my Stratocaster with stainless steel frets 2019..absolutely crazy material to work with lol.. I haven’t regretted..but just be prepared for extra hard work if you wanna jump into it...great video btw 🎸🤘
In a word, yes. Stainless steel are better. I own 8 guitars, I got my first with stainless 2 months ago. It's superb and so nice for bends.
NO. They are not. You just lost all the creamy highs you could of gotten.
@@RogerBrenon most of the subtle change you'll get by changing materials on a guitar can be pretty much negated by tweaking the amp eq a bit.
Still i'd rather lose some "creamy highs" and have long lasting frets rather than having to pay a hundred bucks for a recrown or more than that for a refret eventually.
Granted, not all nickel is the same, there's HQ one and LQ one, still it wears way faster than steel and the difference it's minimal for me to prefer a weaker alloy.
@RogerBrenon: Oh dear, you had better tell all the amazing players who use, for example, Suhr guitars that their sound sucks.
i think the talk about ss frets sounding different or even worse is dumb. even if they did, it’s the difference between turning a knob on your amp by a tiny bit.
People think they can hear a difference and so they "hear" a difference. They're basically just psyching themselves out. That's it.
The Wolbarocsine, the mutant with frets in his hands from the professor Benton's Institute of young gifted musicians ;)
Haha! You won the internet with this comment! :D Cheers man //Kris
Once you bend on jumbo stainless steel frets, it's hard to go back.
Just made this experience the first time on a Schecter KM-6 and you are totally right.
@@DirkRadloff 🤘☺️👍
Absolutely correct.
I’d pick stainless every time. The tone difference is extremely minimal.
Jescars makes EVO gold fretwire that lasts a long time, its a gold colored alloy. I've been playing a D35 for about 15 years that was refretted right when I bought it with EVO gold wire.
I'm a very aggressive and hard fretter, and they're barely getting divots. I'll probably be due for a fret level to eliminate buzz in about another 5 years. I gig very regularly and those frets were worth it.
Also as good as stainless is, it doesn't last as long as the EVO gold alloy, and it's also much harder on your tools than nickel frets. Your luthier will probably charge you for a new dressing file because stainless frets will ruin their file.
@@superbroadcaster Jescar makes the best fret wire, especially for stainless steel. There just aren’t a lot of sizing varieties for stainless steel fret wire, which is one limiting factor which deserves mentioning. I have to have stainless frets, because I am a standard fret killer. Honestly though, how much sense has it ever made to have steel strings over lesser-grade frets?
Agreed, and I’ll add; it’s pretty sad to look at the vast majority of finely crafted crafted or boutique guitars out there and see the implicit weakness of the standard fret wire from day 1.
Any luthier who has done lots of refrets and repair work should not want their creation to go out to the world that way.
@duspar1 I'd say give EVO gold a try, they last a very long time. Stainless steel is also a material that damages luthier tools. I know luthiers that don't use it because they need to replace fret dressing files
If not inaudible!
I'm 75 years old and don't play any heavy metal. I do play pretty much everything else and have always hassled with wearing out my frets.
Try steel frets!
EVO Golds are the way to go, unless you really need SS. IMO
SS fret wire is great if you love low action shredding, the crown practically never wears away and you’ll have always have super low action, although I can grind through frets really fast with my heavy hand. Sounds is admittedly better (warmer, more midrange, less “plinky”) with NS fretwire although I play with lots of gain. As for luthiers having their tools destroyed - it’s true for low quality tools. I’ve been using Stewmac tools and they are holding up extremely well.
The tool thing with stainless steel frets is bull crap. I've been using the same tools for years and all I use is stainless frets. Get some big #4 wire cutters....then use a dremel to fine tune the nip and shorten them.. The only thing that takes longer is leveling....You're dealing with files and sand paper....a leveling file takes them down quickly. (You don't need the file more then 15 minutes) Sandpaper is cheap. Screw you luthiars, you're liars about the difficulty and expense.
Learned a lot today! Thanks man!
Now I'd like me some of them evil goat frets 😂😂
I have a guitar with stainless steel frets and it seems to make the hammer-on notes come out louder. Anybody else notice this?
NO.
The EVO gold frets are going to be the stuff I will use when my old Flatiron mando needs a refret job. I think the stuff from StewMac is good for a long time. Depends on how long I live.
I keep hearing about how bright sounding stainless frets are....sorry but I think that that's bullshit based on the theory of the metal being harder rather than really hearing the difference. I have made many tests in this area and I'll bet most people would never hear the difference especially people playing high gain stuff. I've been a luthier for over 40 years as well as a live sound engineer and by the way I can still hear 15k. Hear with your ears not your mind!
Why should I care about refretting stainless frets ? Has anybody here done ever a refret job of stainless frets ? That's why mid priced guitars should have stainless frets - not to talk of those up-to 500 EUR guitars.
Yep...i have refretted each of my guitars with either the jumbo or superjumbo SS jescar fretwire(pretty much the best frewire out there) going from guitars i have handbuilt from scratch to humble squier bullets and now all those guitars regardless of their original starting price feel and play like any super high end instruments....of course nothing even close to wear to any of them so they wont ever be refretted even when iam long long gone...like you said mid priced and up guitars if they still have nickel silver frets they are a joke especially for the money they are asking....
I love Chris's riffs! As a beginner it's fun to learn the simple and cool riffs he does!
My first ever refret was stainless steel frets. With cheap and d.i.y tools around it was a fucking nightmare and almost regret doing this shit.
I've made about a hundred of refrets, and I often ask my clients about sound change after refret to steel, and mostly there are no changes in sound.
I think if sound changes, it changes not because of fret material, but because of fret size and installation method, and obviously because of player's change in feel of neck.
Because most of em have hearing damage, and yes, frets make a huge difference.
@@RogerBrenon or maybe you're very vulnerable to placebo, ever though about that? Guess we'll never know who's right
@@minstrel9806 I agree with Andrey here....i have refretted all my guitars(personally) with jescars jumbo or super jumbo fretwire and although not a tech i have performed over 20 refrets for me and some of my close friends.....going from usually medium jumbo soft nickel fretwires to big super dense SS ones....difference in sound is.....wait for it...zero( i have A/B tested them many times)...difference in playability?Huge.....frets are looking daily like you polished them 5 minutes ago,very slick feeling, resulting in less friction that gives you better bending and vibrato.
The people who say there are difference in sound are the same people who say metallic nuts sound like fretted notes cause frets are metallic....no they dont....i have a thing of cutting aluminum nuts for my guitars(mainly cause they look cool) and that never happens......by the way those who claim to have golden ears 99% of the time cant tell a major 7th chord from a dominant one let alone turn into a human vst....thats my 2 cents.
@@Dreamdancer11 i agree with him too, i was disagreeing with the other guy who said they make a huge difference in sound.
I know they make a difference in feel, it's like having eternally polished nickel frets.
@@minstrel9806 Yes i know and i think the "eternally polished nickel frets" is quite accurate.
Gibson frets les Paul or sg custom shop..which model?
Oh yess
Drop test
Someone have seen Paul Reed Smith dropping nuts
EVH said there is no tone difference with stainless steel frets.
So there it is, there is no tone differences. Fin
04:30 Stainless steel frets are not the hardest, titanium ones are way harder.
Stainless steel isn't better when you want rusty frets...
Every luthier I have spoken to say the difference in tone between nickel and SS is practically non-existent. The difference in price to refret with SS is no more than one hundred dollars in many cases.
I most certainly don't have super powers but I can assure you that I can spot the tonal differences between steel and nickel frets. I did that test a couple of times in the showroom.
Also, Warmoth made a comparison video a few years ago and I spotted the one with the SS frets immediately. And again, I'm just a guitarist dude with a pair of picky ears. Nothing out of the ordinary. If you care about details in your tone, you'll hear the difference. Cheers //Kris
I also could tell a difference when I got my beloved tele refret. But I'm a complete idiot
I disagree. There’s a distinct tonal characteristic to each type. I have never failed to identify SS frets in a comparison yet. I prefer the tone of nickel and the feel of SS. It’s never a make or break difference though. You can make both types work for you.
You 100% will notice the difference between SS & NS. I will go even further and say if you have an old neck and you refret it, you’ll lose some resonance and mojo just because you’re messing with how the neck has settled over the years. I’ll go even further..! Take a guitar neck and clamp it straight (with some leather padding on the frets) against some granite and leave it on your cars dashboard (or an oven - if large enough) on a hot summer day. Watch it bake and you’ll be surprised at the tonal differences!!!
Thank you for your video, interesting as always!
A curiosity: when I purchased my Stingray Special bass (which has got SS frets), someone from the shop also told me that they're indeed sturdier, but when combined with hardwood there's a chance they can "pop out" (especially when shipped), causing uneven frets issues.
Sounded like bollocks to justify a faulty instrument, but I'm curious on what's your opinion here :)
I've never been a fan of very large or steel frets. I find them to be just too harsh, and I don't like their tonalities. Too bright. I also like very low action because I play extremely fast. If I want more brightness or less I can adjust it easier by getting a different make of strings, or change my picking style, which is always evolving. I find the warmth of smaller frets can't be beat. I want all the natural wood resonance I can get.
Your one of the only ones in the comment section that has a brain.
I agree, I hate the sound of them!
Definitely getting some EVO gold frets, thanks!
Als Alt-Germane kann ich zwar Englisch aber kann Thomann auch deutsch?
I simply hate working on SS frets!
Once again a magnificent Thomann show..by the way love Julia..wanted to let you know I bought a Harley Benton Tele and I love it..hope to buy more and work for Thomann..lol
Hey Joseph, the whole Thomann team appreciates your support! :) You're always welcome man! Cheers //Kris
Wolverine Barocsi ? Adamantium frets? I bet those would be a nightmare to level and crown 🤣.
Wolverine is my all-time favorite comic hero. Maybe, if I try really hard, maybe one day I can be as cool as he is. Haha! Don't really think so though.
Cheers //Kris
Your already that cool Sir, it’s all about the socks 🤘🏽. Soft enough for ambient lullabies, strong enough to Kick out the jams!
Wrong = Friedman NoHo 24 all have stainless steel frets. Suhr, Musicman, Tom Anderson, LSL…. Have also a custom shop Stratocaster refretted with stainless steel frets and it sounds the same
th-cam.com/video/ViKqDGo4Inc/w-d-xo.html
Had SS frets and immediately removed them. Made my Telecaster sound too different from Nickel frets and not for the better.
Yet there are sooooo many who say that SS doesn't change the tone... I never understood how people can say that. There is a difference and there are guitars that work better with nickel, others with stainless steel. I like both for different vibes. Cheers //Kris
I WAS hoping to hear some sound samples for fret material differences. But video was good up till that anyway. EVO sounds like a great option but stainless is still my next neck fret material because it’s easy to find.
Hello friend. Please tell me, I want to replace frets instead
of nickel silver to put jescar evo gold. Guitar acoustics Taylor, I'm afraid
to aggravate the sound, they say a lot of high overtones will appear on the Internet, and there
are plenty of them on my guitar. I want bronze ones because they don't
wear out, but I'm worried that the sound will spoil. Is it possible to put jescar evo gold on Taylor? They don't put them in their factory, so I doubt it.
Stop saying that stainless steel destroys tools. That's only true if you start a fret job without planning and careful measurement, and then fail to take a patient approach to the job. The only tool that should see significant wear from the process is your elbow.
Measure the distance across each fret slot, then mark that distance on the fretwire + .5mm on each side*, and then either snip or rotodisk the excess off. Remove 1mm of the tang from each side if you want to (very easy with a Dremmel).
When the frets are pressed or hammered in, the extra fret material will result in the ends of each fret being just slightly cantilevered over the fretboard edge. It's a minimal amount that a proper file can tackle with ease.
*for smaller vintage radii fretboards, leave 1mm per side
Anybody that ever played the electric guitar a few hours a day for a few years, and happens to use stainless steel strings, knows that the softer frets wear out too damn fast...
it doesn’t matter how good your technique and/or setup are... either that or Fender screwed me in ‘92 with a quite pricey Strat.
As far as I know, those frets were allegedly nickel silver.
Caveat Emptor !!
Same here. My Les Paul Studio from 1990 got it's last fret set up 2 years a go. The next one will be impossible to do, because there is no more material left. Good thing we've PLEK in town ;) gonna opt for stainless steel frets. I play Hard Rock / Heavy most of the time anyways.
@@florianju5638 gotcha Florian, thanks for the nod. The wearability of an electric guitar fret trumps very minor differences in fret tone with all the pitch bends, vibrato bends, hammer ons, pull offs, etc. Give me a break about the ‘tone’ of a fret.. that’s really at the bottom of the list. So easy to alter the ‘tone’ so many other ways.. 🤣
fretless guitar is the solution???
I've been playing for years. Noticed a big difference between nickel and ss also the lack of rosewood makes it very shrilly. Good think I have old guitars and I'm not bothered about refretting.
Hello. Would 6100 would fit a Les Paul ? I hate small fret even I play blues and classic rock !!!!
Ideas ok,,, I am interested in modding guitars to give them 36 stainless steel jumbo frets.
What about Warwick’s Bronze frets? Is bronze another term for brass, or are they different than brass?
What it looks like to me from reading about this across the internet is there are a lot of collectors who are terrified of their investments depreciating in any capacity.
It could be neither too much harder, nor softer, in order for the metal interactions to not be too damaging. Also, stainlessness.
If stainless steel frets last longer then you don't need to worry about asking a Luthier to do a fret job right?
I need those evil gold frets for metal 🔥🔥🤘😈🤘🔥🔥
Haha! Metaaaaaaal! //Kris
You forgot about Bell bronze frets like they use on a lot of Warwick bass guitars and framus
yeh this stuff is right in the middle of steel and nickel for hardness and it rings like a bell ( the tone lasts AGES ) i feel you lose a little high end but gain a lot of middle in the sound, i re fretted my acoustic with bell bronze and it sounds wonderful. im actually in the process of bronze fretting a Jem, bronze is not softer than nickel, its harder, and it looks beautiful.
@@cheebee2659 That's the other thing is that it looks so high-end it's better than gold Evo I think so
the most charismatic guitar guy on YT!
we need a translation for the end part!!
Dude, thank you! I don't even know what to say. Haha!
If you translate the funny german part it's not gonna be funny anymore. It's just kidding around in a german dialect (called frankonian / fränkisch). It's just silly stuff I came up with because the church bells went off at noon and we had to stop shooting the video 'till it was over. Haha! Cheers //Kris
any advice for replacing one fret on a strat?
Buy a new neck
Stainless steel should be standard on all guitars, acoustic or electric.
Dude your vids are the BEST! Thanks so much for putting out this fantastic content.
How about glass?
Evilll Golllld! 😂🤘
Do they ever use titanium guitar frets ? For a Fender Stratocaster.
I am doing a deep dive on this topic. Great info thankyou!
Kris, what about frets and strings materials compatibility? Is there any preferred combinations?
Can you make a video on playing guitar with nickel allergy?
I don't like Mondays - and Stainless Steel Fretchens.
What is best for refretting an acoustic?
I'd go for narrow-tall frets on an acoustic but it's a matter of preference. That's a good middle ground that gives me a traditional feel but also enough fret material that lasts for long. Cheers //Kris
6105 🤘💯
If the neck is too stiff, I think it's best to have a girl do it 😏
Can someone explain to me something I have always wondered: Yngwie Malmsteen has always used big jumbo frets on his guitars, even tho the frets are scalloped. Why is this? Isnt this just unnecessary and pointless? Even having a negative impact on the tone?
let's discuss that in a future Guitar Tech Tips Q&A video. :) Thanks for the comment! //Kris
I like to have the gold frets to go with the gold tuners..😁
brASS frets hahaah love those types of videos
love your videos chris!
but man if you're paying close to 2k € you want your guitar to have stainless steel, I'm saving up to buy an E-II and it doesn't come with stainless steel but im gonna buy it anyway because I want it so bad! still a bummer tho...
Thanks a lot! I'm all in for modern guitars having stainless steel frets. Not so much on traditional guitars though. The feel and the sound just doesn't fit. Cheers //Kris
"What are you going to do? Scratch it with your claws??" 😂
Hi, Kris!
I have Dunlop 6105 nickel frets on my CS Strat..I play a lot and the frets really show abuse..If I decide to refret it one day with SS frets: should I put the same size or even bigger (6100)? I like SS frets on my Suhr Alt t pro, but they look smaller than 6105. I use the same strings on both guitars (elixier optiweb 10 - 52) and I can say suhr plays faster and its easier to bend. My strat sounds warm and woody, maybe SS frets would add just a bit zing to the sound, which would maybe help it to cut better through the mix?
Kris, Jescar frets are made in germany? should I consider them?
Thanks and stay safe!
Stay with nickel or sound like you play country.
I've just bought your TE 70 Telecaster but the bass E string is very buzzy down to the 7th fret. I cant see how to lift the action at the bridge. Can you help?
Hey Ross, first check the neck relief (you'll find a Guitar Tech Tips episode on that) and then use the small adjustment screw on the bridge saddle (allen key came with the guitar) to adjust the string height. You'll find a bridge adjustment video on our playlist too btw. Good luck!! //Kris
Nicely explained several questions I had
You can speak more slowly, I write!
Couldn’t hear the guitar through the DSP
Hey dude, nice video, i just want to ask you about refreting, i have prs se custom 24 and yamaha pacifica and they have a really small frets, i want to put extra jumbo frets on them, so can i replace them with stailess steel extra jumbo jescar frets or to go with the same size of fret wire? Thanks.
Try going for tall and narrow Jescar frets as the tang isn’t as wide and should fit in your PRS. Making you fret slots wider can be tricky unless you have a miter box.
Thank you! ❤I enjoy nickel
i know this is a year old video but im interested in ordering a sire L7 and to have the plek and refretting option added to it would it be possible to get it refretted with evo gold frets ?
Hey, please contact our customer service and ask them about the evo gold frets. The address is sc.cc@thomann.de
Cheers //Kris
Short answer: yes. Long answer: yeeeeeeessssss
Is there an easy way to tell which frets are on my instrument, if it is nickel silver or stainless steel?
Magnet?
Guitar spec sheet, but also if it's below $1000, chances are that it's nickel.
Stainless steel is non magnetic most of the time.
That’s if you buy new instruments but spec sheets for the vintage stuff can be pretty difficult source.
I’m getting my strat regretted, I’m torn between 6105 or 6100 frets..
What did you go for?
excellent information, very well stated...
I just noticed that my 30-year-old Warwick Fortress has got brass frets. Weird. And yes, they have acquired significant grooves from my roundwound strings (although I almost never bend). They are still perfectly serviceable, though.
Warwick uses a high-quality and pretty hard brass, so called Glocken Brass (Glocken Messing). This is probably the hardest and best brass alloy you can find. This is the reason why the frets on your old Warwick are still alright. And the fact of course, that you're not bending plain strings, like guitar players do. Cheers! //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses Ah, that explains it. Thanks for pointing that out! 🙂
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses There are different grades of "nickel-silver" and "stainless steel" too, some nickel-silver is harder than some stainless steel, something to keep in mind (best companies like Jescar likely use the hardest available?).
Love the trailer! Thanks for the fret-breakdown.
Would you recommend to to plek your guitar after doing a DIY refret?
It depends on the fret job. Haha! If all are leveled perfectly, no need for it. If a few frets are still uneven at the end, a Plek machine can help a lot. //Kris
I’ve been a musician all my life, but guitar just under two years. Basically, I bought a cheap ‘beginner’ Stratocaster in a thrift shop, and have been modifying since day one, so now it’s actually an awesome, one of a kind Stratocaster.
Besides the truss rod needing replacement, I recently discovered that my frets are worn down. That’s in addition to me making the holes bigger and adding holes to the headstock-and everywhere else on the guitar-to accommodate upgrades and mods. So instead of refretting, I’m getting a new neck, and I was worried about exactly this: what if I get the wrong frets? Should I go steel or nickel? Medium jumbo or steel? Johnny Walker or Glenfiddich?
So now I watched a few videos about frets, and it seems it’s nothing to fret about, but knowledge is power. I’m going to get a basic, standard Stratocaster neck and not worry about the little, narrow, tall, jumbo or otherwise stuff.
For blues and tones stick with nickel. Stainless steel wont sound good unless you’re using super high gain or no gain at all
@HarDeep the Indian warrior What strings do you use? Waiting for you to say anything but nickel.
LIKE ALL THE TECH VIDEOS U DO THANX MAN
That’s a great guitar tone.
Lololoooool 😅🌊🌊🌊
👏👏👏👏👍
Cooles video, aber der testride war bisschen kurz doctor evil 😅
🐈
Danke dir! :) Meine Hände waren komplett abgefroren (ca. 10 Grad im Studio), ich hab mich also gefreut überhaupt irgendwas kurzes spielen zu können. Haha!
Ciao! //Kris
Don't buy from Thomann if you're in the UK. Deliveries are delayed "due to Brexit related disruption" and you have to pay import taxes which surprisingly makes prices no cheaper than the UK. I suggest if Thomann want to sell to the UK they get their act together and sort out prices and shipping!
Fantastic stuff thanks!!!
Nice job. Thanks!
Very informative
Stainless steel frets are not "brighter." What a load of shit. They sound exactly like polished regular frets, except they stay that way. There is no excuse to use nickel silver frets unless you like scratched and dented frets after moderate playing.
Thanks!!!
Great
Evil gold 6100 please
:D Poor EVO gold just got a new name I guess. Now it's official. Haha
//Kris
I agree with Friedman...I have played on stage for over 40 years and I currently have four guitars that I use exclusively for stage.
One time years ago I purchased a Warmoth neck and got stainless steel frets on it because many of the people I new raved about how great they were, and honestly I grew weary of the cost of re-honing and re-fretting my necks every six months at a cost of $300.00 a pop (I was practicing everyday and playing on stage every weekend). The idea of never having to get a re-fret again really appealed to me.
I was so excited when I got what I thought was going to be a great upgrade for my strat.
The neck itself looked great and Warmoth did a wonderful job on the neck shape and fretwork. But sadly, buying this neck with the stainless steel frets was a huge mistake...not only did it change the sound of my guitar but also the way it felt when I played it. I spent the next four or five years switching this neck on to other strats bodies in hopes that one of them would sound decent, but it never did.
The $469.99 albatross neck now hangs on a wall as a costly reminder. Take my advice and just keep the nickel/silver frets on your guitar and if need be, just change the size of the frets. Just my 2 cents worth. Peace.