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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
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From the very first comment under the video with bone frets, I realized that I had to install glass frets. I was weighing up the pros and cons for a long time, I thought about how I would do it and from what material, watched some videos on how to work with glass, because before that I had nothing to do with glass.
But I found the strength and opportunity to do this for you and you know what? I like it.
There's something about the way the glass frets feel while playing them.
Yes, I spent a lot of time on this, I had to constantly work in the respirator and I spent a very long time cleaning the workbench after the glass, but the result was worth it. Next time I'll do it a little differently and add fluorescent for added effect.
Would you like such frets?
Leave comments on this matter, leave your crazy ideas and maybe I will bring your idea to life...
Nice. You just doomed yourself to a frusturating but profitable niche!
We will hope
@@mr.k1tjust imagine if they had led lights under the frets
@@omarmoran3097gamer gutiar
@@omarmoran3097that's going to be cool dude great idea
@@mr.k1t there was a company doing this, too expensive though
That's insane. I can only imagine how hard that was to accomplish. Also, imagine putting some LEDs in it lol
Have mercy on the poor guy he suffered enough already /j
It would literally be so cool ngl
gamer guitar 💀
No plz, No leds
@@1BLACHI (ill) logical extension would be television, or mirrors-for the ultra vain... Or just to keep those nose hairs in check!
Hell yeah.
That's insane! Wish you did a sound/tone comparison between the original frets & the glass frets.
He also changed the nut from bone or plastic to brass, that probably changes the tone too
@skratchrapture C'mon, EVERYBODY plays cowboy chords. Even the power chordiest of metalheads and punks play an open G chord once in a while!!
It’s probably less of a change than you’d think.
@@Typical.Anomaly Not if you tuned to A#EBFBE like me XD
@@JoshBattershell Still, would have been cool to check out. S'all good, it is what it is.
Cerium Oxide powder paste would have been a great choice for polishing. Glass hardness matches or surpasses the files. Excellent job!!! Loved this video
Thanks for the advice, I've never worked with glass, it was a new experience for me.
The file is about 64 HRC. Glass 60-61
Wow, are you Cerious?
@@melody3741 🤣🤣🤣
A fine polish (60k+ grit) is not necessary
A walk on the beach will show you that glass doesn’t take long to become worn
Stratoglasster 🤓
I’m a Glassblower and I have a few ideas to make it a bit easier but actually I think you nailed it. I want a neck with glass frets. Maybe my best idea would be to use cobalt or a color for the frets. Awesome job
Thanks!
It would be interesting to talk with you, I want to hear your ideas.
Write to me on Instagram if you have the opportunity and desire to chat
Best would be Borosilicate Glass.
@@mr.k1t contact nilered and see if hell make you some uranium glass lol
Glass artist here too! I've made my own guitar string pegs out of glass and added lights in the body of my acoustic guitar to light them up from inside! Are you thinking stringers for the frets to keep them rounded at first?
You could just use glass rod...
Glass bodies, glass necks; now glass frets. I have now almost seen it all. I like doing ffret work, but this is beyond me. I am just amazed, great work man.
We're close to have a guitar that can win a fight against Magneto.
Waiting for the all glass guitar
Stevie Vai will jump all over this. @@dizzydyzy
@@dizzydyzy Prince Ruperts Drop strings🤣🤣
@@lectrikdogthey would almost never break, but when they did they kill everyone in a 20 foot radius.
I would HIGHLY recommend doing the polishing and sanding with a fume hood/vacuum situation. Inhaling glass shavings can cause silicosis which will fuck you over for life. Very cool idea and commendable patience on the project!
you cant get it if you have immune type b blood system
Glass does not cause silicosis, quartz does, and glass is not quartz.
@@cv4wheeler The vast, vast majority of glass is roughly 70% quartz
@PacificBird it's made from quartz (crystalline silica), but glass is amorphous silica which doesn't cause silicosis.
That said, it could cause other issues and wearing glasses and mask is probably best
@@KyleDB150the irony being no dust mask is gonna say, "go ahead and use it for glass dust," If you start reading the fine print. Ventilation is the only way. 19 years as a glassblower, just saying.
The best part of this video is where you removed the strings by unwinding them, instead of cutting them like some kind of psycho.
I have other guitars for this
A friend pro audio mixer did stage monitors for the Yes 90210 tour (Owner of a lonely heart). Squire had his strings changed every day. Since they were trash , Craig got me a used set. BUT he had to ask the roadie to unwind them rather then cut them off under tension, like he was doing. And a bass ! What an idiot.
This is where Bryan Adams got the 'Played it 'til my fingers bled' line from. Absolutely ridiculous and so amazingly badass! Good work.
Thanks!
Jimi Hendrix said that bra
Stone frets. Maybe obsidian.
I was hoping it wouldn't come to this🥲
Just flint-knap them into shape! 😢
Obsidian is glass 😉
Stone chews through strings unless you use a super super hard one
@@danielbarbieri8199isn't glass already stone, too?
I’m gonna send this to every tech or luthier that whines about how “ StaNLeSs StEeL FReTs aRe sO hARd oN mY tOOls”
😄
new challenge: tungsten carbide frets
Thanks, no😁
@@natsuzkan Would that cause neck dive 😅 J/k, I actually love the idea. If only!!
For the patience alone you deserve my applaud. Cool sounding strat!
Thanks!
You, sir, have way more patience than I think I'd have. I get frustrated just maintaining my guitars. I do setups in the spring and fall. Every time I do them, I think about selling half of them 😅
I don't even remember when I changed the strings on my guitars😉
You guys are weird, I enjoy setups and changing strings almost as much as playing 😆
@@mr.k1t I've change strings after 2 years because fretboard has to be oiled from time to time. ;)
I do this every day many times on other people’s instruments.
Understand me, I want to play my guitar😁
With these frets this guitar sounds crystal clear.. really transparent! 😂🎉
I see through what you did there.
@JumpyCat717 Good one! 😍🤩
@@johnsausage smashing !
@JumpyCat717 smashing !
@@wingracer1614 smashing !
Thanks for the entertainment.
Your extremely ambitious. I love watching stuff like your posting. I wish you were my neighbor.
It'd be cool to add a micro-LED to the end of the frets where dots go. It'd make real easy to play in dark clubs...
This was the most fascinating luthier video I've seen in ages. Immediate follow.
Thanks!
came for content , stayed for content, subbed for meme
Accepted
Its sounds so smooth and clean and crisp
Great tone. Very clear notes. Sharp sounding, glassy even. Cuts right through the mix like obsidian. You really hear the strings THROUGH the frets, transparently so. Love the fret ends, lotta people leave rough edges, but here you can't see anything. I can barely even see the fret. The only real downside here is that stainless is very resistant to discoloration, and I hear glass stains easy, you can even do it at home. They make kits.
Well anyway it’s late, i'm gonna go take a knapp.
Please don't drop it.
The 2001 clip was most unexpected, but I dig the sentiment. A great video!
You could apply some tritium underneath the frets to make them glow in the dark (after some exposure to light), you know, like the hands in some watches.
tritium is radioactive and makes its own light
That is dedication to learning and experimenting!!!
It sounded a bit like a Sitar!
Thanks for showing us.
Thank you!
I’m not sure if it’s only placebo or if it really does sound more like the strat should sound. so clean and cold. such a great work ! Слава Україні🇺🇦
Ну ніфіга, якась фантастична технологія....навіть не уявляю як важко було
Респект!
This produces a weirdly confusing mix of emotions - I genuinely don't know whether to be horrified or delighted, but either way you have my highest respect for the patience and work involved...
Thank you!
Literally, "this strat has a crystal clear sound."
The amount of skill and effort put in to accomplishing this insanely bad idea is incredible.
my favorite part of the video is the insanely accurate choice of breaking bad footage lol
Thank you!
Glad you liked it
@@mr.k1t awesome video all the way around and very creative but that breaking bad stuff peaked lol i am a huge bb fan
Having done numerous refrets with nickel-silver and now exclusively stainless, I believe your polishing efforts might have been better served had you used a stone with the proper radius ground into it. I came across this method from an old Luthiers Mercantile catalog and have been using it for over thirty years. Its works best on nickel-silver as stainless steel requires less work if done properly. Very interesting. It sounded to me to have a different tone about it. Thank you and God bless you.
Isn't work on stainless steel frets a lot harder on the tools? A luthier who does stainless steel fretwork (but mostly nickel, of course) told me he goes through the tools a lot faster doing stainless steel and has to replace them far more often.
Now I want a glass fretboard for that nice fretless sound
You can contact @MorningstarGlassGuitars
So cool. I love the look! I know it’ll wear out fast, but ebony frets in a maple neck would look rad. Or maybe black resin for a little more durability.
I often think about frets made of something black, but for now I can only suggest black glass🙃
@@mr.k1t Find some aluminium alloy then anodize it to any colour you want.
Aluminium alloy with magnesium and silicon has a "6---" code (for example 6061, 6082), and these are strong and hard alloys. Not as good as fret wire, but maybe a little bit better than glass ?? :))
@@kitmoore9969 An alloy of aluminum and silicon is silumin, it is a very soft alloy and will wear out faster than bone frets. Glass, in turn, has a hardness of 60-61HRC, which is much harder than the hardest stainless steel.
And the anodizing thickness is about 25 microns, wear out very quickly.
But it seems to me that today I came up with something to make black frets from (material similar to bone)
🐃🐃🐃
@@mr.k1t obsidian
I need to see this but with thick stainless steel
Дуже крута робота!)))
Питання тільки в тому, як довго прослужить таке щастя)
Вічність якщо не розбити)
After cutting the glass, gently tap the cut with a small metal object.
The cutters I used have a metal ball at the ends just for that purpose.
The pieces often just fall off and the cuts are less likely to chip, but I also always cut with enough of a margin to be able to sand any chips away.
Really good content man you’re talented as well. Very good to just sit back and just relax to
Thank you!
Really cool! I would be scared that they would chip and then slice my finger open!
Thanks!
Small hole under each fret, then run fiber optic strands up the neck to each fret and put the light source in the body. EZ fret lighting.
Inlay a (colored) LED strip along the bottom side of the neck, lining each LED up with the side end of each fret. The light will shine through the entire glass fret. Then you can cover the back of the strip with a piece of wood trim(or veneer).... Would look best if you could inlay that as well, obviously a lot more work, but would definitely look better totally hidden.
Nice work
Thanks!
Have you made a glass fretboard yet? You'd need individual blocks of glass for each fret of course, so the neck can still bend.
Sounds awesome.
I'd be probably thinking of building some sort of cutting device that incorporates heat to make the frets. Since you're starting a new frustrating but lucrative business.
I've already taken care of the future technical process🙃
@@mr.k1t 👍 How, if I can ask. It's not an easy task..
Yes, flame polishing.
Талантів у нас хватає!!!
Гарна робота..
Дякую!
What a glassy tone
Sounds great! I wonder why more people don't do this
yeah it only takes 13 minutes to get them
My old SX strat sounds more like a strat than a Strat. You did a great job. 👍
Thanks!
I need sleep. Up until this video popped up. Now I need answers.
This is crazy to say the least, I was doing a similar feat with my classical guitar saddle but it broke because it wasn't totally flat, a week and a half sanding gone, however watching your approach made me want to give it another try
Good luck to you😉
The glassiest Fender tone ever!
Impressive. Now that Strat truly has a glassy sound!
That was way cool to watch.
Thanks!
Im glad someone is finally thinking outside of the box in terms of fret material. Personally, I've wondered about carbon fiber frets.
Carbon fiber would not be durable in this type of application. Take an carbon fiber tube/rod and rub a string on it and you'll immediately know why.
@@therileyobrien dry carbon wouldnt work but with resin it would be fine
Wow awesome 👍how was bending strings ?
Thanks!
better than steel, resembles bronze
should have had a before and after sound test. so we can compare the sound, great work btw.
when I win the lottery I will have on my stratocaster 21 Diamond frets & 1 platinum nut 😁
Don't forget the Optima gold strings
Diamond frets will eat through a set of strings in a minute
Really Glassy Tone. 😊
Ceramic frets really ought to be a thing. Never wear out.
I'll think about it
ceramics are almost always abrasive, these will wreck your string in no time, the whole reason we went from gut frets to steel is because steel strings ate up those gut frets in no time
@@rko2016It's certainly possible for ceramics to be very smooth and have very little friction. Maybe a BAM coating?
@@natsuzkan i feel that one or the other will wear out the other still, i also want to add that nut adds very little to electric string instruments compared to acoustic, i hope if he does the video he does acoustic for testing
Tempered glass, especially that which would be made in a mold, with the right radius already formed in. It can be polished and it won’t break or crack something you should try.
I work with glass for a living, very cool project! I would’ve cut the curve first on a larger piece, and then polish it, it keeps from chipping that way. then get the height by cutting the straight side. Also invest in glass pliers for breaking it.
I sounds incredible. Nice work.
Thanks
I'd imagine they make tempered glass rods that are less than 0.10" Dia., pretty sure there are experts out there who could heat and bend to give them a radius.
Really, really cool, thank you for sharing this.
You've a good amount of patients working with the very brittle specimen slides, great job Sir.
What's next, Titanium or maybe even hardened tool steel?
Thanks, titanium is definitely on the list (I've already purchased it) But now, I'm working on a version with nylon strings and bone frets
@@mr.k1t Most excellent, please count me as a new Subscriber.
Thank You for the great content, very much appreciated.
I don’t think you can bend tempered glass….
@@SLB4523 I believe you may be correct. That said, there are much better types of glass that can be used instead of the specimen slides. Fascinating for sure.
sounds almost like its got a glass slide for chords but almost a brighter natural reverb sound. Great job, Keep up the good work!!
Thank you!
lol
Wow, unbelievable! Microscope slides! Haven't played an SX (basses only, right?), but I can imagine the silky feeling on my Fender Strat! -- JV
Thank you! Guitars too
If you really want I can’t repeat it on your Fender 😁
Sound awesome
I feel like this is probably a quite interesting experiment, but I think that the type of glass you're using is likely to be a bit brittle when it comes to the stresses placed on it by movement and flexion of the wood.
Obviously, this isn't something you'd do for a production instrument but I reckon it would work better if you used composite materials for the neck if you ever did want to go in that direction.
I do also think that something more along the lines of the fretless guitars by Vigier would be a less difficult thing to put together: so you'd start off with a fretboard made fully of glass and then cut into it with a rotary bit to create a scalloped design before refining the shape of the frets afterwards. If you had access to a CNC machine then you could do this with a more conventional radiused fretboard due to the fact that the machine can preserve the radius between the frets without using a jig, or dying of old age before the project is finished as it obsessively checks against a radius guage.*
You'd be buggered if the glass chips out, but that's not exactly much different considering how difficult it would be to replace one glass fret in a regular neck.
Thinking out loud, you could potentially look at whether epoxy could be a viable 'glass', as you could then have a mold for the neck and fretboard that you pour the liquid resin into so that the shape is defined roughly with less work than you did here and the hand finishing can be carried out with less pre-work.
*now I've thought about it, you could make a jig but it would be very challenging to make it work for the upper frets. Essentially, I'm thinking that it would be an overlay with a radius running transverse to the neck with holes between where the frets should be for you to use a small router or rotary tool in a mount that has a depth stop so that its distance from the surface you're cutting into is consistently aligned with the intended radius, but you're going to need to have that jig made up with a radius in its outside surface that reflects the fact that the jig is needs to be the same distance from the fretboard all of the width. It's difficult to explain in words, but if you draw a circle inside another circle you'll get what I mean. Just add the depth of the material used for the jig at its thickest point after the radius is applied. It's going to be a bit wonky when you're done but it's at least a start.
Wow, thanks. Food for thought.
A guitar workshop is not suitable for larger-scale glass work. So, it is unlikely that the technical process will be developed in my current conditions.
I’m currently studying the issue and am increasingly inclined to cast a ready-made neck with frets out of glass, what do you think?
@@mr.k1t if I've understood correctly, would that mean taking an existing guitar neck and using it to build a mold?
Yes that's the plan@@casanovafunkenstein5090
It definitely gives it a "warm glassy" tone.
Finishing/sanding the bottom of the frets b4 you put them on the neck would make them look more smooth i think but that is more preference and would be more work. Excellent work.👍
Thanks!
this is a cool idea, i have been playing around with the idea of tied on nylon frets id love to see your take on that idea
It should work
It sounds amazing. Wish wed had a before and after sound. I wonder if they would be durable enough to work for a gigging musician? Whether they would stand up to the drastic handling and massive temp variables that a gigging player deals with. If they stand up to heavy use you just my be onto something new which is very tough to do in this arena as these instruments have been around for decades.
There isn’t going to be a sound difference.
Maybe try agate frets next.
It's harder and much more durable than glass! It would be a true challenge, for sure
It would be interesting to hear how rubber frets would sound. Also, a guitar with different fret material staggered down the fretboard might make for a fascinating sonic experiment. I realize "it would sound stupid" is the first thing most of us would think, but remember that some of the stupid mistakes guitarists and luthiers have made produced some rather iconic guitars and tones that we either identify and love or take for granted as the norm. Call it science, remembering that science celebrates mistakes, accidents, and crazy ideas in between observation and repetition. Glass frets, though, sounded very nice and look very nice. Difficult, odd material, skillfully executed fabrication and install. This was evocative, too. Nice job, Mr KT.
Thank you, I was always interested in trying nylon or caprolon, quite similar materials to rubber
really nails that glassy strat tone
Thanks!
The tone is clear and so transparent
Just like glass 😂
Great! It'd be interesting to hear a comparison.
Congradulations MRKT glass frets are not an easy task to accomplish! I have done close to fifty of the crystal and other types of stone so I know the stress. You have the Steve Carrel part perfect. What you will discover as you do some testing is that the glass fret acts more like a crystal in the old radios, it amplifies and clarifies the sound. By the way you don't have to radius the bottom of the fret, it doesn't matter with crystal so it shouldn't matter with glass.
likely just cut them one after another from the same edge so they just inherently already had the radius on the bottom. the frets looked to be cut out flat by the cnc so i'm worried if too much pressure is put on them, they'd snap, but i'm not particularly familiar with the tensile strength of glass and how well it bonds to wood with ca glue so i don't know
My fingers started bleeding out of sympathy...😂😂
Those SX Vintage-series guitars are some of the best budget Strats I've played! Perfect for beginners. Very similar to the much more expensive Squier Vintage Vibe series. Those glass frets should make it sound even more glassy and chimey!
I agree with you, great low budget Strat
ahem. One of the finest players working today plays Squiers. He was tapped for the stage band at a Lynyrd Skynyrd appreciation show for The Historic Fox Theater in Atlanta and his guitar was misplaced on the flight in . He had his uber driver stop by Guitar Center on the way, bought an off the shelf Squier, set of his favorite strings and later that day , blew the capacity crowd of about 2k out of their seats. His name is Jack Pearson and he's an absolutely monster player. A great instrument can make a so so player better but a great player can play a diddley bow and get a standing "O" .
wow you got quite the glassy tone there.
You get quite good at cutting glass; but I can share a "secret" to breaking glass, that makes it even better: Temperature and Tempo. When you make the scratch in the glass, you also introduce some energy into the scratch which makes it a bit hotter and creates a local tension, that will help break the glass precisely IF YOU DO IT FAST. If you wait too many seconds, that tension will disperse and the risk of a poor break is higher.
I'll try that next time, thanks
I did not know that, good tip!
would be hilarious to take this to a shop and casually ask them for a fret level
Damn, I have to do this!
I've wondered what titanium frets would be like before, but not glass. I'll bet they feel great when bending strings but I'd be worried about their fragile nature.
Titanium frets are already in production, let's compare
I've tried flat wounds before but for my fingers and couldn't get used to them.@@mal2ksc
Bullshit@@mal2ksc
Kinda want to hear some info about playability, tone comparison how they feel and potential weaknesses/wear. Nice project though!👍👍
oh damn, i thought you were going to go for the bar fret design, but you went all the way with the glass! Big props for that, really interesting look, though not that good of implementation, is it? How did the tone change in the room? It would be a good idea to record benchmark DI tracks as well
Either way, awesome video
The feeling of glass is present in the guitar, I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out, but next time I'll do it perfectly
My only worry would be it chips a tad and I cut my fingers. Rad and calming build.
if you utilize the Rhebinder effect, you can cut the glass under water with much greater precision. You will need to spend some time creating a submersible clamping system but it could easily be done with some nice level cuts of granite from a countertop store. If you were to repeat this project with a carbon fiber neck you could perform the entire task submersed in water. With that said, it would also be cool to see this done with different types of stone cut in thin slabs
Neat. I wonder about long term durability though. Guitar necks tend to... move. Given the right change in humidity and temperature they could break.
One thing is sure. It will be impossible to wear those frets down. Glass is harder than steel. And it gives the guitar a slightly different look. They might do something positive for the sound too.
Can’t imagine the cleanup after the fret job.
oh man, that was a nightmare🙃
This is crazy! I wonder how long the glass will last. Definitely should've put some LED's in it lol fantastic project
Very interesting idea and execution. I'm glad I discovered your channel. Will check out your other videos, for sure.
Thank you! You are welcome!
well done on the glass cutting, i failed miserably when i tried to cut down a mirror, coloured glass would've been hella cool
Oh yeah, I want to try colored glass. it will be cool
@@mr.k1t great vids btw, enjoyed the bone guitar!
Really nice work! My question is what if you have to pull them? Knock them out? Sincerely- another glassworker
Thank you!
I'll heat them up and take them out
SX has some good ones
Worked in glass for the last 21 years. If you sandblast each piece entirely before you set it, then find a way to run LEDs un the neck from the inside... man, that'll look nuts. Frosting the glass will catch the light and illuminate the piece instead of just letting light lass through.
Possibly, but frosted glass will make terrible sounds with vibrato
@@mr.k1t 🤔 You could keep the edge polished and just frost the sides.
For now, I'm focused on how to make the process less of a torture.🤔
I’m actually waiting for the day that some guitar nerd hooks up with a dental technician and guild milled zirconium frets, nuts and saddles!
My dentist friend is crazy about this idea.
Killer job!! Love it!!
Thank you!
Imagine you drop your gig bag with your guitar in it, the glass frets shatter, you take the ghost out, start playing without seeing the shattered frets……..
Imagine if you drop a bag with a regular guitar, you also have a chance that the guitar will break
A glass blower should be able to make rods for you already smoothed to save a load of time
I wish I could find such a person
Nothing can be better than stainless steel. Under the right conditions glass can shatter. I picture the guitar sliding down a amp and hitting something...you guessed it...broken glass!👍🏻🤔
A very likely outcome is a broken guitar neck.
@@mr.k1t Either way...🤔😥😭😉👍🏻
not sure if it would change the tone , i am imagening wat would happen if a little piece of the glas splinters off the end of the fret halfway through a solo
the glass is a little harder/ more brittle than the stainless but likely will wear out faster from rubbing it with the strings as the tiny pieces scape off the top
as mentioned , it would be a great showpiece if you where to use a clear see through body and light it up
have you thought of contacting pilkington in england? they're glass specialists and could suggest which is the best glass to use for frets. they used to have an advert with a hammer. made of glass. driving 6" nails into a block of wood.
Perhaps, but I don’t think they will be interested in my modest small-scale production
unless you ask. you'll never know. anyway. keep up the good work. its nice to see someone doing something different with a guitar.@@mr.k1t