![]() ![]() Now they're not, and I've got to let her go to someone who'll play her gloriously. Tacoma's top-of-the-line dreadnaught, and she's one of the last ones made, from 2006 - s/n J2370010 - and when I bought her this past April, times were good. The situation has changed, so I've copied & edited it to reflect that: Just during the few years where I was doing a lot of stainless fret installation, I went through many different fret cutters, tang nippers, fret crowning files and a whole lot of elbow grease, too, as the fret jobs took much longer to do.I'd originally put this post up here on Saturday January 6. The worst part of stainless steel frets is the way it totally destroys your tools. The stainless added a subtle yet noticeable brightness and, to me, was even a touch colder sounding than before. The thing that shocked me most was how much it changed the tone of the guitars. I heard and felt what were to me very noticeable differences.įirst is the feel: the stainless was like walking on ice, so smooth and slippery, it just begs you to bend the strings (maybe too slippery). I was able to play and observe the guitars with nickel silver frets and then do the same again after I installed the stainless steel frets. I mentioned earlier that some of the guitars I installed this on were re-frets. The pros are that they last virtually forever and they stay looking good too. This is the hardest fret wire on the list, and because of that extreme hardness, there are some pros and some cons. It seems to be that sweet spot again, a balance of workability and durability, and it looks great too. The gold color can be a really nice and unique touch on certain guitars, and the extra hardness seems to be enough to extend the life of the frets without totally destroying your fretting tools as stainless does-more on that in the next section.I have used this wire the least of the three, but I am currently using it on several guitars, and so far, I love it. The tone and feel are best described as in between the 18% nickel silver and the stainless steel fret materials (not surprising since the hardness of the EVO gold is right in the middle as well). It has no nickel, perfect for people who have allergies or other concerns with nickel frets. If you are wondering what EVO gold fret wire is, you’re not alone, as it’s the newest addition to our fret material options and is made from copper, tin, iron, and titanium (CuSn15Fe1Ti0.1). This is the most common type of guitar fret material. I have observed that the nickel silver fret wire has the warmest tone, and the string seems to grip onto it just a bit (compared to the following guitar fret wire materials). Some classical guitar makers also use a softer version with only 12% nickel. The most common type is the 18% nickel, which I use most often for my guitars. Despite its name, it has no silver in it. This fret wire is actually a copper alloy with nickel added for the harness. It’s subtle, but it does happen, so it’s good to be aware of. If a good job of fret crowing is done, then the intonation when new should be just the same as a medium fret, but as the wider fret wears and flattens the rounded crown shape, it can lead to more noticeable intonation problems as the string point of contact gets subtly moved closer to the saddle making the string a tiny bit sharp. These wide or jumbo frets are often used for electric guitars and basses. It has lots of sustain and is great for bending and tapping. 110″)-If you are a heavy metal shredder or rock player, you most likely love these frets. I feel like the intonation may be a bit more accurate with a medium fret than the wide or jumbo size, which I’ll talk more about shortly. 095″)-This medium-sized wire is the sweet spot, in my opinion, giving a comfortable feel and enough mass for nice sustain and even some decent string bending at the larger end of this medium fret width category. It’s not very common on guitars these days. 080″)-Mostly used for pre-WWII guitars, ukuleles, banjoes, mandolins, and other instruments like that. ![]()
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