The general feeling with electric players is that stainless steel frets can give a completely new dimension to ease of playing; therefore why shouldn't the same be applicable to the acoustic guitar? Stainless steel fret replacement is a reasonably common modification that is made to electric and electro-acoustic guitars, but the practice of refitting an acoustic guitar with stainless steel frets is a pretty rare occurrence, by all accounts.
Do you use a playing technique such as 'lap tapping' that can lead to re-fretting or a new guitar every four to five months? Stainless steel frets would certainly make sense in this case, the material is resistant and long-lasting, in fact why isn't it fitted as standard instead of having to go to a luthier and have a fret replacement?
Luthiers are generally opposed to having stainless steel frets because of the difficulty of working with the material. The 'art' of hammering frets onto the fingerboard and later levelling them doesn't work at all well with stainless steel. It is almost impossible to level them later so they would need to be hammered or pressed in close to the exact height. Die makers also say that stainless steel is particularly gummy and can clog up their diamond files more quickly than the standard fret materials that are used.
However, could the pro's conceivably outweigh the con's?
In theory, using a harder metal would have less wear and there are certainly some claims for making string bending easier, but in reality so would any new or filed fret. Nevertheless, there seems to be some mileage in supposing that the material used in new frets is considerably softer than it used to be, but this could be anecdotal and due to the individual's or modern playing styles!!
With no perceptible wear in stainless steel frets and the increased ease of string bending they are very likely to be much longer lasting than with newly polished standard fitted factory frets. Another advantage, to some, is that stainless steel frets could be made taller than the frets fitted on the standard factory dreadnought. Whilst this perhaps would not be for everyone because the amount of left hand finger pressure would need to be controlled with additional 'squeeze' and make the sound can become very sharp.
So, is it worth the expense? Only you can decide, however the process itself is certainly possible despite some Luthiers opposition and who knows it may become a little more common than it is today.
Do you use a playing technique such as 'lap tapping' that can lead to re-fretting or a new guitar every four to five months? Stainless steel frets would certainly make sense in this case, the material is resistant and long-lasting, in fact why isn't it fitted as standard instead of having to go to a luthier and have a fret replacement?
Luthiers are generally opposed to having stainless steel frets because of the difficulty of working with the material. The 'art' of hammering frets onto the fingerboard and later levelling them doesn't work at all well with stainless steel. It is almost impossible to level them later so they would need to be hammered or pressed in close to the exact height. Die makers also say that stainless steel is particularly gummy and can clog up their diamond files more quickly than the standard fret materials that are used.
However, could the pro's conceivably outweigh the con's?
In theory, using a harder metal would have less wear and there are certainly some claims for making string bending easier, but in reality so would any new or filed fret. Nevertheless, there seems to be some mileage in supposing that the material used in new frets is considerably softer than it used to be, but this could be anecdotal and due to the individual's or modern playing styles!!
With no perceptible wear in stainless steel frets and the increased ease of string bending they are very likely to be much longer lasting than with newly polished standard fitted factory frets. Another advantage, to some, is that stainless steel frets could be made taller than the frets fitted on the standard factory dreadnought. Whilst this perhaps would not be for everyone because the amount of left hand finger pressure would need to be controlled with additional 'squeeze' and make the sound can become very sharp.
So, is it worth the expense? Only you can decide, however the process itself is certainly possible despite some Luthiers opposition and who knows it may become a little more common than it is today.
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