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Titanium frets


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Titanium Frets

Sellers claim that they don't work well with metal string guitars because of side tones.  They recommend installing them on nylon or "soft" metal strings.  

So there you go - if you want your nylon stringed guitar frets to last thousands of years, you have your answer.

So, who's taking the first dive?  Buy a bolt cutter and see what happens, eh?

 

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Fuggit. I have so many guitars that all of this, “nuevo-alloy”, horseshit don’t matter.       

I like Jescar frets. They are on the guitars that need them, otherwise, stock. Don’t give two shitz about stainless, titanium, etc...

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I like the stainless steel frets that came with my Cabronita-style partscaster, but I'm not the original owner...I bought that guitar as used, and probably cheaper than what the original owner spent on it, considering all the other boo-teek parts and features that it already had on it.  Would I spend my own money getting fancy new frets installed on any guitar, especially if it didn't really need it in the first place?  Probably not.

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I do like the SS frets I had installed on my Artist. Only cost me $25 more than regular, plus the cost difference of the fret material.

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8 hours ago, scottcald said:

I bet Phil Collen will jump at the chance to put more titanium in his signature guitar.  

I'm waiting with bated breath for the release of Phil Collen Signature Series Custom Titanium strings--available only in .013 gauge sets. I hear they'll stand up to the most obscene, vile, continuous, and cacophonous vibrato bar abuse imaginable. 

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Whyyyyyyyyyy???  I guess I should ask my friend who works at Jescar if they are going to jump on the bandwagon.  Why would you want a fretwire that hard? It's got a freakin Vickers hardness of 349.  How's the sound conduction? And if it's for nylon guitars.. they barely get fret wear!

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Stainless will pretty much last a lifetime for most players.  Not all titanium in necessary as strong as stainless - there are different grades and depends on how they make it.  Stainless is still my preference - lasts forever and tone is good if you actually know how to install them right.  Most people now days refret them with a loose slot and think superglue will be the answer to everything. Loose slots+superglue to hold down = bad transfer.  The tangs needs to bite in the wood IMO.  With stainless, you want the radius of the frets perfectly matched to the fretboard when you press them.  For tools, cut them with a piano wire clipper.  Those are made to cut hardened piano wire and will have no problem cutting stainless.

No reason for titanium frets but interested in someone taking the dive and doing a comparison.  My guess is they will install similar to stainless.

 

 

 

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SS frets aren't snake oil. Aside from lasting nearly forever, mine remain persistently shiny like newly polished frets, and string bending is silky smooth. They do nothing to improve tone (and they don't hurt the tone any either), but for playability and looks, they're awesome. And it didn't cost me a penny more for the stainless than if I'd had the tech use regular wire.

Titanium frets on the other hand is just unnecessary overkill. I wonder if they'd give the guitar a brittle tone.

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