Guitar Gear Forum

So I bought that Yamaha Revstar. It's my first guitar with SS frets. at first, I loved them. I thought they felt great and I couldn't hear any immediate tone difference. But after playing it for a while, I noticed that when I do fast alternate picking licks on the higher strings there is high end "ping" on the attack. Usually when I play fast licks I hear my pick. That is cool and it's what I want. With this guitar I hear the frets. Is this something normal? I could be the way I play. It's a bummer because I like everything else about this guitar but this is a deal breaker for me.

What do you guys think?

Ehh. My opinion is simply stainless steel STAY like fresh frets a lot longer.

Also that high end “ping” can simply be that guitar, but I hear it with fresh frets in general. And nickel frets simply “wear in”. It took me awhile to truly wrap my head around wearing in frets cause it was out there in the “repair world” of people complaining their tone chsnged after new frets and the rule of thumb was tell em to play it for a month and see. And my own experience has proven new frets are a bit more zing to em and in a month of regular playing, they’ll settle in and not be as bright..

SS simply holds onto that zing a bit longer but I also believe they break in over time too. But certainly not quite as much

the only guitar I have with SS frets is my Ernie Ball... I never noticed any pinging like you're describing. I've read of people saying that after they changed to SS frets their guitars had more top end but it's hard for me to make a comment like that since I've only ever known the Ernie Ball with the SS frets.... be interesting to do a proper A/B test to see the real differences... I will say I really do like the feel of SS Frets and not having the polish them every few months is also nice..... I've had the Ernie Ball about 4 or 5 years now and I polished the frets for the first time a couple months ago, mostly to see if it would make a difference.... it didn't really...

I have a few guitars with stainless steel frets and i haven't noticed this at all. I haven't tried those Yamaha Revstar's with or without ss frets so i have no way to compare. I've been curious to try one especially since they are available with SS frets. Of course just cause they are labeled as SS frets doesn't mean the actual alloy used is as good are SS frets used in guitars i've played with SS fret could be other factors with specific guitar perhaps that might cause such an issue.

I love stainless steel frets and have a few guitars i wish had them as would have saved eventual need for refret and prevented need for prior relevel/crowing/dressings already done on those guitars over the years.

I don't. Had my Hamer Cali which has been my main guitar for 20+ years refretted with SS and it still sounds the same to me

My Dark Matter also came stock with SS and it sounds normal to me

Here is audio clip where i was playing my Sparrow Les Paul copy with stainless steel frets and i go from bridge (SD jb) to neck (alnico pro ii) pu. This is audio recording from in front of stage catching a mix of beam from my amp and some coming through the main PA speakers. It was a from a fun outdoor house party gig. I don't hear any pinginess on the hi end in recording even listening very carefully through speakers and headphones but never heard any before when playing it even at home.

https://soundcloud.com/guitarplayerjax/sweetemotionoutroguitarsolo-3-21-2021-houseparty

I’ve never noticed a significant difference in sound (or feel for that matter) on my SS guitars versus those with regular frets that I could attribute to the frets.

Yeah it could be this particular guitar. I'll try another guitar with SS frets eventually.

i have no clue what kind of frets any of my guitars have i do know about that ping though, its happened to me a couple random times.. once with a dimarzio super distortion in my warlock that was unbearable and a few other times with lower output pickups i believe, i couldnt deal and had to switch pickups. i never really knew what the deal was with that

I have a bass with SS frets. I don't really think about them that much.

On a new guitar I'll usually swap two or three string brands to see how each sound. Too bright/zingy, I move to EB. Too dark/muddy, I move to D'addario.

If you're already using EB and it's pinging, I have no suggestions for you since they sound half worn out straight out of the package.

I'm pretty sure the tele neck I made you had SS frets.

_ej_ wrote:I'm pretty sure the tele neck I made you had SS frets.

That's interesting because I didn't notice it. But I don't play the Tele the same way, I rarely do any soloing with it.

I don't notice much difference on mine. Maybe slightly brighter, but nothing like you're describing.

I don't notice much difference on mine. Maybe slightly brighter, but nothing like you're describing.

I don't notice much difference on mine. Maybe slightly brighter, but nothing like you're describing.

I don't notice much difference on mine. Maybe slightly brighter, but nothing like you're describing.

I don't notice much difference on mine. Maybe slightly brighter, but nothing like you're describing.

I don't notice much difference on mine. Maybe slightly brighter, but nothing like you're describing.

I don't notice much difference on mine. Maybe slightly brighter, but nothing like you're describing.

I only have one guitar with ss frets, definitely brighter... might be more noticeable for me since I pick like grape ape and use stone picks lol

A bunch of SS fretted guitars and never noticed it. Try playing with no amp and compare with a non-ss fretted guitar and see if it's still there. I prefer SS frets actually and would have them on all my guitars if that was feasible.

I don't notice much difference on mine. Maybe slightly brighter, but nothing like you're describing.

I worried about this when I had one of my LP's refretted with SS frets a few years ago. Only difference that I noticed was that I loved them right out of the gate! Had a couple other guitars with SS frets and kept listening for that ping because I have read that I should hear it. Maybe that is what is happening? If you like the guitar, stop listening for it and you will most likely stop hearing it.

My 3 main guitars have them; one is a LP with a nitro finish and the other two are poly, other than that same builds, mahogany bodies, maple tops and ebony boards. The LP is noticeably brighter.

I know a guy that had one of the same Caparisons I do and got rid of it because he said the combo of ebony board/SS frets made it way too bright for his tones.

You hear what you hear, doesn’t matter to a lot of people but if it bugs you, maybe try to find one of those guitars that’s older and doesn’t have them?