Stainless steel frets?

Updated
jl-austin
I have heard rumors that the MIJ ESP's have stainless steel frets. I currently own an ESP M-1 NTB. I have had it about a year, and the frets are still super shiny (compared to Ibanez which dull after a year or so). It also plays like butter. It also is a little on the "bright side" when it comes to sound. All of which are properties of stainless steel frets. So, I am curious, do they come with stainless steel frets?
andrei

i don't believe any ESP's have stainless steel frets by default.
(unless maybe if custom ordered - do they even have this option?)
in fact i don't believe any production guitar does.

stainless steel frets are supposed to be a pain to install and level.
also one may need special tools to install them, because the wear is a lot greater.
(i believe i've read this info on the Warmoth site, some time ago)

so that is why i don't think that any guitar, that comes from the production line, has stainless steel frets.
(but i don't know the exact model you were reffering to)

William An.

It wouldn't be that bad of an idea, because the default for the ESP and LTD guitars is Nickle-silver alloy for the frets, which is 60% copper, 20% nickle and zinc. As you can see, this is quite a soft alloy. Therefore, in any circumstance i would not recomend using any other kind of string other than Nickle, because for example the ernie ball cobalt will destroy your fret wire, because Cobalt is harder than Nickle silver (Copper being the primary metal used is quite cheap and soft), so when you combine 2 metals, in this case Nickle silver frets and the cobalt strings, which ever is the softer metal will wear out first.

I would highly recommend a guitar with Stainless steel frets, as this is tougher than most other metals, however i'm not sure how it is compared to cobalt, because i hear Cobalt is more tough than Titanium or tungsten...

Post to Thread