Everything you ever wanted to know about guitar fret wire
This article is the result of an email I received.
An email came in specifically asking me what I thought about guitar fret wire concerning whether I prefer nickel/silver or stainless steel, what size I prefer and why.
I replied with a detailed answer (and he replied in kind with a donation which I very much appreciated,) and this is most of what I said in that reply since it will be of use to anyone trying to figure out what fret wire to with and why.
Most off-the-shelf guitars use nickel/silver fret wire
"Off-the-shelf" in this context means "guitars your find in the guitar store." Unless you specifically go looking for stainless steel frets (ordinarily reserved for higher-priced guitars,) the vast majority of the time you'll end up with nickel/silver.
Why is nickel/silver so common? Easy answer: Cheaper to source.
Compare nickel/silver to stainless steel and the price goes up a bit with stainless steel. Not a ridiculous amount, but for guitar companies who mass-produce instruments, every penny counts, so the cheaper stuff is used.
Common fret wire sizes
(To the best of my knowledge, these are Dunlop-specific wire model numbers).
Nickel/Silver
- 6230 - Small frets for vintage Fender
- 6130 - Medium Jumbo (most Squier, Epiphone and Gibson guitars)
- 6105 - Narrow/Tall
- 6150 - Wide/Tall (Fender American necks usually use this)
- 6100 - Big wire (Usually found on Ibanez necks)
Stainless Steel
- SS6230 - Small frets for vintage Fender
- SS6105 - Narrow/Tall
- SS6150 - Jumbo (Fender American necks)
- SS6100 - Big wire (Usually found on Ibanez necks)
Which is the better material?
Neither is better than the other. Which to choose depends on how fast you wreck frets.
At the time I write this, I'm having my first guitar, an '89 Squier II Stratocaster, refretted among other things. I specifically instructed the luthier to use stainless steel fret wire.
Why stainless? It's a harder material that takes longer to wear down. Since I wreck frets pretty easily, stainless was the logical choice to go with.
For example, with regular play I can put some fairly big dents in the first 3 to 4 frets of a neck in less than 3 years. And I mean the kind of dents that can't be fixed with a simple leveling. Nope. It's usually the case where I have to either get a new neck or trade out the guitar and get another one.
Generally speaking, if all you have is minor fret wear with 5 years of regular play on any guitar you own, nickel/silver is totally fine to use.
Believe me, if you're a fret-wrecker, you'll know it. Even with a perfectly set up guitar, some guys are just really heavy-handed on the lower frets and dent them right up quick. It happens.
Does string choice affect how long frets last?
Yes and no.
Some strings have more abrasive steel than others. For example, I'm personally convinced that RotoSound strings are fret wreckers and absolutely will not use them. Not on guitar nor bass. When I examine RotoSounds, I can physically see steel imperfections with the naked eye for the unwound strings. I won't go near that brand...
...but it could very well be that when I tried RotoSound, maybe they just had a bad run and may have fixed things up by now. Maybe I just bought Rotos at the wrong time? Totally possible.
Ordinarily, old strings are what wreck frets more than anything else. The non-stainless steel kind, that is.
I have to explain that one a bit.
On the bass guitar, you could keep a stainless steel set on there for 10 years. No, that is not an exaggeration. Some bass players buy one stainless steel set, periodically remove the strings, boil them in water to clean off the grime, then put them right back on the bass afterward. Yes, they really do this, and it works for them.
Guitar players ordinarily don't use stainless steel strings because they have a very shrill sound to them. Great for slide, but not much else. D'Addario, La Bella, Fender, Ernie Ball and others all make a stainless steel string set of some kind.
Do I recommend getting them? No, I don't. Like I said, very shrill sound. Great for bass because of their piano-like twang that breaks in real nice, horrible for guitar unless used for slide.
ANYWAY...
Fresh strings are the best to use to keep your frets from getting wrecked prematurely. If you see rust (i.e. black "lines" on the unwound strings,) put on a fresh set.
Does it make a difference who makes the fret wire?
Yes.
Dunlop makes frets differently than, say, Jescar does (famous for their EVO gold color fret wire). Each company makes different decisions on what alloys are used. One company uses more nickel and the other does not. One has a fret that's slighter harder, the other slightly softer.
I'll make it easy for you. If you want the harder stuff that lasts, just get Jescar stainless steel fret wire and call it a day - BUT - and this is a big but - realize that stainless steel frets don't polish up as nicely as nickel/silver does. If you want the shiniest stuff, use nickel/silver. If you'd rather have a fret that lasts longer, get stainless steel.
What wire size do I prefer?
Medium jumbo, followed by jumbo.
My first preference is medium jumbo just because most of the guitars I've owned have had medium jumbo fret wire installed on the neck.
However, my '89 Squier is having stainless jumbo wire installed on it. Interestingly enough, my red '89 Squier does in fact have a 12" fingerboard radius on the neck like a Gibson, so hey, who knows, maybe putting the Fender American Standard size fret wire on it (Fender does use jumbo on modern American Strats) will be a good thing.
If not, I'll get a little more string buzz, and if so, whatever. I'll deal with it. It's my first guitar and it will be nice to have a fresh set of frets on it. She deserves it, no question about that.
Final notes (fret hardness)
The final thing I'll talk about here is fret hardness.
Sometimes you will get a guitar that even with nickel/silver frets just lasts for years and years and years. Other times you will get a guitar where the frets start denting real fast.
Some people say cheap guitars use cheap steel for cheap frets that wear out quick.
Wrong.
All guitar companies have bad runs of guitars with crap frets at times, even for premium American made models. Sometimes the frets sourced for certain years are just total crap.
Your only guaranteed way to get good, long-lasting frets is to:
- Specifically buy a guitar with stainless steel frets on it (presuming the guitar company put the guitar together correctly)
- Install frets yourself (nickel/silver or stainless, doesn't matter since you're doing the install job)
- Order up a neck with stainless frets on it
- Have a luthier install new frets on your guitar neck
With mass-produced guitars, there's no guarantee the frets will outlast the warranty period at all. And even if the frets do wear out within the warranty period, the warranty won't cover it anyway since it's a "wearable part."
At least with cheap guitars, if the frets wear out it's not a big deal since you didn't put a bunch of money into it.
Lastly, as said above, I'm having my first guitar refretted. It's a cheap Squier, but it sounds amazing and it's my first, so it's worth the repairing/restoring. If you have a guitar you really, really like where it plays and sounds wonderful and the only thing it needs is fresh frets, find a luthier and pay him to refret the guitar. If you feel the guitar is good enough, it's totally worth it.
Guitar of the week #65 - Fender Offset Telecaster
This is a Telecaster and Jazzmaster hybrid. Is this a good idea?
Firstly, as far as cost is concerned, check out the price and decide for yourself whether you think it's priced fairly for what it is. At the time I write this, the Offset Telecaster is priced $100 higher than an American Standard Stratocaster. Worth it? Maybe.
An offset Telecaster, which is basically a Jazzmaster body with Telecaster electronics and neck, is not a new idea. Not at all. Other guitar builders have been crafting this for a long time. The only thing new about this is that Fender is actually building one.
I can totally see this guitar as being an instant collectible. Most limited run Fender guitars really don't capture that "I know this will be worth a bunch in 10 years" vibe, but this one totally does. For a Fender, this is very fresh, unique and cool. It's not just another Strat nor just another Tele. This thing has some real-deal personality to it.
Said another way, if you buy this guitar, stored it away and never played it, I'm fairly certain it would be worth double its price in 10 years if not more. Can I guarantee that? Of course not. But in 10 years, I'm pretty sure a mint condition never-played 2016 Fender Offset Telecaster will be worth some good coin.
I asked the question at the top of this article whether a hybrid Jazzmaster/Telecaster is a good idea.
Answer: Doesn't matter, because it's actually something fresh and different from Fender.
Without even having played this, I know it feels like a Jazzmaster, sounds like a Telecaster and plays like a Stratocaster with its 22-fret neck. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out.
As a player's guitar, yes, this is a good one because it has a nice simple design to it. No artsy-fartsy S1 switching or active electronics or special buttons or knobs or any of that nonsense is present on this guitar. It has Telecaster simplicity, just with a different body shape and a neck with an extra fret on it...
...meaning that even if you don't buy it for collector reasons and just play the hell out of it, it's a great guitar - if Telecaster tone is your thing. And if it is and you have the cash for it, buy the thing. It comes in Olympic White, Sunburst and Lake Placid Blue.
I personally like the Olympic White one best. Works well with the brass saddles on the bridge, although the other colors are great too. There are no stinkers here. Whatever color you go with will be a winner.
Watch sizing is stupid
This is my little guide on how to sort out watch sizing for your wrist.
Take a Casio MRW200H. Several variations of that model exist. Some have numbers on the dial, some have dot and block markers, some are black dial, some are white dial, some blue dial, and so on. Lots of choice. And the watch is cheap. Cheap is good.
Casio is one of the damned few companies that will actually list what I consider to be the most important measurement, that being the lug-to-lug width.
On the Casio web site, the MRW200H page lists the following as its measurements:
47.9mm x 44.6mm x 11.6mm
The first number is the lug-to-lug width, the second is the case size with crown and the third is the thickness.
The most important number is the first one, lug-to-lug. That number will let you know what you can and more importantly cannot wear on your wrist.
I have small wrists. My left wrist that I wear my watch on measures about 6.75 inches at its thickest point according to my tape measure.
Now although I wear a Casio A158WEA as my daily wearer, the biggest watch I own is an Infantry IN-019, a cheap-ass Rolex Submariner diver clone. This is a bigger timepiece with a 42mm width (without crown) and a 50mm lug-to-lug width. And when I say lug-to-lug, I mean the measurement from the outside of one lug to the other and not the inside.
Does that significantly larger IN-019 watch fit my wrist without looking stupid? Believe it or not, yes it does - but just barely. A 50mm lug-to-lug width is the absolute maximum size that will fit my smaller wrist before things start looking stupid.
An example of a watch I cannot wear is the Casio MTD1069B. That timepiece measures 51mm x 45.8mm x 11.8mm. It's a big watch, and there's no way I can wear that thing (which is a shame considering how good it looks). You wouldn't think 1 millimeter would make that much of a difference, but it does.
Flipping things around however, if the watch lug-to-lug width is shorter than 37mm, I can't wear that either.
The Casio A158 measures 37.5mm x 33.5mm x 9.5mm. While the side-to-side measurement is short, the lug-to-lug is definitely enough to wear on my wrist comfortably and look proper even with its small bracelet.
An example of a watch I can't wear because it's too small is the Casio W59. This is basically a child size at 31.5mm x 32.5mm x 8mm. Way too small, even for me.
You would think the F-91W has the same measurements because it looks similar, but it's actually significantly larger at 38.2mm x 35.2mm x 8.5mm (which is, by the way, one of the reasons the F-91W is such a loved watch, as it's sized just right for a small-but-not-too-small timepiece).
What about watches that DO NOT list the lug-to-lug measurement?
Casio lists the lug-to-lug measurement for just about every timepiece they sell.
Everyone else however only lists the case size but no lug-to-lug measurement.
What do you do then?
Your only option is to purposely buy a bunch of cheap-ass watches of varying sizes just to test fit them.
Before going on watch buying adventures however, buy yourself a Vernier caliper first. You'll need it to measure lug widths so you can take notes on what works best for your wrist. Yes, it is worth your time to do this.
Once you've acquired your caliper, start buying cheap watches.
In Walmart, there are cheap watches that sell for under 10 bucks each. These are the watches not behind the glass case and are in the open.
Online, there are watches that sell for less than a dollar shipped on eBay. No, I'm not suggesting that you buy pieces for that cheap, but the point is you can if you want to.
Your best option for cheap watches online is Amazon.
Here are all the watches on Amazon that sell for $25 or less. You'll see Casio, Armitron, Freestyle, Timex and a few others.
REMEMBER: On just about every Amazon watch listing, there is the option to buy with free shipping from the "Other Sellers" part of the listing, even for watches that sell under 10 bucks. Look for it.
Where to begin?
My suggestion for anyone unsure about where to begin with size is to start with a Casio MW600F.
This one comes in several flavors. Black dial, white dial, blue dial, red dial (shown above), gold dial and silver dial.
What you've got here is a cheap quartz analog with date, along with a nice thick band on it, and measurements of 46.2mm x 41.5mm x 12.4mm.
While the Casio F-91W is a great starting point for a smaller watch, the Casio MW600F is very good for a modern men's size.
You should never have to "deal with it" when it comes to a proper watch fit
I own a bunch of watches. Mostly Casio pieces. The A158 is the one that fits best. Love that thing. But I had to buy several watches before that before I figured out that the A158 was the one my wrist liked best.
It's probably true you'll have to go through a bunch of watches before finding one that your wrist likes. And believe me, it's not just watch strap material that matters. The watch matters too. Size, weight, case shape... all that stuff matters.
If you like watches, just buy a bunch of cheap pieces until you find one that really fits right. After that, then you can put some bigger money into a more expensive piece because you'll know what your wrist prefers.
Better to do it that way than blow a bunch of money on a watch that will never feel right.
Why the humbucker pickup sucks
Eventually, you come to realize that a humbucker sucks.
Why does the humbucker suck?
Before I tell you why the humbucker sucks, let's talk about what's good about it.
Two things make humbuckers good:
- Greater output
- Hum cancellation
...and that's it.
What makes the humbucker suck is that it's voiced "flat"
Any modern electric guitar with a humbucker in it, be it cheap, expensive or anywhere in between, is designed to have a flat output. If you took a 5-band equalizer and set everything to dead center, that's pretty much what a humbucker output sounds like...
...which is utterly boring, and that's where the suck happens.
Are there any humbuckers that do NOT suck?
Yes, but you'll laugh when you find out the reason why.
Humbucker that does not suck: DiMarzio Bluesbucker.
Reason why it does not suck: Voiced to sound like a P90 single-coil.
When you want a genuinely good sounding pickup, you either go single-coil or get a humbucker voiced to sound like one.
Why does the single-coil always sound better?
Humbuckers are voiced flat where its dynamics are, by design mind you, limited to the point where you hit a tonal wall that you can't break through. The best way I can describe this is that you'll always be wanting that "little extra" out of a humbucker but never be able to find it.
Singles - even for the dirt cheap kind - have no such tonal wall. You don't have to go hunting for that "little extra" with single-coil tone. It's there.
The humbucker is the easier pickup, but that will work against you
A big reason why so many players prefer the humbucker over the single-coil is because it's easier to deal with. Because the pickup is voiced so flatly, it'll pretty much sound good through any effect, any amp, etc..
With a single-coil, you have to work at it to make that thing sound right. It does not sound good in every amp. It does not take well to every pedal. In fact, some setups will sound absolutely awful with a guitar that has singles in it.
In the end however, an "automatic" pickup like a humbucker has a tone that's just lifeless, bland and dull. A single, as "quirky" as it might be, has actual tonal personality to it. Yes, it takes work to wrangle a good tone out of one, but that's the fun of it. (Yeah, fun. Remember that? The thing that's the reason you play guitar in the first place?)
Does this mean you should stop buying guitars with humbuckers in them?
No. But it does mean that you shouldn't go chasing after single-coil tone with a guitar that has humbuckers in it.
What's the best single-coil guitar for the guy "addicted to humbuckers?"
Telecaster or Les Paul with P90s in it.
Yeah, you could get a Strat if you wanted to - but - the Telecaster has a higher-output single in the rear/bridge position, and the P90 also has higher-output singles compared to a Strat.
The cheapest options are the Epiphone Les Paul Special I P90 or pretty much any Squier Telecaster.
If you're a Les Paul guy, I'd suggest the P90 'Paul specifically. If not a Les Paul guy, get the Tele instead.
There are two more reasons why I don't recommend Strats to guys addicted to humbuckers. You'll keep whacking that middle pickup constantly, and the fact cheaper Strats have no tone control wired to the bridge-only pickup position (which you will want, trust me on that one).
If you've been bored with your guitar lately...
...get a guitar with singles in it. Tele or Les Paul P90 are the easiest and cheapest way to get That Sound you've been looking for. It's there. You just needed the right pickup for it. And it's not a humbucker.
Guitar of the week #64 - Fender Special Edition Black Stratocaster
I made mention of this elsewhere, and now it gets a feature here.
This is best deal I've seen on an FSR (Fender Special Run) guitar from Fender, and I'll explain why.
This Fender Special Edition Stratocaster in black is a Fender Standard Stratocaster, Mexico version, but has a slight change that I'll tell you about in a moment. What makes this one special is that it looks very similar to the Fender Custom Shop David Gilmour Strat.
If you're sitting down, go check out the price of a Gilmour Strat and prepare for major sticker shock.
The FSR black Strat above is very similar in look to a Gilmour Strat, and happens to be the same price as a Standard Strat.
There's also something else that's really easy to miss. The headstock does not have the typical "transition" Fender logo seen on Mexico models, but rather the Fender vintage "spaghetti" logo usually only seen on American Standard Strats and other "Classic" or vintage-inspired models. So not only are you getting the cool look of a Gilmour Strat, you're getting the American spaghetti logo as well.
You're getting extra with this guitar for no extra cost above the price of a regular Standard Strat. Great look and the spaghetti logo. This guitar could be very easily mistaken for something much more expensive.
If you have the cash, get this guitar. Remember, the plastics can be swapped out to make a classic "Blackie" Strat, so even if you don't like the black guard/white pickups treatment, buy it anyway because you get the American-style vintage logo and can create a Blackie easily.
Usually, you don't see FSRs from Fender that are truly good deals. This is one of them where you are in fact getting more for less. If you know the Standard Stratocaster, you already know this guitar.