I notice a difference, though it's a bit subtle. Neck 1 seems a bit more muffled compared to Neck 2, which sounds more clear. It's easiest to hear the difference when you're listening to the Neck Pup comparisons, because he's playing chords in those examples.
My dog won't tell me either.little f%cker he knows his hearing his much keener than mine.i even tried bribery. ungrateful little sh%t is holding out for prime rib.
@@ioodyssey3740 My dog ran out of the room howling when he heard the stainless-steel frets being played. Good boy, hear is a bone for you. Ask any 15 year old (they hear a lot more frequencies than us older guys) and they surely be able to hear the difference. I sure did. Dim the lights when you listen.
52hombre whenI was gigging nightly I changed strings every other night, otherwise they sounded like crap and were prone to breakage. So string life would make zero difference to me.
@@52hombre We change strings often enough not to have any issues with the actual strings wearing out...lol. I used to have sweaty hands when I was younger and so if I left my strings uncleaned overnight they were ruined the next day. These days my hands are much drier and so strings last me several weeks and sometimes months. Cleaning after every play means then they last much longer but guitar players are of the laziest species of Humans and therefore deserve to shell out more cash for new string more often.
The most amazing thing about this comparison is he actually played the exact same thing on each neck!! I really love it when someone does a demo or a comparison video and they play two completely different pieces and turn around and say " you can really hear the difference between the two".
I hear an audible difference in *some* passages but none in others. Kudos, btw, on fully committing to the best possible A/B test conditions and the best possible video editing. Great idea, well done, well executed.
Agreed. Some sound exactly the same to me. It's only on a couple that you can hear any difference, and honestly I feel like some of that could be due to variables that can't be accounted for very easily, like how hard I strummed the chords on that particular take, or whatever. I tried as hard as I could to keep everything consistent, but it's tough. Oh.....and thanks for the kudos!
@@warmoth I was focused on your right hand, and there was tiny differences? Maybe, but you did a workman like test. Net, don't count on stainless or nickel for sound. It's a wash.
I was wondering on a few passages if he had accidentally turn down the tone knob or something, but maybe SS frets really do make that much of a difference. However, one of those passages was on the bridge pickup, and unless it was wired for the tone knob, it wouldn't have made a difference.
@@warmoth hi. Can you tell me if there's a way to identify if the frets on a guitar are stainless steel or nickel? If I'm asking someone for this customization, how can I tell if that's what they really used? Thanks
Wow! Thanks a million for this info. I was very shocked when my ears heard the SS as warmer of the two (ever so slightly). This removed my inner struggle as I am about to refret my custom build with SS.
Could definitely hear a difference. The sound so slight though. And honestly, you’re never going to hear the nuances in a live show. As an engineer for a number of bands, you couldn’t even tell when someone changed their strings between sets. You could only hear difference in the pickups, and different distortions through the Same amp
You must have very good hearing and a good sound system or earphones. Be thankful for that. I like stainless steel frets for the long life. I notice when I really dig in when bending on my nickel frets I can almost feel and hear the metal wearing off. Especially when I bend the same fret and string extensively.
The description says that the clips were recorded on subsequent days, so the difference could be how long the tubes warmed up or even slight variation in the voltage coming out of the wall socket or out of the amp's transformers.
To my ear, neck 2 seemed to have a smidge more harmonic content when distorted. I did notice a bit more clarity in single notes as well. Great comparison!
If you can "fix" the tonal difference between them with a .001 bump to a knob/slider on your EQ, then "they last forever" stainless steel is the better option.
@@Kylora2112 I don't think an eq pedal will take out that spring like tin sound. Maybe a bridge/nut adjustment of some kind. It changes the wave form OR pattern. Thats what I'm hearing
Another great and informative video! Ever since I got my first Warmoth neck with stainless steel frets, there was no way back for me: much smoother playing and after five years of HEAVY playing, the frets are still as good as new. To me, the tonal difference is noticable unplugged, but pretty insignificant once plugged in - mind you, I obviously never did a test like yours. Thanks for helping hacks like me decide what to spend our money on... Stainless it is!
Thanks! We spend a lot of time trying to make these comparison videos fair, and present them in an entertaining way, so it's good to hear that people find them useful!
I have a guitar with stainless frets and a guitar with nickel frets. I will never have another guitar, custom built, without stainless frets. One other quick point...I have never broken a string on the guitar with stainless frets. Dan Owens from Grapeview, WA. Thank you for the demo.
Yes it's a hard sell for mass-manufactured instrument markets so you offer a very good insight. In fact cheaper or even Brand name instruments may not even have the hardest available nickel silver, so that few-year-old instruments need a re-fret - this is the beef Paul Reed Smith has and why he uses a slightly harder alloy that finds a good balance of durability and not passing on a huge cost.
I ordered a superwide neck with SS frets, less than two weeks ago. I am happy to hear that my preconceptions about the sound difference are confirmed. The stainless frets have a beautiful transparent clarity in every one of your comparisons. I think I will enjoy them and love the superwide.
GREAT video. I bought SS frets on a Warmoth once. I thought it was a waste since I don't wear frets down very much, plus it didn't feel any different to me. However, this vid is making me wonder. That SS neck sounded KILLER.
Yes. Clean is the best to hear really what's what (no distortion). The second cut arpeggio sequence highlights best that whilst it IS brighter the SS actually has more tone, clarity and depth than nickel which was muddy in comparison even on a Strat single coil!
I've only owned one guitar with stainless frets, and I absolutely loved it. You can feel how much harder stainless frets are, especially when bending strings - much less friction and strings seem to last a bit longer since they're not shaving the frets down and creating sharp edges on them. As far as the difference in sound, geez man - who is really going to notice?
I could hear the difference and could tell that neck 2 was the SS frets. I just like the warmth and feel of Nickel/Silver. But its whatever you dig on your instrument! Great video!
Excellent demo of these 2 variables.......I've never been able to demo Nickle to Stainless in a side by side comparison. Thanks for going the extra mile Warmoth!
i dont know what kind of speakers youre using but i heard it a little bit harsh sound... twangy, zingy, i also noted a difference in bass guitars too when you slap its got that nice bite but no punch whatsoever ;,,; rip
Yes., Jim Deeckan...I totally agree. That particular funk-type riff had the greatest difference of them all, and I'm not sure why. I kept looking for something to explain it, but couldn't come up with anything. FYI, the strings are D'addaro 9-42, and a fresh set was used on each neck.
Easily best playing examples of any comparison video I’ve seen. Not ego tripping or anything just playing really clean and simple so we can hear clearlyyy
I picked out the stainless frets before the reveal and got it right, but I agree with you that the difference is really small. It's the same amount of difference of turning the tone control a tiny amount, or even the difference between fresh and week-old strings. Advantages of stainless win, for me (but sadly my strat doesn't have them, lol).
I guessed wrong. Turns out I liked the steels better. Some companies put SS on sub-1000 dollar guitars. Others consider them a super premium feature. Others 'don't like the tone' of SS. Players worry about the brightness of SS fret but seems about 4/5 people prefer high carbon steel strings to pure nickel. They want the strongest, brightest strings possible but are okay with the old frets that form pits within a few months of playing. Nickel frets tarnish very quickly and resist bending more, which most people base their setups around bending in some way. People make no sense in this industry.
I had my Marshall headphone on and I heard a difference. #2 sounded softer .less vibrant on some notes.Thanks for the video !! I'm in the market for a telecaster neck. So every video helps me to find build.
We guitar players have a tendency to be scared of change. I do think there is a difference in tone, but I can guarantee you that if Fender used stainless steel in the beginning, and they tried to change to nickel, people would be up in arms claiming how inferior nickel is.
Fair comment too. After hearing them together I prefer the clarity of the stainless, so in my opinion the nickel has become inferior not only in playability and longevity but now in tone too :)
Youre so right. Fun fact one of the original fender Custom shop builders set on a forum that they did try to use stainless back in the early days but the tools they were using for Frets could not withstand cutting stainless they would have to buy new tools every few guitars from a manufacturing standpoint this made it impossible but nowadays with our technology not using stainless steel is doing a disservice to the players at least offer it as an option an up charge would be fair too. However PRS is stuck in their old ways. At least fender acknowledges that stainless is superior, but PRS actually says the nickel his superior and as long lasting as stainless. Look up the video on UA-cam titled “Paul Reed Smith stainless steel Frets”
I also don't want to pay $300+ more for the same guitar. I can add my own SS frets when the factory frets wear for the price difference they're going to charge.
I used to have an early sixties Hagstrom which had stainless steel frets, so it's not a new thing and some of the nickel fret wire is too soft. Once set up properly the ends filed no problems ever.
I love all these comparison videos you do for us, makes it easier to make an informed buying decision. My one wish is that you (Warmoth) would do a comparison video for Steel reinforcement rods vs Graphite reinforcement rods (mainly for bass necks). So much conflicting information (read: opinions) online; I would love to see/hear a video about the differences between the two to decide if a 6-7oz difference in weight is worth whatever tonal differences and/or dead spots there may be. Thanks!!
I stopped at 7:22 before Aaron reveals which is which. I think neck 2 is the stainless steel frets. The sounds are more precise, more in a sharp triangle if you want to visualise it/more to the point and is more treble-ish. That's one of the reasons why I don't like stainless steel frets. In some samples I hear more of a difference than in others. In the beginning Aaron says he doesn't know which neck is which but how can he then distuingish it for himself while editing the video? I now continue the video to see if I was right. And yes! I was right! I am very happy 😀 And now I also know how they were able to distinguish the necks because they shot the videos in two different days using one neck a day.
SS frets for life. Its better for bending and the spank top end is nice. And obviously no refrets are awesome! I only wished prs offered ss frets. But unfortunately paul is stuck in his own delusional greed. he actually said in a youtube video his nickle frets are as strong as stainless. Which is a bold face lie. I asked prs since paul said that publicly on youtube would prs refret my 2013 custom 24 that has huge divots in the frets from nonstop playing over 5 years. PRS said no. So they lost a customer due to pauls fret rant he made, and then no backing up their words
Yep....ss jescar jumbo or super jumbo ss frets.....i think people paying thousands of dollars for guitar and not getting ss super slick frets...better bending vibrato and feel.....is freaking hilarious.PRS by the way, is like steve jobs and apple products....need i say more?
@@Dreamdancer11 The funny thing is stainless is a cheaper material then nickle silver alloy, a big guitar company could save a few bucks and market it as an improvement
Nickel frets vary a lot in hardness too - its an alloy that contains Nickel but can vary on hardness and wear. PRS Nickel frets are very hard - harder than many others and why they don't necessarily have to adopt SS frets. You rarely here of a 'core' PRS requiring a refret. Stainless Steel frets can cause more string wear and using Stainless Steel Strings causes just as much wear on frets as nickel strings on nickel frets. Its a matter of choice. The harder the frets/strings, the more wear it can cause. By using SS frets, you effectively cause more wear to strings because they are softer than the frets. I don't know whether your PRS was a US core PRS, what strings you use but PRS frets are much harder than most nickel frets. SS frets also often have an extra charge because they are so difficult to work with and ruin tools too so if you do need to refret, you pay more. As I said, its a choice. SS frets have their place but that doesn't mean they are the 'best' option for all...
@@BAMozzy69 Well you are partially right...there are degrees in hardness for the nickel frets and you can have good guality and hardness nickel frets dialed in into perfection and playing great...having said that though and since we are talking about guitars that cost thousands of dollars, details matter. SS frets provide better playbility from the get go.Iam not talking about sound..iam talking about smoother bends and vibrato,about almost never need a fret dress even if you play them like a caveman.If you have a guitar with nickel and one with SS ones you ll find out that very soon the nickel ones feel like you are sanding the frets when you vibrato and bend and need to be polished regularly....nothing like that with the SS ones.They feel like you the were polished minutes ago. As far as the difficulty to work with......that is an absolute myth..the only difficulty is cutting them which requires your full strength with both hands while the nickel ones cut like butter without even trying.Having done refrets to all my guitars with them the only extra tool i bought is a knipper that cuts ss frets....iam in my 7th refret of my guitars with them and still no serious wear.The rest are normal tools...sanding block,sandpaper,crowning file and the polishing of your choice. Its certainly a choice but if you pay several thousands for solid body electrics and you dont have ss frets i dont think you get your moneys worth....
Interesting! I consistently preferred neck #2. I didn't hear it as zingy, so much as more focused. It sounded cleaner to me. That's a relief, as I'm sold on stainless from the longevity and feel aspect.
I've always noticed...when I switch between my steel fretted and nickle fretted guitars, it's actually a bit distracting to me. I'm used to nickle, but started refretting worn guitars with steel...and it ABSOLUTELY changes the feel and sound. Kind of surprised this was ever in any contention. It's not subtle.
It's easy to tell them apart. For me it's less about sound/frequencies. More about dynamics and sound envelope. Attack and sustain of notes are notably is different. Nickle attach feels softer, almost "elastic", while sustain level on the steel frets seems to be louder.
I felt exactly the opposite. I think the first issues is everybody is using shitty audio equipment to watch these videos. Like even when people say they have good headphones then it's Beats by Dre that have no natural eqing left in them.
Hi Aaron, after playing Bass since jr. high I had a hard time with most A/B comparisons. As a repairman, I like them a lot. The editing of the video and the quality of it were terrific. Your clear voice and presentation make the videos great!!
I have just watched half of the video until now, and havn´t read any of the comments, but I think I hear a slight difference, in favor of neck #2. I loooove your products by the way, half of my guitars are Warmoth, and I have a few :-).
Super helpful, thanks! One of the cleaner stainless segments sounds almost like the pick was playing a bit closer to the bridge pickup...a tiny bit more focused, maybe a tad brighter vs a bit warmer for the nickel. I listened to the whole thing with my eyes closed and didn't bother to go back and check what pickups you were using, that's more just a description of the stainless sound for me. With the driven tones I thought the stainless sounded better. But I agree 100% it's all within an extremely small range and I can guarantee no one in the audience would ever know the difference except maybe the sound guy :)
I knew neck #1 was the Nickle. I think the Nickle sounds more familiar, the Stainless sounded stiffer and a tiny bit less organic to me. Overall I think SS frets will be the best choice because they last longer.
That's it man. But if you have a 'special' or 'vintage' instrument you don't want to put SS on it. If you play metal on a 'whatever' instrument with 12's, probably a sound investment ..
Another very , very good presentation of a comparison often spoken of. Aaron, your comments are consistently delivered, with what truly comes across as an honest assessment of the matter that's under review. The "characters" on the so-called "T.V. news" ought to be jealous of the reputation you've built, by your efforts to put forth information in an unbiased manner.
Wow, this was really surprising. In the neck position (1st test) I couldn't tell any difference but in the other tests I swear that neck 1 was slightly brighter and sounded better to me. I think you're right about the difference being very minimal and easily dealt with by changing eq settings. I have SS frets on the only guitar I've had refretted so far and it still sounds amazing and plays great.
@@songboy40 I know it's been a while since I left this post but I have since realized that the frets I thought were stainless steel on one of my guitars are actually most likely nickel too.
the final melody comparison highlighted the difference more than others. It sounds like the nickel frets conduct the vibration from the lower frequencies better than the steel.
Me too, My style is hard on frets and normal frets wear out too quick for me. Another thing strings cheeper for an old (70) pensioner guitarist like me.
That's cool. What did you like about SS strings..? was it the tones or was it the 'feels'...? I hear some people say they are brighter and the cleans shimmer much more, however I have heard some say they are too bright sounding and went back to N/S frets. I need a guitar refretting but don't know what to have done. N/S fretwires come in quite a few sizes for width and height but SS just a couple of sizes. I want the very tall wire but slightly narrower than the super jumbo they put on all the Ibanez RGs back in the day.
Almost agree. The difference with distortion was much less but, wow, such a difference clean -- SS kinda dead. Fortunately, all its many advantages probably saved SS from a permanent grave. ;)
Great demo. Have bought several bodies and one neck from Warmoth, and all were great. Getting ready to order a neck with stainless frets. I hope it doesn't need crowned and leveled. I've not had to do so on standard necks with standard frets from Warmoth so far. Thanks again for sharing.
Now this a really valid contribution to the discussion. Thanks a lot! I love your last statement that everybody can choose what they like which appeases these battles between the fundamentalists.
Stainless steel all the way on a re-fret. Your guitar will never need to be re-fretted ever again. Therefore, why put your guitar through any more pain than it requires. Great video. Cheers !
Number 2 Had a little bit more Janglyness. I stopped paying attention though and I definitely pick out any noticeable differences after the first set of chords.
I'm going to guess.... SS will have slightly more sustain and sound brighter! Am I right???? Let me watch.... Well, neck 2 seemed to be brighter on those last two strings. Not sure if you were just hitting them harder but that's what it sounded like over my studio monitors. me keeps watching..... Yeah, it seems maybe it's some very high harmonics that are coming through a tad more on guitar #2. Now watch that be the nickel ones. hehehe I was right. weeeee. But the main pro of using SS is the longevity, I'd say. And brighter is always better cuz it's easy to turn the trebel DOWN on an amp, harder to make a dull guitar brighter with the amp because now you introduce more noise just to get that twang coming out. Just my 2 cents. Imma be all SS, man. hahah thanks for the comparison.
You're just lying to yourself if you think there's THAT much of a difference. I'm wearing Beyerdynamic DT770 250 ohm headphones with a fucking pre-amp murdering the cilia in my ears, and there is still hardly a difference. Yes, you can _BARELY_ hear the difference when you KNOW it's there, but if no one explicitly said that they were different necks, you wouldn't be able to tell unless you looked at them. The biggest identifier is the shine... Stainless steel is shiny and pretty, nickel is ugly and dull after about a week without polish lol. SS is just better in literally every way. Hell, that nickel neck was brand new and it was still much less shiny than the SS neck.
TruthSurge honestly I don’t even remember what I wrote and I’m not going to read all that shit. Sorry that you had to lmao. I’ll just say you’re probably correct 👍🏼
The only negative I can think of about SS frets is that they are a pain to cut when fitting. I'm currently making a bass and 11 frets in and my hand hurts, But hell, they're practically better in every other way.
I went listened to the video from the laptop speakers and had no idea how he was going to do the test. In the first riff he played I heard a difference when he changed the guitar. At about 6:30 I came out to see what he was doing. I restarted from 2:49 and realized it was not a placebo effect. 3:32-4:02 was a bit harder to tell but all the other ones were surprisingly different. I'm disappointed I don't like the darker sound of stainless because I've been considering for a while about getting mine refretted with stainless for longevity. I love chimey tone of nickel so I'll go with the sound, not longevity. Thank you so much for this video!
Another great video! I actually thought #1 was steel because it had more zing in the highs and more low end girth. In the actual steel fret neck I heard a stuffiness in the mids that made it sound less clear in every clip. I’ll be sticking to the standard nickel, thanks!
Thanks, I really appreciate the way you do tone tests. You play the same lick or rythem for each example. That makes it easier to hear the subtle differences from each different thing. You say what you like about each without trying to influence opinions
I don't know if it was the slight change in camera angle but the #2 neck had a smoother sound which seemed to translate into a teensy bit more bottom end and less harsh, we're talking miniscule but I def noticed a difference and I think I prefer #2
I definitely heard the difference. Not only that, I was able to tell which was which with good level of confidence (but I have had a carvin with SS frets for over a decade along with many other guitars with nickel frets). I honestly prefer the tone of nickel much better, but I'd pick SS frets for the longevity if given the option.
This is it. I have a Strat Deluxe and it’s been played and gigged so much and so hard that it’s been recrowned twice in a relatively short space of time-noticeably less material there now… so next bit of wear will mean a refret. As it’s a workhorse, I’d sooner go stainless and forget. Slight tone change? I won’t notice or care.
Thank you for this video. I'm currently saving up for a custom guitar and doing my research and I admit I was confused by all the "internet madness" as you put it, so this was very helpful to me. You've sold Stainless Steel frets to me. I heard a slight difference but agree it was negligible and wouldn't make a difference in a real life situation. There may be a small difference with cleans but I highly doubt anyone has come home from a gig and said "It was ok, but I didn't like the guitarist's frets" lol. Seriously though, seeing as my band is punk/metal, mostly playing with distortion, I think we can easily address any tiny differences in my clean tone. For smoother playing and much more durable frets, I'm now sold on Stainless steel. Thanks :)
Agreed, but that can be corrected with a tweak of the "mids" knob. Refretting a guitar needs more than that... I'll definitely go for stainless next time I buy a guitar!
Should have included the gold frets since you offer them on your necks. Someday i hope to be able to build one of your guitars, but i cant seem to get away with anything under $2000. You get what you pay for i GUESS... someday. And i DO hear a difference in necks. Insignificant maybe, but for that kind of $ its important to me.
Yes...we thought about that. In the end, we decided to keep it simple. We thought the differences would all be so minute that throwing a third contender in the ring would just be distracting. We wanted a toe-to-toe matchup...not a battle royalle. :) As far as the price, it's all dependent on the options you choose. Apparently, you have very refined tastes! :)
I have 2 warmoth strats. One with stainless and those gold ones on the other. The gold is between nickel and the stainless in reguards to hardness. I like stainless the best. Very slick feeling.
Ray Prevailer , thanks for the info. Hoping to start piecing one together soon. Still struggling with what neck contour to get. I have huge hands and been thinking of SRV but im very used to playing a thin Ibanez neck. Any suggestions?
Their Wolfgang contour is a good compromise between accessibility and a neck that fills the hand. Their Wizard contour will be closest to the average Ibanez neck of course. I've never spent more than 2 K to build a fully customized Warmoth, and that includes an extra charge 4 an unique choice figured top and 10 percent sales tax since I live in Washington state. You can build one for around 1 K with exotic wood and a figured top if you use the showcase and can be a bit patient. And that includes top quality electronics and hardware.
In theory, the gold ones should sound best, since they are bronze (the preferred material for church bells. It's just the thing to make the young nuns go wild.) (they don't look like bronze 'cause they throw in a tad of titanium to give it a more gold color) Years ago I fretted a neck with wire a luthier sold to me (guess he was glad to get rid of it) which was pretty much brass, with the slightest hint of nickel. I could tell the frets were wearing fast, so I put standard nickel/silver frets in. Turned out that I liked the tone of the softer frets better.
First off. Thank you for doing this. I listened with headphones and noticed the difference immediately. Definitely has the zinginess you mentioned, especially with clean sounds but was actually not nearly as noticeable with crunch or higher gain.
Takes some force to get the spank so some comparisons weren't as strong but with neck 2 the high end compressed quickly. It was there straight away and it stayed there, dominating the sound and making those lead lines sing. No surprise which one was which.
@@matthewedwards6025 Strings are cheap and easy to replace. Fretwork is expensive, time consuming and requires a fair amount of skill. Stainless steel is the way to go!
Ha funny, I kept thinking "oh god I hope the second one is SS", the first one sounded way less exciting to my ears. I will switch to SS soon as the frets on my Epiphone are not that good.
Very scientific, controlled comparison. I preferred the tone of neck 2, which sounded more clean and focused. I was surprised to learn it was the stainless. I have two Warmoth necks with Nickel/Silver frets, no regrets.
It was in the sense that he used the same amp, mic positioning, wood, guitar body, probably strings, etc. for the comparison. You couldn't get better precision!
Shit, I knew it! I love the feel of stainless but I’m having a hard time getting used to the “zingyness”. I have a few custom guitars in the last year with stainless and it sounds weird to me in certain playing styles but not all.
bloozer666 I get the same with active pickups, you need to fiddle with your amp or EQ. Also rolling the tone back slightly helps too. I was disappointed at first. Sounded almost “buzzy”. But just took a bit of tweaking. Also, they have to be polished really well. Hope that helps.
Neck #2 with SS Frets seemed to have a greater clarity. If you are hearing any zingyness on the top end, it's more likely to be caused by the negative loop feedback in your amplifier. Fix the design problems in your amplifier and the zingyness will likely go away. Negative loop feedback is just a bandaid design fix that ultimately robs you of the fine detail and replaces it with excessive sibilance.
This due to the fact that these are 2 metals for sure however the material density make them different in the way they absorb the the pressure under your finger tips. The stainless is more dense then harder, absorb less so the sound is a little bit more metallic. Try to hit to stainless sticks and 2 nickel stick the sound will be different between the 2.
i only play stainless steel, not because of tone related issues, but because they are more durable than nickel, i used to play Prs guitars till i noticed the fret wires wear within a few years, all i play now is Ernie Ball Guitars, most of their guitars if not all, have stainless steel fret wires, to me thats a must.
Thanks for the demo, yes I heard a difference especially at the start of your demo whenever you were playing chords. I could tell that neck #2 was stainless steel. Thanks for the information.
Nickle was definitely brighter. I was listening through my Focal 50s and Apogee. I diverted my eyes from watching the video and focused on the sound. Every I time I could immediately hear when he switched guitars. Neck 2 actually sounded somewhat softer..
Depends if you're listening for 'brightness' in the real highs or the high mids. You and I are hearing the identical frequency balance of a given sound, we are just interpreting the data subjectively and each in our own terms. I think the nickel steel has more high highs but also sweeter less clucky upper mids.
GCKelloch the fretted fret will resonate very, very slightly, but the pickups won’t pick that up for all intents and purposes. The string will resonate a bit different but it will be very slight. New strings v old strings, or nickel v steel, etc would make a much bigger difference. There is so much you can get into the weeds with here, especially when you get into all of the ways the guitar resonates and how that affects harmonics, etc. I wonder if he played everything on neck 1 and then put on neck 2 and played everything again and then spliced the video together. If he did the difference could be from the neck swap, the string change or something like that.
I could hear the difference. There is a third choice; Gold Evo fretwire, that has a hardness halfway in between nickle/silver and stainless. Wonder if you could hear a difference with that?
I knew which one was which after the first sample because my guitar has steel frets and the sound is very similar. Thumbs up for stainless steel. Thank you for the perfect comparison. Frankly, I'm even surprised that the difference is noticeable. The sound is brighter, the feeling of the sound is similar to the feeling of smoothness from the frets. And from the nickel frets the sound is duller, makes you think that it's time to change the strings.
There was a clear difference! The nickel frets sounded much brighter on the clean tones, the stainless steel ones did on the distorted tones. Thank you, after this I'm sticking with nickel frets!
I hear a slight difference but not much. Both sound fine. I wouldn't really think the difference is enough to fret over.
I see what you did there.
I will file that under crowning achievements in comedy, very polished sir.
I don’t like the tone of your post.
fret over LOL !
I see what you did there...
Here's a partial list of timestaps to make comparing more convenient.
Neck #1 (clean, neck pickup) - 2:53
Neck #2 (clean, neck pickup) - 3:12
Neck #1 (clean, neck & middle pickup) - 3:31
Neck #2 (clean, neck & middle pickup) - 3:47
Neck #1 (clean, bridge pickup) - 4:04
Neck #2 (clean, bridge pickup) - 4:30
Neck #1 (clean, middle pickup) - 4:57
Neck #2 (clean, middle pickup) - 5:12
Neck #1 (distortion, neck pickup) - 5:28
Neck #2 (distortion, neck pickup) - 5:43
I notice a difference, though it's a bit subtle. Neck 1 seems a bit more muffled compared to Neck 2, which sounds more clear. It's easiest to hear the difference when you're listening to the Neck Pup comparisons, because he's playing chords in those examples.
My dog can hear the difference. The little bastard wouldn't tell me which one was which tough.
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I prefer stainless steel frets. You have more control on how you hit the strings and the bends are just heaven.
My dog won't tell me either.little f%cker he knows his hearing his much keener than mine.i even tried bribery. ungrateful little sh%t is holding out for prime rib.
"Animals think they're pretty smart. Shit on the ground. See in the dark." . . . Talking Heads -- Animals
@@ioodyssey3740 My dog ran out of the room howling when he heard the stainless-steel frets being played. Good boy, hear is a bone for you. Ask any 15 year old (they hear a lot more frequencies than us older guys) and they surely be able to hear the difference. I sure did. Dim the lights when you listen.
nothing sucks like worn out frets
How about worn out strings? SS frets will wear strings out faster.
@@52hombre Strings are a quick and cheap thing to replace. Frets are not.
@@JohnShalamskas very good point lol
52hombre whenI was gigging nightly I changed strings every other night, otherwise they sounded like crap and were prone to breakage. So string life would make zero difference to me.
@@52hombre We change strings often enough not to have any issues with the actual strings wearing out...lol. I used to have sweaty hands when I was younger and so if I left my strings uncleaned overnight they were ruined the next day. These days my hands are much drier and so strings last me several weeks and sometimes months. Cleaning after every play means then they last much longer but guitar players are of the laziest species of Humans and therefore deserve to shell out more cash for new string more often.
The most amazing thing about this comparison is he actually played the exact same thing on each neck!! I really love it when someone does a demo or a comparison video and they play two completely different pieces and turn around and say " you can really hear the difference between the two".
LOL. no doubt.
me: "okay, that sounded cool. now he's gonna play the exact same......wtf" lol
Cut from the same piece of maple and bolted to the same guitar body. This was a thorough test, thanks for putting this together!
I hear an audible difference in *some* passages but none in others.
Kudos, btw, on fully committing to the best possible A/B test conditions and the best possible video editing. Great idea, well done, well executed.
Agreed. Some sound exactly the same to me. It's only on a couple that you can hear any difference, and honestly I feel like some of that could be due to variables that can't be accounted for very easily, like how hard I strummed the chords on that particular take, or whatever. I tried as hard as I could to keep everything consistent, but it's tough. Oh.....and thanks for the kudos!
@@warmoth I was focused on your right hand, and there was tiny differences? Maybe, but you did a workman like test. Net, don't count on stainless or nickel for sound. It's a wash.
I was wondering on a few passages if he had accidentally turn down the tone knob or something, but maybe SS frets really do make that much of a difference. However, one of those passages was on the bridge pickup, and unless it was wired for the tone knob, it wouldn't have made a difference.
Eric Doran yeah I’m sensitive to whatever airs you are putting on. It’s weird how we are all different huh?
@@warmoth hi. Can you tell me if there's a way to identify if the frets on a guitar are stainless steel or nickel? If I'm asking someone for this customization, how can I tell if that's what they really used?
Thanks
Wow! Thanks a million for this info. I was very shocked when my ears heard the SS as warmer of the two (ever so slightly). This removed my inner struggle as I am about to refret my custom build with SS.
i am surprised there was as much of a difference as i heard. not a lot, but i was expecting none.
I agree. Still love my SS frets though
I could tell. I've been playing SS for quite a few years.
Could definitely hear a difference. The sound so slight though. And honestly, you’re never going to hear the nuances in a live show. As an engineer for a number of bands, you couldn’t even tell when someone changed their strings between sets. You could only hear difference in the pickups, and different distortions through the Same amp
You must have very good hearing and a good sound system or earphones. Be thankful for that. I like stainless steel frets for the long life. I notice when I really dig in when bending on my nickel frets I can almost feel and hear the metal wearing off. Especially when I bend the same fret and string extensively.
The description says that the clips were recorded on subsequent days, so the difference could be how long the tubes warmed up or even slight variation in the voltage coming out of the wall socket or out of the amp's transformers.
I have bought over 50 builds from Spike,,,,You guys rock!!!
To my ear, neck 2 seemed to have a smidge more harmonic content when distorted. I did notice a bit more clarity in single notes as well. Great comparison!
Stainless steel will last longer so I feel like that's better. The difference in tone is so minimal I dont have a preference
Agreed
If you can "fix" the tonal difference between them with a .001 bump to a knob/slider on your EQ, then "they last forever" stainless steel is the better option.
Why I daily play my Epi while my Gibson sits in its case. The thought of refretting it.
SS frets always stay smooth and polished.
That high end spring like tinny sound doesn't bother you? Bothers me a bit
@@Kylora2112 I don't think an eq pedal will take out that spring like tin sound. Maybe a bridge/nut adjustment of some kind. It changes the wave form OR pattern. Thats what I'm hearing
Another great and informative video! Ever since I got my first Warmoth neck with stainless steel frets, there was no way back for me: much smoother playing and after five years of HEAVY playing, the frets are still as good as new.
To me, the tonal difference is noticable unplugged, but pretty insignificant once plugged in - mind you, I obviously never did a test like yours. Thanks for helping hacks like me decide what to spend our money on... Stainless it is!
Thanks! We spend a lot of time trying to make these comparison videos fair, and present them in an entertaining way, so it's good to hear that people find them useful!
I have a strat neck with stainless frets, and they are great.
Eske Meldgaard Krogh www.change.org/p/fender-we-want-stainless-steel-frets
Hoosier Daddy www.change.org/p/fender-we-want-stainless-steel-frets
These are some of the best done comparison videos I have ever seen. Why didn't I find this channel sooner?
I have a guitar with stainless frets and a guitar with nickel frets. I will never have another guitar, custom built, without stainless frets. One other quick point...I have never broken a string on the guitar with stainless frets. Dan Owens from Grapeview, WA. Thank you for the demo.
Yes it's a hard sell for mass-manufactured instrument markets so you offer a very good insight. In fact cheaper or even Brand name instruments may not even have the hardest available nickel silver, so that few-year-old instruments need a re-fret - this is the beef Paul Reed Smith has and why he uses a slightly harder alloy that finds a good balance of durability and not passing on a huge cost.
I ordered a superwide neck with SS frets, less than two weeks ago. I am happy to hear that my preconceptions about the sound difference are confirmed. The stainless frets have a beautiful transparent clarity in every one of your comparisons. I think I will enjoy them and love the superwide.
Best video on the subject.
Thanks Andy. We tried hard to make it so.
GREAT video. I bought SS frets on a Warmoth once. I thought it was a waste since I don't wear frets down very much, plus it didn't feel any different to me. However, this vid is making me wonder. That SS neck sounded KILLER.
Yes. Clean is the best to hear really what's what (no distortion). The second cut arpeggio sequence highlights best that whilst it IS brighter the SS actually has more tone, clarity and depth than nickel which was muddy in comparison even on a Strat single coil!
I've only owned one guitar with stainless frets, and I absolutely loved it. You can feel how much harder stainless frets are, especially when bending strings - much less friction and strings seem to last a bit longer since they're not shaving the frets down and creating sharp edges on them. As far as the difference in sound, geez man - who is really going to notice?
The neighbourhood dogs. 🐕
I think the string would wear down a lot faster cause stainless frets are so hard that the strings would get eaten away instead of the the frets.
I could hear the difference right away. Thank you.
I could hear the difference and could tell that neck 2 was the SS frets. I just like the warmth and feel of Nickel/Silver. But its whatever you dig on your instrument! Great video!
Excellent demo of these 2 variables.......I've never been able to demo Nickle to Stainless in a side by side comparison. Thanks for going the extra mile Warmoth!
i thought neck #2 was a bit darker sounding than neck #1!
zillathegorilla Definitely was. 8 misdiagnosed #1 as SS thinking it would be higher, turns out it's reversed.
i dont know what kind of speakers youre using but i heard it a little bit harsh sound... twangy, zingy, i also noted a difference in bass guitars too when you slap its got that nice bite but no punch whatsoever ;,,; rip
zillathegorilla, then you have hearing problems. It is def the other way around.
Yes., Jim Deeckan...I totally agree. That particular funk-type riff had the greatest difference of them all, and I'm not sure why. I kept looking for something to explain it, but couldn't come up with anything. FYI, the strings are D'addaro 9-42, and a fresh set was used on each neck.
I actually thought neck #2 sounded slightly brighter.
Easily best playing examples of any comparison video I’ve seen. Not ego tripping or anything just playing really clean and simple so we can hear clearlyyy
I picked out the stainless frets before the reveal and got it right, but I agree with you that the difference is really small. It's the same amount of difference of turning the tone control a tiny amount, or even the difference between fresh and week-old strings. Advantages of stainless win, for me (but sadly my strat doesn't have them, lol).
I guessed wrong. Turns out I liked the steels better. Some companies put SS on sub-1000 dollar guitars. Others consider them a super premium feature. Others 'don't like the tone' of SS.
Players worry about the brightness of SS fret but seems about 4/5 people prefer high carbon steel strings to pure nickel. They want the strongest, brightest strings possible but are okay with the old frets that form pits within a few months of playing. Nickel frets tarnish very quickly and resist bending more, which most people base their setups around bending in some way. People make no sense in this industry.
I had my Marshall headphone on and I heard a difference. #2 sounded softer .less vibrant on some notes.Thanks for the video !! I'm in the market for a telecaster neck. So every video helps me to find build.
We guitar players have a tendency to be scared of change. I do think there is a difference in tone, but I can guarantee you that if Fender used stainless steel in the beginning, and they tried to change to nickel, people would be up in arms claiming how inferior nickel is.
Fair comment too. After hearing them together I prefer the clarity of the stainless, so in my opinion the nickel has become inferior not only in playability and longevity but now in tone too :)
Alexander www.change.org/p/fender-we-want-stainless-steel-frets
Youre so right. Fun fact one of the original fender Custom shop builders set on a forum that they did try to use stainless back in the early days but the tools they were using for Frets could not withstand cutting stainless they would have to buy new tools every few guitars from a manufacturing standpoint this made it impossible but nowadays with our technology not using stainless steel is doing a disservice to the players at least offer it as an option an up charge would be fair too. However PRS is stuck in their old ways. At least fender acknowledges that stainless is superior, but PRS actually says the nickel his superior and as long lasting as stainless. Look up the video on UA-cam titled “Paul Reed Smith stainless steel Frets”
I also don't want to pay $300+ more for the same guitar. I can add my own SS frets when the factory frets wear for the price difference they're going to charge.
I used to have an early sixties Hagstrom which had stainless steel frets, so it's not a new thing and some of the nickel fret wire is too soft. Once set up properly the ends filed no problems ever.
I love all these comparison videos you do for us, makes it easier to make an informed buying decision. My one wish is that you (Warmoth) would do a comparison video for Steel reinforcement rods vs Graphite reinforcement rods (mainly for bass necks). So much conflicting information (read: opinions) online; I would love to see/hear a video about the differences between the two to decide if a 6-7oz difference in weight is worth whatever tonal differences and/or dead spots there may be. Thanks!!
I play so much I had to learn to re-fret my own guitars. Since switching to stainless life is much better. I'll never go back to nickel.
Good to know. Thanks!
That's cool you play so damn much it actually saves you money doing your own refret work.
I stopped at 7:22 before Aaron reveals which is which. I think neck 2 is the stainless steel frets. The sounds are more precise, more in a sharp triangle if you want to visualise it/more to the point and is more treble-ish. That's one of the reasons why I don't like stainless steel frets.
In some samples I hear more of a difference than in others.
In the beginning Aaron says he doesn't know which neck is which but how can he then distuingish it for himself while editing the video?
I now continue the video to see if I was right.
And yes! I was right! I am very happy 😀
And now I also know how they were able to distinguish the necks because they shot the videos in two different days using one neck a day.
SS frets for life. Its better for bending and the spank top end is nice. And obviously no refrets are awesome! I only wished prs offered ss frets. But unfortunately paul is stuck in his own delusional greed. he actually said in a youtube video his nickle frets are as strong as stainless. Which is a bold face lie. I asked prs since paul said that publicly on youtube would prs refret my 2013 custom 24 that has huge divots in the frets from nonstop playing over 5 years. PRS said no. So they lost a customer due to pauls fret rant he made, and then no backing up their words
Yep....ss jescar jumbo or super jumbo ss frets.....i think people paying thousands of dollars for guitar and not getting ss super slick frets...better bending vibrato and feel.....is freaking hilarious.PRS by the way, is like steve jobs and apple products....need i say more?
@@Dreamdancer11 The funny thing is stainless is a cheaper material then nickle silver alloy, a big guitar company could save a few bucks and market it as an improvement
@@therideneverends1697 Yes but its not..vintaaaaaage.....
Nickel frets vary a lot in hardness too - its an alloy that contains Nickel but can vary on hardness and wear. PRS Nickel frets are very hard - harder than many others and why they don't necessarily have to adopt SS frets. You rarely here of a 'core' PRS requiring a refret.
Stainless Steel frets can cause more string wear and using Stainless Steel Strings causes just as much wear on frets as nickel strings on nickel frets. Its a matter of choice. The harder the frets/strings, the more wear it can cause. By using SS frets, you effectively cause more wear to strings because they are softer than the frets.
I don't know whether your PRS was a US core PRS, what strings you use but PRS frets are much harder than most nickel frets. SS frets also often have an extra charge because they are so difficult to work with and ruin tools too so if you do need to refret, you pay more.
As I said, its a choice. SS frets have their place but that doesn't mean they are the 'best' option for all...
@@BAMozzy69 Well you are partially right...there are degrees in hardness for the nickel frets and you can have good guality and hardness nickel frets dialed in into perfection and playing great...having said that though and since we are talking about guitars that cost thousands of dollars, details matter.
SS frets provide better playbility from the get go.Iam not talking about sound..iam talking about smoother bends and vibrato,about almost never need a fret dress even if you play them like a caveman.If you have a guitar with nickel and one with SS ones you ll find out that very soon the nickel ones feel like you are sanding the frets when you vibrato and bend and need to be polished regularly....nothing like that with the SS ones.They feel like you the were polished minutes ago.
As far as the difficulty to work with......that is an absolute myth..the only difficulty is cutting them which requires your full strength with both hands while the nickel ones cut like butter without even trying.Having done refrets to all my guitars with them the only extra tool i bought is a knipper that cuts ss frets....iam in my 7th refret of my guitars with them and still no serious wear.The rest are normal tools...sanding block,sandpaper,crowning file and the polishing of your choice.
Its certainly a choice but if you pay several thousands for solid body electrics and you dont have ss frets i dont think you get your moneys worth....
Really appreciate you taking the time and effort to do this video. I've owned guitars with both, and for my needs, stainless wins.
Interesting! I consistently preferred neck #2. I didn't hear it as zingy, so much as more focused. It sounded cleaner to me. That's a relief, as I'm sold on stainless from the longevity and feel aspect.
Doing the lord's work with this video. Though the sound difference is negligible , thank you for your very scientific approach.
I've always noticed...when I switch between my steel fretted and nickle fretted guitars, it's actually a bit distracting to me. I'm used to nickle, but started refretting worn guitars with steel...and it ABSOLUTELY changes the feel and sound.
Kind of surprised this was ever in any contention. It's not subtle.
It's easy to tell them apart. For me it's less about sound/frequencies. More about dynamics and sound envelope. Attack and sustain of notes are notably is different. Nickle attach feels softer, almost "elastic", while sustain level on the steel frets seems to be louder.
Neck 2 sounded to me like it had "less". I don't know "less" what, but it seemed like it was lacking something.
yeah. 1 sounded more alive to me.
I felt exactly the opposite.
I think the first issues is everybody is using shitty audio equipment to watch these videos. Like even when people say they have good headphones then it's Beats by Dre that have no natural eqing left in them.
agree
"tone"
Hi Aaron, after playing Bass since jr. high I had a hard time with most A/B comparisons. As a repairman, I like them a lot. The editing of the video and the quality of it were terrific. Your clear voice and presentation make the videos great!!
I have just watched half of the video until now, and havn´t read any of the comments, but I think I hear a slight difference, in favor of neck #2.
I loooove your products by the way, half of my guitars are Warmoth, and I have a few :-).
Super helpful, thanks! One of the cleaner stainless segments sounds almost like the pick was playing a bit closer to the bridge pickup...a tiny bit more focused, maybe a tad brighter vs a bit warmer for the nickel. I listened to the whole thing with my eyes closed and didn't bother to go back and check what pickups you were using, that's more just a description of the stainless sound for me. With the driven tones I thought the stainless sounded better. But I agree 100% it's all within an extremely small range and I can guarantee no one in the audience would ever know the difference except maybe the sound guy :)
Wow, it's AMAZING how much neck #2 jumps out!! MUCH more sparkle and sheen!! These videos are amazing, thanks for the great info!!
Yes, the neck with steel frets has some more top end twang, but it's really just a hint and only recognizable in direct comparisson.
I knew neck #1 was the Nickle. I think the Nickle sounds more familiar, the Stainless sounded stiffer and a tiny bit less organic to me. Overall I think SS frets will be the best choice because they last longer.
That's it man. But if you have a 'special' or 'vintage' instrument you don't want to put SS on it. If you play metal on a 'whatever' instrument with 12's, probably a sound investment ..
@@cgavin1 cool you play the low e string alot i didnt ask.
Another very , very good presentation of a comparison often spoken of. Aaron, your comments are consistently delivered, with what truly comes across as an honest assessment of the matter that's under review. The "characters" on the so-called "T.V. news" ought to be jealous of the reputation you've built, by your efforts to put forth information in an unbiased manner.
Wow, this was really surprising. In the neck position (1st test) I couldn't tell any difference but in the other tests I swear that neck 1 was slightly brighter and sounded better to me. I think you're right about the difference being very minimal and easily dealt with by changing eq settings. I have SS frets on the only guitar I've had refretted so far and it still sounds amazing and plays great.
Yep. Neck #1 was brighter, across the board.
@@songboy40 I know it's been a while since I left this post but I have since realized that the frets I thought were stainless steel on one of my guitars are actually most likely nickel too.
the final melody comparison highlighted the difference more than others. It sounds like the nickel frets conduct the vibration from the lower frequencies better than the steel.
Stainless for me - never going back, thank you brother. So so tired of wearing out my frets.
Me too, My style is hard on frets and normal frets wear out too quick for me.
Another thing strings cheeper for an old (70) pensioner guitarist like me.
That's cool. What did you like about SS strings..? was it the tones or was it the 'feels'...?
I hear some people say they are brighter and the cleans shimmer much more, however I have heard some say they are too bright sounding and went back to N/S frets. I need a guitar refretting but don't know what to have done. N/S fretwires come in quite a few sizes for width and height but SS just a couple of sizes. I want the very tall wire but slightly narrower than the super jumbo they put on all the Ibanez RGs back in the day.
Warmoth makes the world a better place. Been dreaming about a warmoth guitar for years now.
I could hear a difference when played clean,with distortion no difference .I,m an old traditional rock player ,but I prefer the stainless???
Almost agree. The difference with distortion was much less but, wow, such a difference clean -- SS kinda dead.
Fortunately, all its many advantages probably saved SS from a permanent grave. ;)
Great demo. Have bought several bodies and one neck from Warmoth, and all were great. Getting ready to order a neck with stainless frets. I hope it doesn't need crowned and leveled. I've not had to do so on standard necks with standard frets from Warmoth so far.
Thanks again for sharing.
@ 2:23 after he says " won't be the first time "
*has a quick flashback of a time he was proved wrong*
LOL. My whole life passed before my eyes.
A nice test with a precise and well thought conclusion. Great video !
I own a stainless Warmoth strat. The feel is much more noticeable that the sound. Fantastic for bends. Slippery. I prefer stainless.
Now this a really valid contribution to the discussion. Thanks a lot!
I love your last statement that everybody can choose what they like which appeases these battles between the fundamentalists.
I could hear less bass with the stainless frets, apart from more prominent highs. Overall it sounded thinner to me.
Yes there is a slight difference in sound in demonstrated in these clips.
Stainless steel all the way on a re-fret. Your guitar will never need to be re-fretted ever again. Therefore, why put your guitar through any more pain than it requires. Great video. Cheers !
From the video, I thought the stainless sounded warmer on neck pickup and brighter but less piercing on bridge when distorted.
The world is a beautiful place \m/
Number 2 Had a little bit more Janglyness. I stopped paying attention though and I definitely pick out any noticeable differences after the first set of chords.
Wow! Got it totally wrong. Nickel sounded slightly brighter to me.
Same here
Same here, but I love my warmouth jumbo stainless fretted neck.
I wish it were possible Warmoth could have places to go to see their products, particularly to feel necks.
I'm going to guess.... SS will have slightly more sustain and sound brighter! Am I right???? Let me watch.... Well, neck 2 seemed to be brighter on those last two strings. Not sure if you were just hitting them harder but that's what it sounded like over my studio monitors. me keeps watching..... Yeah, it seems maybe it's some very high harmonics that are coming through a tad more on guitar #2. Now watch that be the nickel ones. hehehe I was right. weeeee. But the main pro of using SS is the longevity, I'd say. And brighter is always better cuz it's easy to turn the trebel DOWN on an amp, harder to make a dull guitar brighter with the amp because now you introduce more noise just to get that twang coming out. Just my 2 cents. Imma be all SS, man. hahah thanks for the comparison.
You're just lying to yourself if you think there's THAT much of a difference. I'm wearing Beyerdynamic DT770 250 ohm headphones with a fucking pre-amp murdering the cilia in my ears, and there is still hardly a difference. Yes, you can _BARELY_ hear the difference when you KNOW it's there, but if no one explicitly said that they were different necks, you wouldn't be able to tell unless you looked at them. The biggest identifier is the shine... Stainless steel is shiny and pretty, nickel is ugly and dull after about a week without polish lol. SS is just better in literally every way. Hell, that nickel neck was brand new and it was still much less shiny than the SS neck.
@@MrCholoPants3415 Did you miss "LONGEVITY"? I wrote "longevity". It's right there up inside my comment. I think you are attacking a straw man. :)
TruthSurge honestly I don’t even remember what I wrote and I’m not going to read all that shit. Sorry that you had to lmao. I’ll just say you’re probably correct 👍🏼
The only negative I can think of about SS frets is that they are a pain to cut when fitting. I'm currently making a bass and 11 frets in and my hand hurts, But hell, they're practically better in every other way.
@@MrCholoPants3415 it's still brighter..
I went listened to the video from the laptop speakers and had no idea how he was going to do the test. In the first riff he played I heard a difference when he changed the guitar. At about 6:30 I came out to see what he was doing. I restarted from 2:49 and realized it was not a placebo effect. 3:32-4:02 was a bit harder to tell but all the other ones were surprisingly different. I'm disappointed I don't like the darker sound of stainless because I've been considering for a while about getting mine refretted with stainless for longevity. I love chimey tone of nickel so I'll go with the sound, not longevity.
Thank you so much for this video!
Another great video! I actually thought #1 was steel because it had more zing in the highs and more low end girth. In the actual steel fret neck I heard a stuffiness in the mids that made it sound less clear in every clip. I’ll be sticking to the standard nickel, thanks!
Thanks, I really appreciate the way you do tone tests. You play the same lick or rythem for each example. That makes it easier to hear the subtle differences from each different thing. You say what you like about each without trying to influence opinions
I almost ordered a neck with SS frets because i hate how nickel wears, im glad i watched this, i guess the trade off is it sounds better.
I don't know if it was the slight change in camera angle but the #2 neck had a smoother sound which seemed to translate into a teensy bit more bottom end and less harsh, we're talking miniscule but I def noticed a difference and I think I prefer #2
Once I went to stainless steel frets, I'll never go back. They bend so silky smooth, and the sound to me is negligible.
I love to get what I want, and I love the world as a beautiful place! Thanks for this review, it was very helpful!
I definitely heard the difference. Not only that, I was able to tell which was which with good level of confidence (but I have had a carvin with SS frets for over a decade along with many other guitars with nickel frets). I honestly prefer the tone of nickel much better, but I'd pick SS frets for the longevity if given the option.
This is it. I have a Strat Deluxe and it’s been played and gigged so much and so hard that it’s been recrowned twice in a relatively short space of time-noticeably less material there now… so next bit of wear will mean a refret. As it’s a workhorse, I’d sooner go stainless and forget. Slight tone change? I won’t notice or care.
Thank you for this video. I'm currently saving up for a custom guitar and doing my research and I admit I was confused by all the "internet madness" as you put it, so this was very helpful to me. You've sold Stainless Steel frets to me. I heard a slight difference but agree it was negligible and wouldn't make a difference in a real life situation. There may be a small difference with cleans but I highly doubt anyone has come home from a gig and said "It was ok, but I didn't like the guitarist's frets" lol. Seriously though, seeing as my band is punk/metal, mostly playing with distortion, I think we can easily address any tiny differences in my clean tone. For smoother playing and much more durable frets, I'm now sold on Stainless steel. Thanks :)
I liked Neck #1. I thought it sounded clearer and fuller! The steel frets sounded flatter with less midrange!
Agreed, but that can be corrected with a tweak of the "mids" knob. Refretting a guitar needs more than that... I'll definitely go for stainless next time I buy a guitar!
Your last thought about was spot on!!
What really matters is that... everyone can get what they want...
Great video! One of the best!
Cheers!
Should have included the gold frets since you offer them on your necks. Someday i hope to be able to build one of your guitars, but i cant seem to get away with anything under $2000. You get what you pay for i GUESS... someday. And i DO hear a difference in necks. Insignificant maybe, but for that kind of $ its important to me.
Yes...we thought about that. In the end, we decided to keep it simple. We thought the differences would all be so minute that throwing a third contender in the ring would just be distracting. We wanted a toe-to-toe matchup...not a battle royalle. :) As far as the price, it's all dependent on the options you choose. Apparently, you have very refined tastes! :)
I have 2 warmoth strats. One with stainless and those gold ones on the other. The gold is between nickel and the stainless in reguards to hardness. I like stainless the best. Very slick feeling.
Ray Prevailer , thanks for the info. Hoping to start piecing one together soon. Still struggling with what neck contour to get. I have huge hands and been thinking of SRV but im very used to playing a thin Ibanez neck. Any suggestions?
Their Wolfgang contour is a good compromise between accessibility and a neck that fills the hand. Their Wizard contour will be closest to the average Ibanez neck of course.
I've never spent more than 2 K to build a fully customized Warmoth, and that includes an extra charge 4 an unique choice figured top and 10 percent sales tax since I live in Washington state.
You can build one for around 1 K with exotic wood and a figured top if you use the showcase and can be a bit patient. And that includes top quality electronics and hardware.
In theory, the gold ones should sound best, since they are bronze (the preferred material for church bells. It's just the thing to make the young nuns go wild.) (they don't look like bronze 'cause they throw in a tad of titanium to give it a more gold color)
Years ago I fretted a neck with wire a luthier sold to me (guess he was glad to get rid of it) which was pretty much brass, with the slightest hint of nickel. I could tell the frets were wearing fast, so I put standard nickel/silver frets in. Turned out that I liked the tone of the softer frets better.
First off. Thank you for doing this. I listened with headphones and noticed the difference immediately. Definitely has the zinginess you mentioned, especially with clean sounds but was actually not nearly as noticeable with crunch or higher gain.
Stainless steel Frets are the absolute next level.
Don't be scared
@audiosamples Do you wear a helmet?
Takes some force to get the spank so some comparisons weren't as strong but with neck 2 the high end compressed quickly. It was there straight away and it stayed there, dominating the sound and making those lead lines sing. No surprise which one was which.
Ok so essentially no difference. At this point, I'm going stainless steel every time for the durability. Thanks for making this video!!
Longer-lasting frets = shorter-lasting strings. But I'm not a guitarist, so I don't know if guitarists wait long enough for that to matter.
@@matthewedwards6025 it matters my friend.
@@matthewedwards6025 Strings are cheap and easy to replace. Fretwork is expensive, time consuming and requires a fair amount of skill. Stainless steel is the way to go!
@@fr0gz0r I agree. Strings are made to be disposable, so it's better to get harder frets and just replace the partially-ground strings.
neck one is a little brighter
#2 was a warmer but it was so little sometimes you couldn't hear it unless really listening for it.
From this test, Nickel if you're just going for the best note " voice"
Ha funny, I kept thinking "oh god I hope the second one is SS", the first one sounded way less exciting to my ears. I will switch to SS soon as the frets on my Epiphone are not that good.
Had my fender American original strat re-fretted with stainless steel. Absolutely love the guitar now.
Very scientific, controlled comparison. I preferred the tone of neck 2, which sounded more clean and focused. I was surprised to learn it was the stainless. I have two Warmoth necks with Nickel/Silver frets, no regrets.
What's scientific about this? I'm not trying to bash on this comparison. In fact I really liked it, however it's not a scientific at all...
Would it help if I wore a lab coat? :)
It was in the sense that he used the same amp, mic positioning, wood, guitar body, probably strings, etc. for the comparison. You couldn't get better precision!
I've seen a few of these comparison vids now and the thing I love the most is that this guy doesn't bullshit you he tells it how it is
The nickel sounded punchier clean, the stainless sounded the better distorted.
Shit, I knew it! I love the feel of stainless but I’m having a hard time getting used to the “zingyness”. I have a few custom guitars in the last year with stainless and it sounds weird to me in certain playing styles but not all.
bloozer666
I get the same with active pickups, you need to fiddle with your amp or EQ. Also rolling the tone back slightly helps too. I was disappointed at first. Sounded almost “buzzy”. But just took a bit of tweaking. Also, they have to be polished really well. Hope that helps.
Neck #2 with SS Frets seemed to have a greater clarity. If you are hearing any zingyness on the top end, it's more likely to be caused by the negative loop feedback in your amplifier. Fix the design problems in your amplifier and the zingyness will likely go away. Negative loop feedback is just a bandaid design fix that ultimately robs you of the fine detail and replaces it with excessive sibilance.
Yep I could tell - Prefer nickel personally, but not a deal breaker.
neck one is stainless....yes
love these guys....amazing craftmanship...and amazing support...long live warmoth
When i play guitar to my girlfriend 3:31
When i play guitar to my bestfriend 4:03
Hahaha!
This due to the fact that these are 2 metals for sure however the material density make them different in the way they absorb the the pressure under your finger tips. The stainless is more dense then harder, absorb less so the sound is a little bit more metallic. Try to hit to stainless sticks and 2 nickel stick the sound will be different between the 2.
i only play stainless steel, not because of tone related issues, but because they are more durable than nickel, i used to play Prs guitars till i noticed the fret wires wear within a few years, all i play now is Ernie Ball Guitars, most of their guitars if not all, have stainless steel fret wires, to me thats a must.
Excellent .... best demo compare yet!
Now if only we could talk you guys into building glued in necks fully sculpted well into the body.
Looking forward to a Richlite vs Ebony shootout. wink wink nudge nudge
We do have plans to add Richlite to our fretboard menu next year, and once we do...
Warmoth Guitar Products that’s exactly what i wanted to hear! expect to be making a left handed bass neck with a richlite fingerboard!
"Say no more!"
I'm not joking. I will buy a black richlite on roasted maple neck as soon as they're available.
K.L. Graham_ that's exactly what I want too
Thanks for the demo, yes I heard a difference especially at the start of your demo whenever you were playing chords. I could tell that neck #2 was stainless steel. Thanks for the information.
To my ears, nickel sounds brighter!
Mine as well. We listened to this on some fancy studio monitors. Neck #1 was superior.
And clearer, less mud.
Nickle was definitely brighter. I was listening through my Focal 50s and Apogee. I diverted my eyes from watching the video and focused on the sound. Every I time I could immediately hear when he switched guitars. Neck 2 actually sounded somewhat softer..
Depends if you're listening for 'brightness' in the real highs or the high mids.
You and I are hearing the identical frequency balance of a given sound, we are just interpreting the data subjectively and each in our own terms. I think the nickel steel has more high highs but also sweeter less clucky upper mids.
GCKelloch the fretted fret will resonate very, very slightly, but the pickups won’t pick that up for all intents and purposes. The string will resonate a bit different but it will be very slight. New strings v old strings, or nickel v steel, etc would make a much bigger difference. There is so much you can get into the weeds with here, especially when you get into all of the ways the guitar resonates and how that affects harmonics, etc. I wonder if he played everything on neck 1 and then put on neck 2 and played everything again and then spliced the video together. If he did the difference could be from the neck swap, the string change or something like that.
I could hear the difference. There is a third choice; Gold Evo fretwire, that has a hardness halfway in between nickle/silver and stainless. Wonder if you could hear a difference with that?
I prefer neck 1's sound.
I knew which one was which after the first sample because my guitar has steel frets and the sound is very similar. Thumbs up for stainless steel.
Thank you for the perfect comparison.
Frankly, I'm even surprised that the difference is noticeable. The sound is brighter, the feeling of the sound is similar to the feeling of smoothness from the frets. And from the nickel frets the sound is duller, makes you think that it's time to change the strings.
There was a clear difference! The nickel frets sounded much brighter on the clean tones, the stainless steel ones did on the distorted tones. Thank you, after this I'm sticking with nickel frets!