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Classical guitars, because of their nylon strings, have
some unique requirements for frets. The same frets
that will work perfectly well for, say, steel string
acoustics will not do well on a classical guitar. The
primary reason for this is the elasticity of nylon.
With frets of a given height, it's much easier to press a
classical guitar string farther toward the fingerboard than
it is for a steel string. If fret crowns are too low,
the finger fretting the string may reach the fingerboard
surface and be stopped from pressing further before enough
string-to-fret-crown pressure has been applied to prevent
buzzing. In short, classical guitar frets need to be
somewhat higher than steel string frets.
A recent development in fretwire
is stainless steel. Stainless fretwire is ca 50%
harder than nickel-silver and will probably last as long as
the life of a classical guitar, which wears out frets much
more slowly than a steel string guitar.
Stainless frets entail an added-cost charge because the
fretwire is very stiff and hard: this requires custom
bending of each individual fret to precisely fit the shape
of the fingerboard to make sure they do not come loose
later; the fretwire itself also wears out cutting and
shaping tools much faster than nickel-silver.
Should you get nickel-silver or stainless frets?
I'd say if your guitar were steel string, go stainless.
With a classical guitar, the argument is less compelling.
My experience has been that nickel-silver frets on a
classical guitar typically need fret
re-dressing every 5-7 years for players who use their
instruments for several hours daily. One re-dressing is likely all
that the such
frets will endure; a second re-dressing will probably make
some of the
crowns so low that the guitar's playability will be
affected. By the time the guitar has gone through one
fret re-dressing and then later needs refretting, it's likely the
fingerboard configuration will benefit from some tweaking anyway. But on the other hand, the extra durability of stainless
frets means your guitar will have perfect fret crowns much
longer.
I offer several different fret options on my guitars—
- Medium: Crown 043"H
x .080W. Available in stainless steel only.
- High: Crown .050"H
x .080"W. Available in nickel-silver only.
- Highest: Crown
.055"H x .090. Available in nickel-silver or
stainless steel.
Medium frets offer a
very good playing feel for most guitarists. Fretwire
of the size used for these frets is available for purchase
in nickel-silver, but I do not recommend it. The
reason is that one re-dressing to remove worn places may
reduce the height of some of the frets (viz. f1-f5) to the
point where playability could be affected for some
guitarists. This is not a problem with stainless steel
because you will probably never need to have the frets
re-dressed. Dressing my newly
installed frets
typically removes only .001"-.002", which is less than is
usually required, because my epoxy-casting installation
strategy produces very even crowns to begin with.
High frets are the
default on my guitars. They offer a very good playing
feel for most guitarists. These frets can be
re-dressed one time to remove worn places and still retain
enough height for a classical guitar. You can expect
at least a decade of use from these frets before refretting
is needed. Fretwire of the size used for these frets
is not available for purchase in stainless steel.
Highest frets are
sometimes preferred by guitarists who concertize
professionally and/or whose playing style gets very
vigorous. The additional fret height allows the
fretting finger to push harder on the string before reaching
the fingerboard surface. On the other hand, some
guitarists accustomed to normal frets may find the Highest
frets somewhat awkward.
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