Stainless Frets

[Ray Barbee Music]

I've been pricing a new G&L and when it came time to price options, I was told it was $400 retail for stainless frets..........

WHAAAAA??

I work on guitars I've done stainless refrets, I know they are a bit harder to work and hard on tools, so I understand some upcharge, but $400??

That's sort of a "ok we'll offer them but we don't wanna" kind of charge.

Suhr doesn't upcharge, other companies upcharge some, but no one comes into the ballpark of $400.

I don't get it. I'm ready for a new strat and G&L is my #1 choice, but I want stainless since I refret all my stuff with stainless now, and that sort of # makes me think they just aren't interested.

[Fumble fingers]

400.00 is list ..... my local dealer is way way south of that ..... If I had do-overs on my new one's this year I would have ordered locking tuners , DFS up grade and SS frets ..... but we have a great tech out here that he not only doesn't mind installing SS frets but he recommend's them , so if I wear mine out later I'll have Mark refret with SS frets

[LiquidSmoke]

I don't think we can talk about the details of street price but I still find it comes to *ouch*. I was told the cost reflected the PLEKing of the SS frets.

I wanted them but was put off by the price, too.

[astutzmann]

I ordered them on my 2011 ASAT Special Deluxe (see my avatar).

I knew it was an expensive option but I upgraded the guitar with locking tuners, graphtec nut, ebony board, #3 neck, so I thought why not.

Yes, the guitar cost more than a regular one in a store, but its a special (no pun intended) axe.

The SS frets are awesome and oh so shinny....

[Ray Barbee Music]

Since I'm very familiar with Plek machines (used to run one) and I personally set up the machine and did the test runs on the only machine in the US that sharpens used Plek blades, I'll say this about the "cost of plekking stainless frets":

Most companies run a few thousand guitars before they sharpen the grinder wheel. When you plek stainless frets, you set the machine to a setting that runs the grinder much slower to minimize wear and friction.

So yes, like all tools, there is extra wear on the grinder wheel from plekking stainless frets, when you look at the # of guitars run on that grinder before sharpening is required and the actual cost of sharpening, which i wont mention here but isn't as much as you'd think, very negligible per guitar (would you like fries with that?), that explanation doesn't really fly.

Suhr pleks stainless to but doesn't upcharge, other companies have an upcharge but holy crap, even discounted, $400 is no joke, like 1/4/ to 1/3 the price of the whole guitar.

Still seems like a "we don't wanna" type of charge and right now is the deciding factor in me ordering new or buying used and just refretting.

[blargfromouterspace]

The extra cost is perhaps excessive, but even with SS frets a G&L is going to cost about half of what a Suhr does, so you'd save a heap of cash by going for a G&L anyway. Just saying.

[supereiv]

The extra cost is perhaps excessive, but even with SS frets a G&L is going to cost about half of what a Suhr does, so you'd save a heap of cash by going for a G&L anyway. Just saying.

Yeah, Suhr charge way too high too IMO

[Ray Barbee Music]

Yeah I didn't mean to give the impression that Suhr is my other choice; my other choice is to buy a used G&L and refret it with stainless.

I've frankly never been impressed with any Suhr I've played or worked on in terms of value. They aren't bad guitars by any means; they are really good guitars, but for what they charge, the QC should just be better. Their main draw seems to be the paint jobs, which are jaw dropping and flawless, but I'm just not that into paint to pay that kind of upcharge. The fretwork on the other hand leaves something to be desired. They are factory plekked, but a Plek is just a cnc File when it comes down to it, and you have to tell it to do the right things when you program the dress to get the incredible results it is capable of. The way Suhr programs their factory dress just doesn't cut it for me. I've had to re-do brand new Suhrs by hand, and the best I've seen them, while miles better than say an American Fender which tend to have atrocious fretwork, is on par with a good example of a mexi strat or an average Japanese Ibanez, certainly not up to the best examples I've seen (just bought a mint 1988 540S and the 25 year old factory hand dressed fret work eats Suhr for lunch), and no where near what a Plek machine is capable of.

Also, on the Floyd equipped versions I've worked on, they didn't bother to radius the Floyd nut. I expect that on a $900 Schecter, but on a guitar that lists for over $3500, I would expect it to come flawless, needing nothing done after the fact, and that just is not the case. That means taking the 30-60 minutes required to radius and cut that Floyd nut, something I do religiously on any locking nut guitar I own because they just do not play right otherwise. Not many people know how to do it or are willing to do it, and for the $, Suhr ought to be doing it at the factory.

I really was mentioning them by way of "The competition", since they are also in the high end F style guitar market. I could have also mentioned Carvin, where the stainless upcharge is 1/10 what G&L charges ($40), or even "Agile", ie Rondo Music's brand, which also offer a stainless upgrade without breaking the bank.

[Salmon]

Ray,

You have probably thought of it but if you have a dealer in mind to order through ask them what they will end up charging you for the G&L SS fret upgrade. If they don't do many special orders from G&L I would find someone else.

Is there somewhere here that you have described the guitar you are wanting to order? I would like to see what you want. Of course if you wish to keep it private I understand.

I am planning an order and it helps me decide what I want when I read other ideas.

[Ray Barbee Music]

OK here's what I was thinking:

Legacy (maybe Special or HB)
Belair Green
Pearl guard
#1a slim C neck
Rosewood board
Quarter Sawn neck (they do price this option reasonably, and it helps with the piano wire strings I use)
Graphtech Nut/Locking Schallers (I use this on all G&Ls)
SS Frets

Was thinking an LS, or a HB with 2 LS pups neck/middle.

Love Belair Green. If you've ever seen a late 50s Chevy Belair, you know where that color comes from. They had one at a shop I used to teach at 15 years ago and I used it for lessons and was going to buy it on a Monday, a friend came in and bought it out from under me Saturday! I always regretted not getting that guitar.

[Salmon]

Belair Green is in the top five on my list. I think it sparkles with an all maple vintage birdseye neck but without the birdseye would work as well. IMO. I'd get a cream pickguard myself. I love that old car look but I realize the cars probably would have had white trim and not cream.

Here is an S-style body with cream pickguard and the rosewood:

http://www.upfrontguitars.com/G-and-L_L ... Green.html

Here is an ASAT with the vintage maple neck. The pickguard in white is fine though I prefer cream. I would get a natural body binding with a cream pickguard. But this would only be in an ASAT. I do not like binding on S500/Legacy bodies but it looks great on the ASAT and SC bodies IMO. I know G&L recommends the light tint rather than vintage with a natural binding to match better so maybe I would go for the light tint instead. I have seen the vintage neck with natural binding in person and it was passable on a 3-tone sunburst mostly because the finish had so much going on and the inner lightest part of the burst was closer to the natural binding.

http://www.guitaradoptions.com/g-l-asat ... green.html

[Ray Barbee Music]

Cream pearloid is my first choice, but for some weird reason they don't offer it. They can tend to age to that given 10 years or so.

[Salmon]

You could probably take the white down closer to cream by removing the guard and soaking it in strong tea or coffee like people do to turn white pickup covers cream/off-white.

[supereiv]

Very interesting post Ray... I did find the Suhr (and the new PRS as well) good, but not great, and honestly my S-500 deluxe is better.
I find the SS option expensive too, but Jamie got a point.
Anyway, bel-air green is sweet, and you can order a cream pearloid PG at pickguard heaven, just in case. ( I'd vote for a LS, I love that thing)
Ruby red with everything black is really looking like a muscle car, yummy, and don't talk me about turquoise or orange metalflake for that matter...I digress sorry

[LiquidSmoke]

You have probably thought of it but if you have a dealer in mind to order through ask them what they will end up charging you for the G&L SS fret upgrade. If they don't do many special orders from G&L I would find someone else.

My experience is that I took my local dealer a printout from the well-known online G&L guitar builder app, and they said they would match it. (And at $US = $CAN, which I didn't expect.) SS was still too expensive an upcharge in my opinion. Find someone else? That would be a lo-ong car trip, and I like my local dealer and want to buy from them.

[Salmon]

I don't mind buying from someone too far away to visit in person so that gives me more choices.

When I like someone I am willing to spend more to go through them.

But it has just turned out that what I have wanted has been far away.

I have not decided who I will have process my special order.

I now have experiences with several dealers including those who have been helpful when only asking questions.

Good luck and please report back and post pictures when you have it.