Stainless steel crossover

[tmihm]

Guys....I'm trying to find out when TAG completely switched over to stainless steel frets. I found a few cools posts about the frets themselves...

http://andersonforum.com/board/showthread.php?t=3338&highlight=stainless

...but can't find the year. Can someone please lent a hand?

Thanks!;)

Terry

[funalij]

Hi Terry:
Tom said about stainless frets "....the namm show guitars in january 2002 were the first ones out there....." .

Best Regards
Javier

[michaelomiya]

Guys....I'm trying to find out when TAG completely switched over to stainless steel frets. ...but can't find the year.

Terry, I think TAG went to SS for all guitars after February/March 2002. The reason for the lag after NAMM is that guitars with birthday's in this period of time have had their necks cut typically 2-3 months prior to final assembly.

Here's the info from tom himself:
"...we ned to know the final specs for the guitar about three months prior to the projected delivery date. we make the necks first. we do all the machining, and then it sits for a month. when you remove material(carve) from a billet, the shape of the baord will change as it stress relieves. after it has sat for a month, we retrue the fingeboard surface and put in the frets. that same week we make the body and match the neck to the body and prepare them for finish. they go through finish together. after finish they are ready for assembly. the builders build all week, then the following tuesday they recheck all they built the week before. this way the guitars have had a week to get used to having tension on them, and have a better chance of arriving at the dealer in nice playable condition. the whole process is about 2 months give or take a couple weeks."

[tmihm]

That's great stuff, guys.....you are awesome. Thank you!

;) :D

[tom]

all corresct, there is no absolute date. april is probably 100%stainless but they drifted in the prior 3 months.

[GaryMcT]

Do you ever do non-stainless frets these days by request? I prefer stainless, just curious.

[tom]

no we don't. no looking back.

[AndyK]

I see NO downside to SS frets. They are perfectly dressed, feel great, and make bending better. The fact that they will outlive ME is also not too bad!