Anyone have positive or negative experience with this brand? I’m looking for an inexpensive guitar with stainless frets, and Legator appears to be a good option.
Is that a better option than a used guitar?
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I’ve seen a handful in the UK (they aren’t common over here) and they seemed to be perfectly good guitars for the money, although all of them had fairly shoddy finishes or blemishes, the fret job on one of them was pretty bad (but fine on the others), and, for my money, Ibanez perform much better at similar price points.
Just food for thought, but stainless steel is an umbrella term, not an absolute. I don’t know what grade of SS Legator use, but some grades are softer than nickel steel, and that often makes it just marketing guff.
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I have 3 Ibanez currently, and love them all (aside from volume knob placement). However, I am a fret killer, which sparked the desire for SS frets, though I do realize not all SS is equal - aside from being a guitar guy, I am also a knife guy. lol And an Ibanez with SS frets tends to be costly, so far as I’m aware.
At any rate, I am actually now looking at a Strandberg Boden Essential, which their website says uses DHP 28HFS stainless steel for the frets. Do you have any opinions on that?
Knife guy! Thats a cool skill, do you make them, or just a point of interest for you?
I dont know a thing about that type of SS, they tend to be obscured behind proprietary names, all i can say is that their higher end models use Jescar SS frets, which, given Jescar, will be of good quality. I cant say either way as to the standard of that SS on the Essentials range.
Given my first post, i can see it being easy to think i am advising to stay away from Legator. Im not advising that, just that they are definitely a “play the exact one before you buy” kinda brand.
Probably just get your fav guitar refretted in stainless vs searching for a perfect guitar with stainless frets. It’s a pretty rare thing.
Stainless frets are a huge PITA for the luthier, I’d look for someone who does a lot of them and has a stellar reputation (and maybe a plek machine).
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SS are a bit of a pain for the luthier, you’re very right! I get a lot of jobs asking for SS fret installs, and I go through tools so much faster.
Then again, now that I think about it, I’ve had some budget-ish guitars with SS frets come in that feel soft as butter.
SS frets are a bit of a marketing gimmick at this stage, although good quality ones are fantastic!
I do my own fret jobs, and after installing ss on my 80s Fernandes Strat, I don’t want anything to do with that fret material ever again.
If it’s tough to deal with for a professional, imagine the toll it takes on an amateur.
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well yeah, I am a semi-pro builder and I wouldn’t touch the stuff. I’m lucky though, I don’t seem to wear through frets very badly.
There are a lot of different stainless alloys in the world with significantly different properties afaik. I’m sure there is some cheap shit stainless. My friends who do stainless frets I think would use Jescar but I’m not sure.
One brand that I know offer multiple models with stainless steel and fantastic fret jobs is LTD. Even some of their mid-range models seem to endure heavy use over time.