Another – Sonic Difference Richard Hoover Responds

From Richard Hoover….thank you Richard

We use EVO frets for facility and durability along with personal preference, like on our Scott Law signature model. Regarding control of tone, stainless or Evo frets are contributors rather than the sole cause of  a guitar’s tone.

Fret material does affect tone just like that of the nut and saddle. I’m not clear if I should call this mass, weight or density, though the harder the material the brighter the tone. This shouldn’t be confused with EQ (Bass vs,Treble) Rather I refer here to the scale of warm, dark and rounded to bright, clear and definitive.

The saddle will have the most effect as all string energy passes through it anytime a string is plucked.The nut contributes to tone only when plucked in the open position. The frets transfer string energy and tone only when the string is fretted.
Players have several choices to brighten up a muddy sounding instrument through products that claim to ‘improve” tone, but really just change it. For saddles and nuts ivory is warmer than bone and fossilized ivory to brass are on the bright end of the scale. As to the effect of fret material like EVO, it will technically add clarity but that may be indistinguishable from the combined effect of nut, saddle and string composition.

When designing for custom sound it is the cumulative effect of all contributing factors and components that make any dramatic difference. The choice of tonewoods and/or strings can overshadow whatever fret durometer may contribute to the sound.of your guitar.
Within our range of choices for achieving custom tone the composition of the frets alone wouldn’t be a determining factor unless combined with other more effective contributors.

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I’m refretting my PRS SE West Coast Jerrification mod and Gibson LP TV Special with EVO frets. I prefer the jumbo size.</p>