In my experience with them they are not anywhere as close to as hard as stainless. I had a premium js24p and wore out the frets in 2 years. I play essentially every day and used to gig before covid. They didn't wear any slower than my fenders, Gibson's or custom built guitars that had standard frets. Premiums are definitely not on a level as a j custom, I can't imagine the fret wire is any different. Fret wire isn't manufacturered by ibanez, they would have to be using what is available to any other company. I have 2 guitars with stainless, it's a lot better. Though there is a down side... Your wound strings get flat spots worn in them pretty quickly. Strings definitely die faster. But IMO that's a small price to pay for a neck that will last a life time.

 

In my experience with them they are not anywhere as close to as hard as stainless. I had a premium js24p and wore out the frets in 2 years. I play essentially every day and used to gig before covid. They didn't wear any slower than my fenders, Gibson's or custom built guitars that had standard frets. Premiums are definitely not on a level as a j custom, I can't imagine the fret wire is any different. Fret wire isn't manufacturered by ibanez, they would have to be using what is available to any other company. I have 2 guitars with stainless, it's a lot better. Though there is a down side... Your wound strings get flat spots in them in them pretty quickly. Strings definitely die faster. But IMO that's a small price to pay for a neck that will last a life time.

Thanks for the response. That is too bad. I guess I will just have to do a refret in a year or two which is unfortunate given that the guitar is already 3 grand....

 

Yeah but on the plus side, you can have stainless installed. Then you'll be set for life. You'll also be one of the few that have a j custom with stainless frets.

 

Your frets should last much longer than 2 years. They're jumbo, you can level them at least 3-4 times if needed before every having to worry about putting in new ones.

 

Ahhh jumbos, yeah that is totally different than the 6105's on the JS guitars

 

6015's are thin, and actually JS's aren't 6105's anymore. Depending on that the year, Joe said he started noticing a big difference and went with a different wire that they're using now.

 

Actually Premiums have never had 6105's. They're all, bigger. I doubt they're Jescar, just like everything Indo they'll save a penny wherever they can. Fretwire comes in many different grades depending on who makes it, even if it's nickel some of the allows are much tougher than others. None are going to be as tough as SS though.

 

I will be very curious now to see how long these last. I would only assume that they will use a very strong alloy on the J customs.

 

I love the way the 6105's feel though. 4 of my guitars are refretted with 6105's 2 of which are SS. Jumbos are awesome, but I am not used to them, I push too hard and cause chords to go out of tune.