PRS Tech Center: No Stainless Refrets

[shinksma]

The first benefit for me is galling. I don't know if that's the real official term for it, but that's what EVH calls it so I stick with it. I do quite a bit of consecutive bends on the same fret with my play style and with most guitars the string ends up catching on the fret after the second bend or so as if there was sandpaper.

That is indeed the correct term - when two metals, usually similar in hardness, are "rubbed" together with considerable force (friction), the top layers of one or both will "peel" and roll on a very tiny scale, but enough to cause what you feel on your guitar. Consequences with this effect on tightly machined parts is that you can tighten down a nut/bolt combo, and because of galling, it will be impossible to then loosen, almost like it effectively welded itself together.

Oddly enough, in my industry, it occurs with stainless steel a lot, and we actually avoid stainless in many situations because if it. But we use torques/pressures far higher than your hands on a fretboard.

This is a good explanation, found randomly on the Interwebz:

https://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-information/materials-and-grades/Thread-galling.aspx