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a bender, for precut frets
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=22292		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Jeffrey L. Suits [ Thu May 07, 2009 12:19 pm ]
Post subject:  a bender, for precut frets
Also helpful for tangs that have been treated with a tang tool. This one is a 4" radius, gives me a 7.25" fret. The upper part has a magnet embedded, so that it grabs the drillpress chuck; the smeary stuff is some black superglue.

I've been cutting frets to length a la Don Teeters.
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Author:  Barry Daniels [ Thu May 07, 2009 12:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: a bender, for precut frets
If you look carefully at the fret, most of the bend occurs in the middle, and the ends are a little more straight. At least that's the way it looks to me in the photo, and is consistent with bending in this fashion. Most of the bending force is concentrated at the center as there are two long lever arms available and the form first contacts the fret there. There is relatively no lever arm to help bend the ends.

The reason I am bringing this up is that your fret ends might have a slight upward tension and they may spring up on you at some point.

I think you will get more consistent results by bending a long length with a roller-style fret bender and then cutting the frets to length. Another option would be to shape your press with a little extra curve at the ends.
Author:  Dave Stewart [ Thu May 07, 2009 1:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: a bender, for precut frets
I have to agree with Barry here Jeff.... it definitely doesn't appear constant radius. You may have trouble. I've found it almost impossible to get a nice constant raduius on a fret-sized piece of fretwire. I bend mine by dragging the tang through a kerf in cut in the corner of a block of wood, then nip the tang & cut to length
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