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Is all fret wire created equal? Since this is my first time fretting I can’t be sure, but I think the fret wire I have is making it more difficult to do a good job. The problem is that the tang is not precisely centered and the seating faces each side of the head are not in the same plane. The imprecision is small. Is this typical?

When hammering in, one side of the head contacts the fretboard surface first and then it takes more taps to ‘roll’ the head until the other side is flush.



Fret in a test board.



Partial gap is visible.



Just wondering if this is normal or if my technique needs perfecting. Any thoughts, comments or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

Joe

Not all created equal. Looks funky to me I'd shop for something else.

With a magnifying glass I've looked at a few samples of my wire (various types) and none appear stepped as in your sample - or at least not as bad.

Thanks guys. I’m wondering if maybe the wire is manufactured perfectly symmetrical and coiling it produces a slight disparity. I can get the frets in to where they are flush but it seems that it would go easier and with less forceful taps if the fret wire was symmetrical at the start rather than hammering it into submission. (?)

Joe

There are a lot of little tricks, or steps to getting a great fret job, and quality fretwire is a great first step. There doesn't have to be a secret about what wire that is, and where you got it.

Are you making a bevel at the top of the slot? The wire won't sit flush if you don't.

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May I ask who made it? It looks like some Pingwell I've seen before...

Thanks David. Yes I’m beveling the top of the slot and trying to follow suggestions I got from an earlier thread here that was specific to the mechanics involved in fretting. Once I got started I noticed the slight asymmetry.

After giving it some thought it seems somewhat likely that coiling the wire could produce what I’m seeing. This is the softer wire for nylon strings (12% nickel/silver) and perhaps is more easily distorted (?).

Meddling - not sure who makes it.

Joe

Bad, bad bad, really wired, messed up and NFG send back and ask for refund in me humble opinionated opinion.


blessings
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Joe;
I stopped using the softer wire for the same reason .
Plus it dents easily.
Toss it & use the 18% stuff.

Mike

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Mike Collins

That is not good wire. Please tell us where you got it.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

What Mike said, I used the soft wire on a couple guitars and hate it, way too soft. Plus that nylon strings can actually file huge marks in the frets, same as SS, when someone studies hours and hours every day, another reason to use acoustic wire on CGs.

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Thanks Mike and Alex. This is making sense to me now that you are reporting having a similar experience with the softer alloy wire.

Joe

So will you let us know what kind of wire it is or where you bought it?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Howard the very soft wire I have came from Lmii
years ago.
I bought allot ; thinking it was the way to go for nylon strung guitars.
It's NOT their fault at all.
Now I use it for hanging guitars for spraying finishes!!
Works great !
Nice to see your guitars & meet you in Woodstock.

Mc

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Mike Collins

I have StewMac wire that looks just like this. Not the soft stuff, but standard wire. Unfortunately, I don't have a camera good enough to get a close up pic to show it. Not trying to slam them, I love StewMac. And from what I've read their wire is pretty highly regarded. This may be more common than we think. I didn't even realize it until this post. went and looked at my wire, and sure enough.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Mike, I think you may have a point – it seems to me that any fret wire that is manufactured straight (not sure that it is) which is then coiled onto spools for distribution will deform asymmetrically because of its cross sectional shape. The narrow tang portion resists bending more so than the head and consequently tends to twist to one side. Just think of trying to bend a tang-shaped wire into a loop – it cannot be done without twisting 90 degrees unless it is somehow constrained. The head portion of the fret wire provides resistance to twisting but deforms slightly in doing so. The result is the tang leans slightly to one side and pushes into the head slightly. Because the wire undergoes plastic deformation (i.e., no spring back) the result is a permanent asymmetry, albeit very slight in most cases it would seem. Just my 2-cent, possibly faulty, technical analysis.

Joe

Filippo; Yes, same stuff as Mike Collins. But FWIW, I agree with Mike that it is NOT a wire issue.

Joe