Pre Bent Frets

[olddog]

A while back my brother bought some pre-bent frets on e-bay. I only make about 2 or 3 fret boards a year, so I don't want to buy a bender, and bending by hand I just can't do well. Does anyone know of the guy who bends frets for sale on e-bay? They worked really well, they were pre-cut and pre-bent and it made it easy. Thanks for any info. ( I'm buying the circle saw blade from stew-mac, it's .023, so I hope that helps)

[johnsilver]

I'm sorry I can't answer your specific question on sourcing pre-radiused frets.

However, if you can't find a source, there is a tutorial on the main page of Project Guitar showing how to make a simple fret radius jig from a piece of mdf. Very simple and very inexpensive. Its what I use to bend fret wire.

[Setch]

You can also buy your fretwire in coils, which means they are already radiused and ready to use.

[rlrhett]

You can also buy your fretwire in coils, which means they are already radiused and ready to use.

Where can you buy coiled fretwire? I did a search here and on google and couldn't find a supplier. Stew Mac and LMI seem to only sell it in 2 foot straight lengths.

[Mattia]

Making a bender should cost all of 5 bucks, probably less. Just so ya know, like. It'll cost less than the amount of money you save after buying just one set of pre-bent, pre-cut frets, honestly.

Fretwire doesn't 'go bad', and you need all the other tools to install it anyway.

Also, LMI sells it coiled, methinks, and I quote:

"Fretwire is sold in 4’ lengths—enough for one instrument, or 100’ lengths. For easier installation, fretwire is coiled with the tang toward the inside of the curve. (For even easier installation, see Steve Klein’s plans for a fret bender, PL16."

check with the direct, though, to make sure. I get mine from StewMac; bending's not that hard, and it's easier to store 50-odd feet of fretwire when it's in 2' long straight sections, in a tube.

[MzI]

I know Gibson sells prebent and pre cut fretwire, its medium jumbo sized, check there website and check your local music store they might have it there

MzI

[soapbarstrat]

The coiled wire usually has a radius between 7" and 9-1/2".

Too coiled if you're dealing with a 16" radius board, and if your board has a 7-8" radius, the 9-1/2" coiled wire won't work as is.

I would prefer to buy all my wire straight, but I guess that will be a while, because I still have most of this stuff :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v398/soa...rman-frets2.jpg

[erikbojerik]

I get 25' lengths in 10 to 12-inch radius coils from Allied Lutherie.

http://www.alliedlutherie.com/fretwire.htm

[j. pierce]

I bought all my fretwire from LMI, and it does come coiled. Now, given some of the posts I've made, it's obvious fretting is one of the areas I still have a lot to learn, but I do feel that their wire was pretty much bent enough for use on a 12" radius board.

When it's in a coil, it seems relatively easy to bend it a bit more by hand simply by sort of coiling it more - although I don't know if this is a good idea or not.

Again, take what I say about it being bent "enough" with a grain of salt, because I'm still learning the mysteries of fretting, but LMIs wire does come coiled, at least everything I've ordered from them has.

[Maiden69]

The coiled wire usually has a radius between 7" and 9-1/2".

Too coiled if you're dealing with a 16" radius board, and if your board has a 7-8" radius, the 9-1/2" coiled wire won't work as is.

I would prefer to buy all my wire straight, but I guess that will be a while, because I still have most of this stuff :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v398/soa...rman-frets2.jpg

Show Off!!!

[Guitarfrenzy]

The coiled wire usually has a radius between 7" and 9-1/2".

Too coiled if you're dealing with a 16" radius board, and if your board has a 7-8" radius, the 9-1/2" coiled wire won't work as is.

I would prefer to buy all my wire straight, but I guess that will be a while, because I still have most of this stuff :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v398/soa...rman-frets2.jpg

Nice.. Stainless steel and gold fretwire? Quite a stash bro..

I agree, I would rather bend my wire myself to get the exact radius (slightly overbent) to match the fingerboard radius. There are plans somewhere on the site to build your own bender. Definitely look into it if you don't want to spend the money to get one from Stew Mac.

[soapbarstrat]

Yeah, NS, SS and bronze (gold colored). The idea was to fret planet Earth, so I needed a lot of wire. Still haven't made up my mind about the fret-slot width I want. I know I'll have to do an epoxy press fit, when I fret the Grand Canyon.

[Southpa]

I bought 70 ft. of medium wire from Stewmac a while ago. Its in 2 ft straight lengths, no problem. I've generally been dealing with 12" fretboard radius and found the perfect tool for bending wire to the right specs. My hot water tank is 20" in diameter (10" radius). I just bend the wire by hand until it fits the radius of my water tank. The results are slightly overbent frets that work perfectly for my 12" radius.

Edited January 16, 2006 by Southpa

[Mickguard]

I bought 70 ft. of medium wire from Stewmac a while ago. Its in 2 ft straight lengths, no problem. I've generally been dealing with 12" fretboard radius and found the perfect tool for bending wire to the right specs. My hot water tank is 20" in diameter (10" radius). I just bend the wire by hand until it fits the radius of my water tank. The results are slightly overbent frets that work perfectly for my 12" radius.

Hmmm...I think the wheels on my kids old bike are 20"....hmmm....why not?