xcoyle Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 I want to hear where everyone is buying their fret wire from. I want to get a tall medium wire, I like Dunlop but it is pricey. What a good alternative for half the price? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 I get my jumbo wire from Allied Lutherie in rolls....already bent to 9" radius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 StewMac, by the poound. Although you gotta radius it yourself. Might go with Allied next time, but I've got at least a decade's worth of StewMac wire now, and it works great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snipes2222 Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 StewMac, by the poound. Although you gotta radius it yourself. Might go with Allied next time, but I've got at least a decade's worth of StewMac wire now, and it works great. I agree stewmacs is pretty good.I used there wire on an in progress guitar and its been great so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcoyle Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 The Stew Mac wire is a good deal. I bought their wire bender last week so, no problem there. Is the Dunlop wire so expensive just becuase they have so many sizes, or is it truely better quality. Most wire says 18% nickel-silver. Just curious to hear from someone who swears by Dunlop wire and has had problems with other wire, such as Stew-Macs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDust_Junkie Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Hey eric, the wire you buy from Allied Lutherie, is only available in 9" radius ? Can you order from them in other Radiu(s/i) ? I am building a project right now with a 12" radius fretboard, I would think over radiused wire at 9" should be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted February 27, 2006 Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Hey eric, the wire you buy from Allied Lutherie, is only available in 9" radius ? Can you order from them in other Radiu(s/i) ? I am building a project right now with a 12" radius fretboard, I would think over radiused wire at 9" should be good. It just comes coiled, which is relatively common. They don't coil it to your speficied radius, but it's an effective way to provide long lengths of wire without cutting. Minimal waste, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 A luthier in California happened to have a customer who had access to a metal hardness testing lab, and sent fret-wire samples there for testing. Stew-Mac wire came out a little harder than Dunlop. Both wires had at least 19% nickel in them. I remember on that other 'guitar builders' forum where some clowns were saying Stew-Mac wire was inferior quality, etc. Those guys wouldn't know good fret-wire if a 50 pound coil of it crawled up their butt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 A luthier in California happened to have a customer who had access to a metal hardness testing lab, and sent fret-wire samples there for testing. Stew-Mac wire came out a little harder than Dunlop. Both wires had at least 19% nickel in them. I remember on that other 'guitar builders' forum where some clowns were saying Stew-Mac wire was inferior quality, etc. Those guys wouldn't know good fret-wire if a 50 pound coil of it crawled up their butt. I remember Litch claiming he used to wear out stew mac wire in three months. But, he shredded faster than chuck norris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 In the beginning there was nothing but then Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked that nothing in the face and said, "Get a job!" and that was the beginning of the universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9956 Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 Chuck Norris learned to shred by roundhouse kicking steve vai in the head and downloading the data with his leg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egdeltar Posted March 2, 2006 Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 Chuck norris should be made into fret wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted March 2, 2006 Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 He has been. It's stainless steel, .057" tall by .110" wide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Everyone knows that Chuck Norris is the hardest material known to man, stainless steel might be as hard as say, his hair..............maybe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitefly SA Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Chuck Norris bleeds lava, if he bled...which he doesn't I was thinking of doing stainless steel on my first neck build, will this be too hard for me? it will be a non-radiused fretboard so that should take out some challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 The stainless wire can be a b!*ch on fret files if you are using it a lot. It's just harder so it will take a bit more work to level and crown. Chuck Norris could probably just look at your neck and the frets would be leveled, or the neck would vaporize. Just call his name because Chuck Norris is in all places at all times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 (edited) Chuck Norris never sleeps, He waits. Chuck Norris' tears cures cancer. Too bad Chuck Norris has never cried, ever. underneath Chuck Norris' beard is a third fist. When going in to donate blood Chuck Norris asked for a handgun and a bucket. On thanksgiving Chuck Norris wife burnt the turkey. So Chuck Norris went out into the backyard and found a whole live turkey. He than ate the turkey in one bite and a few minutes later threw up a fully cooked turkey with crannberry sauce. When his wife asked how he did it he roundhouse kicked her and said, "never question Chuck Norris" Chuck Norris could roundhouse kick a chunk of wood and it would turn into a beautiful guitar. Edited March 3, 2006 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Chuck Norris bleeds lava, if he bled...which he doesn't I was thinking of doing stainless steel on my first neck build, will this be too hard for me? it will be a non-radiused fretboard so that should take out some challenge. I don't know if I'd recommend you doing your first fretjob using stainless steel wire. The only problem with stainless steel is that it's rough on your tools, and takes longer to work with. If you can get the fingerboard near perfect level, and press the frets in, you shouldn't have too much problems with leveling the frets. Diamond files make life a lot easier when working with stainless!! For your first fretjob, I think you'd learn more to start with regular fretwire before trying stainless. Just my opinion though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehle Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 I've been buying mine from eBay through a Canadian seller. Precut wire, 22 frets, $2.50 plus shipping. Looks like the price is up a little from that now. Still that's really cheap for a set of 22 frets. Here he is... frets4u http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ2...Q3aMEFSQ3aMESOI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 It would be funny to see someone new to fretting start with ss wire, but at the same time, I'd hate to see ss wire go to waste. Frank Ford seems to use ss wire with no more trouble than regular ns wire, but I think he's using the smallest size, which makes quite a difference (at least with cutting the stuff). Flat finger board and straight pieces of fret-wire will do LITTLE to make the job easier. Actually the best quality ss wire that I know of is mainly sold in coiled form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehle Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 I'm sorry, I thought this was a thread on fret wire. I meant to mention this great seller on eBay, chucknorris4u, that sells blood sweat and tears of Chuck Norris. I think they might be fake though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 I've been buying mine from eBay through a Canadian seller. Precut wire, 22 frets, $2.50 plus shipping. Here he is... frets4u http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ2...Q3aMEFSQ3aMESOI Make sure your fret-slots can handle that .025" thick tang. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehle Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 I've been buying mine from eBay through a Canadian seller. Precut wire, 22 frets, $2.50 plus shipping. Here he is... frets4u http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ2...Q3aMEFSQ3aMESOI Make sure your fret-slots can handle that .025" thick tang. No problem there. Coping saw. I also use Chuck Norris spit to lubricate them into the slots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyB7539 Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Does he pre bend them also? Just curious since I am about to try my hand at my first neck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehle Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 Does he pre bend them also? Just curious since I am about to try my hand at my first neck He has a pretty good picture of what you get in the auction listing. IIRC, there's not much of a radius there, but there is a little. I've been using them to make all the cigar box guitars lately which have no radius anyway. I can't recall how they fit in the slots to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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