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I am making a soprano uke. Testing fret wire on the brittle bocote that I am using for the fret board chips out the wood severely, i.e. it all goes. I am thinking to use fret wire without the dimples, and raise burrs the old fashioned way.
So, I need a source for ukulele size fret wire without dimples and with the tang not thicker than .022. Any source for this or other suggestions?

Cut the slots wider? There is some tool you can buy that smashes the barbs smaller. I think it's called Fret Barber.

So, the wood chips out just from hammering the Frets in? Do you relieve the slot a little bit with a triangle file first? Lube them with water or glue? Maybe try pressing them in?

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Pat

The entire amount of wood between fret slots popped off. I did not try the triangle file or lubrication yet.

You absolutely have to relieve the fret slots on hard and brittle timber. I use a 4 sided awl that I made. Has very sharp sides that just takes one run down the slot. Acts like a scraper. In this image you can see the difference to the ones I've done already, and those that are still needing the reliefe. This is Gidgee, and it's as hard as nails.

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Allen R. McFarlen
Barron River Guitars & Ukuleles
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Cairns, Australia

My saw is 0.023 checked with a micrometer, but the slots only 0.021 checked with feeler gauge. I will try the relief scraping and see what happens.