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I'm considering refretting my '88/'89 Strat. Anybody know what the fretwire size is? Would you refret with EVO? I use that on my personal builds and like it. Wares and works well..., but would it diminish the guitar's value? If not, which wire would you use? I want to do the fret job without refinishing the fretboard, so I want the new fretwire to fall into place where the old wire came out...
Thanks,
Steve

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Hey Steve. I just refretted my strat now with Fralin pups with 105 X 47 Jescar NS. This is a pretty standard Fender size through the years but I can't say for sure what they did 88/89. Anyway I like it just fine.

EVO is in our testing of it's wear resistance nearly as wear resistant as stainless but much easier to work, cut, file etc. If you are going to do a bang up job of leveling and milling the board which is what we teach stainless is an option. If the board is not worked to perfection more fret material has to be removed making stainless more difficult to work with.

Since EVO works easier it's a good choice in that respect but I still have issues with the color. My Strat has lots of chrome on it which I think would clash with the gold color of oxidizing EVO.

Personally I don't seem to wear out frets so NS is fine for me and easy to work. Evo is great stuff especially if you have gold hardware. Stainless is an excellent choice if you do wear out frets and can do most of the fret plane shaping with the board so that you don't have to hump though a difficult fret dress with the stainless wire.

As for me I stayed old school with NS.

Hesh, I can't seem to find 105 X 47 Jescar NS for sale anywhere. Could your numbers be off a little? I would want a fretwire that matches (as close as practical) the fretwire that comes out. Can you (or someone) recommend a supplier (if other than sponsors)?

Anyone else have any comments on re-fretting a maple neck strat without refinishing. I have found a few links showing this. The frets are scored on either side with a sharp blade and the frets are heated with a soldering iron and worked straight out with (ground) wire cutters (this is assuming that the frets were pressed in originally, which I expect mine were). Once the slot is prepared, the fret is pressed in and thin CA is placed on either side of the fret and wiped with a cloth, lightly containing acetone... frets are dressed, finish buffed as needed, and there you go...

Any comments or suggestions? ...sound like a plan?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

LMI has FW47104

Which is... 0.108 X 0.047

"FW47104 Wide, like Gibson jumbo wire but a little taller. 18% nickel silver (like Dunlop 6150 and SM 0149)."

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Jescar makes .100X.051, .090X.047 and .095X.047 I have the .095X.047 on my 1937 spec except for the fret wire D-28 If you want close to stock on several factory guitars the .100X.051 is nice, especially if your not going to mill the fretboard and address the ski ramp it gives you a few more thousandths to work with.
Properly milling the fretboard and addressing the ski ramp with a quality fret job will turn the old dog into a new guitar, refinishing the fretboard is some trouble but worthwhile in the long run.

Steve you can buy directly from Jescar in small quantities by the pound and their service is excellent too.

First post: My two cents- Fairly positive they stopped sideways fretting by 83/84. Measure your width with calipers and check first and last fret for some indication of how high they may have been and go from there. Personally, I like between .095-.108 in width and .047-.052 in height. Anything over .052 just feels too high for me - that's just me. I work from home, Hobby mostly -somewhere in the land of 30ish refets.

Precautions- double check slot depth and width to tang size. clean wire and fret slots very well (Dan's videos on the Bloomfield Tele describes these things well for an untrue surface)


I would love to visit Ann Arbor guitars to soak up some of that Hesh and Dave Knowledge.

Hope it helps.

This might be a naive question, but what is the ski ramp people talk about? Is this when the high frets take a dive after the neck joins the body?

Just the opposite they rise, take a look at any electric with a bolt on neck. If you will observe your neck while adjusting the truss rod you will see your not getting any movement past the 14th fret, maybe not that far. If your doing a full refret you can mill in some fallaway to address the "ski ramp" it really gets wild when you get it right, lower action, no problem, 2 step bends no problem you can finally school EVH during the odd jam, could affect your love life

I see, would this be less evident or maybe problematic is the right word on heavily radiused fretboard? Like old Fenders (7" or 9.5") since the radius will be fighting the bends anyway? I've played guitar for years, and have always leaned towards more vintage styled instruments and I've never noticed a real problem.