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I'm considering buying prebent fretwire from a vendor who sells 25 pieces bent to a radius of my choosing. If I want one of the normal radii, I can choose between 12" and 16" radius, and my fingerboards are made to 16" radius. I don't know whether to buy the just-matching 16" radius fretwire or the overbent 12" radius fretwire.

May I please have some observations, comments, and suggestions?

Thanks very much.

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Peter Havriluk

I strongly prefer overbent wire.

I hammer my frets, so I like the corners to bite first, then walk back and forth til the fret is seated. The overbend really helps keep the ends down.

So noted. Nice to hear advice from experience correspond to a beginner's' (only built five so far) assumption.

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Peter Havriluk

Many (most?) fretwire makers sell their material in coils with perhaps 20” diameter. Some vendors sell cut sections or partial coils. I find that works well for everything from Strats to classical — no additional bending required. Personally I would never buy straight sections.


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If u plan to build more than one guitar, get a bender. But def choose a radius slightly smaller than ur fret board.

I put a small notch in the edge of my work table just big enough to fit the tang and bend the wire by putting a little down pressure on it as I pull it through the notch. A few passes through the notch gives me whatever radius I want. I just buy the straight 2 foot lengths of wire from StewMac.

I buy coiled fret wire from LMI. It is over bent for anything I do. I hammer the frets in and like Ed, I like that I can tap in the edges and then I hammer toward the middle and back and forth until seated. I do this even for my flat classical fret boards.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

I made a bender. Inherent design 'feature' renders the first and last bit of fretwire to not get bent, bending depends on the wire being engaged on the feed roller and the end roller. PITA when bending 6-inch lengths of wire.

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Peter Havriluk

If you want pre-bent fret wire, buying coils stock may not be a bad way to go. Considering the price difference, that may be what I do next time I need wire.

A bender is pretty easy to make too. Plans are out there on the internet. I like to have it over bent also.

Okay, here I go again - I've tried to post 3 times in this thread, to no avail.

Overbent is the way to go - I've used straight wire I bent myself, and precut pieces in a bag. Works very well in my experience. Underbent is just asking for trouble.

And I have a StewMac wire bender from the 80's that works like a charm, I just don't always use it.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Sounds like a great tip to me! I'll try it on my next fret job. Thank You!

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust