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Looking for some recommendations on fret wire. Size, brand, and where do you purchase. I was kinda overwhelmed by all the sizes and such. Need some help on making a decision. Thanks

Standard medium is around .08x.04 & nickel silver is the norm. @Stewmac

New username, same Pat Mac

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Pat

What guitar are we talking about, and what style of music to be played?

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

I believe Martin is or was using 0.080" wide X 0.037" tall fret wire, too low for me personally. Jescar makes a 0.080" X 0.043" for a traditional sort of feel it's very nice. I'm running Jescar stainless steel 0.095"X 0.047" fret wire on my personal acoustics and will continue to do so. I do quite a bit of fretwork and the electric players around these parts like the Jescar stainless steel 0.110" X 0.057" (local shop sells Suhr guitars, local hotshot pickers Andy Wood & Ben Eller play Suhr and everyone wants the same. Ive re-fretted several of Bens guitars with the big wire) Tele players like the Jescar 0.095" X 0.055" and the 0.100" X 0.051" has its fans. I use nothing but stainless steel unless the customer request nickel .

I use StewMac medium fret wire on guitars and some other instruments and mandolin wire on others. Nickle silver wire is easy to work and holds up reasonably well. If I was doing refrets (but I don't - at least not for customers) I might want to have some other types of wire on hand.

I like EVO...

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

My favorite is 0.080" x 0.043" Evo gold.

In the 40’s is average height, and 80’s is average width. So if you like something other than average, move from there in the direction that suits you.

I will suggest a slightly taller fret than your target if you are new. You can loose quite a bit of height leveling the fret plane unless you really know what you are doing when pressing/hammering them in.

Finally, be aware of fret tang width. I had a .023 blade and bought some .020 wire. For the longest time I couldn’t figure out why they were so loose.


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