Casino fret wire?

[Glen Havelock]

Hi everyone, just joined the forum so making a first post.  I repair fretted instruments in the Manchester area in England, also make a few instruments and take repairs for some local shops.  In one of the shops there is a mid-60's Epiphone Casino which they have sold, subject to it being refretted back to original spec.  At some point it has had jumbo frets fitted and they been ground down very low, so it is hard to gauge what the original wire was.  One thing I am sure about is the modern re-issues don't use the same wire.

Does anyone here have any first-hand knowledge of what the dimensions of the original wire were?  If all else fails I am going for something like Jescar 47095, but it would be great if I know for sure what the original wire was like for a Casino.

Thanks

Glen

[Christian Johnson]

Don't know for sure, but since this is a Gibson Epi, probably something low and wide, 32X105 or so.  Gibson was into low frets in the 60s.  You might ask the folks at Gruhn guitars in Nashville.

[Glen Havelock]

Thanks Christian, I will try Gruhn.

[Gregory Hites]

Glen,

I've got an older Casino in my shop now.  The frets on it measure: .101 wide, .039 high.  That seems a bit large for older original fretwire, but I'm not sure.

 

Let us know what you find in your search.

Greg