FRETS.NET

Hi all,

I will soon be doing my first SS refret on a Strat and while searching for some good info on the internet it only confused me a bit further.

I have already dealt with EVO gold and had great results, so I hope this matters at least a tiny bit.

I can press or hammer the frets, but hammering is my preferred method. Should I over-radius or bend it to the exact fretboard radius? There's a lot of different info on this subject, I personally like over-radiusing because the tang bites a little better. Of course even with EVO I exaggerated the over-radius less than with NS.

I pretty much settled on the idea of cutting the wire very short and then just filing the edges without any nipping, but I am still not confident about over-radius, I am very curious what you guys think about it.

If anyone has other helpful tips, please do share.

Thanks in advance, guys.

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That would work great for me Hesh.

Who's name would you like me to sign on it? In the great scheme of things, mine is less than insignificant. ;)

BTW: I asked S-M to credit my dear friend & co-tech, Jerry on this.  His involvement in the process was limited to staying on my ass to get the prototype built and submitted. If not for him, this idea would exist only in a 16 bit digital MS Paint format on an ancient IBM P166's [likely recycled] hard drive. It may have been "limited" but it certainly was essential.

I wish I could "give" you one, but after giving my 'free copy' to Jerry, I had to order one for myself (: I didn't mind as it made me feel as if I'm supporting the ultimate goal of keeping the supply resource solvent and available for future generations of craft-persons.  I am also recognized as being the premier 'lousy businessman' in my region  :)

Thanks, man (:

The cheapie nippers won't last too long, not much improvement with expensive ones either....

And there's the benefit of avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome... (I'm not kidding!)

I put a lot of effort into getting the fret width dead on, before it goes onto the fretboard.

I use a dremel and a cutting wheel.  Measure each fret slot width with digital calipers, and cut the fretwire to length with the dremel (target 0.4 mm longer).  Use calipers to check the fret wire width, grind with the dremel to a finished dimension.

Start with the longest frets, this way if you accidentally cut too short you can re-use for a shorter fret.

More labor intensive but less tooling cost, basically....

Mac, that sounds pretty amazing. How much trouble is it getting the frets hammered into the exact right space for this to work?

Haven't had any problems in that regard....

Seem to go straight in.....the frets are still a hair proud on the ends (0.2 mm each side) when installed.

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