Really wide fret slots

[Christian Johnson]

Patient is a 60s yamaha. Customer wants a refret for sentiment. Fret slots are .030. I'm thinking LMI wire FW75 with .037 stud width. Fret expander pliers should make 'em tight. It's good, hard rosewood. Any input????

[Ronnie Nichols]

I prefer to check the fit of the fret wire by trying a sample of it in the slot as Frank shows on his site. All the measurements don't seem to always work out like you think they will. If you have a .030 slot and use a .037 wide fret you may not need the fret expander pliars. You may need the fret barber to narrow them down. Having the right size fret wire can make a job a lot easier. Frank says he buys some of a lot of different wires and I see why. It can save a lot of problems. Frets can be a dream to install or a nightmare. The difference is often in having the proper size wire in the beginning. Frank's information on his website (and having the opportunity to watch him refret a Martin at a seminar) has been a real help to me. I'd suggest reading his material closely if you haven't already. I hope your repair is successful.
Ronnie Nichols

[Russell Vance]

When you remove the frets, dress the fingerboard with a caul down a mm or so, which will radius and true up the face of the board and at the same time give you access to new wood in the slot by way of the tang extending a further mm into the board. Use a deep tang fretwire (Dunlop has a good range) and the fret expander where required.

I precondition loose slots by using a q-tip to wick some water into the slots thereby expanding the endgrain wood in the fret slot which give the fret something to hang onto while the gap filling superglue (you can use yellow glue if you wish but its slower and doesn't hang on as well) which I use for all my fret installs cures. If you don't like using glue, don't use it, but don't discuss it with me - I am seeing far too many raised and uneven fret jobs on new (and that includes new Plec leveled instruments) to not use it on my own guitars.

Don't get too enthusiastic with the fret expanders either - if you back bow the neck due to the compression reaction caused by wide fret tangs in narrow slots you'll be in world of hurt. Hope this helps , Rusty.

[Christian Johnson]

Thanks everyone for your input. I've got quite a bit of experience with fret jobs from hell. I've just never seen slots this wide. I too use superglue all the time for pesky frets, especially ends on bound fingerboards. This things never been refretted, so I don't think I'll need to go too deep when I plane.

Thanks again.

[Russell Vance]

Christian, sorry mate, didn't mean to tell you how to suck eggs......I have some difficulty finding the right level of conversation from time to time. Good luck. Rusty.

[Christian Johnson]

Hey, no worries. Your input is welcomed. Carry on....

[Ray Hodgson]

Christian,

I incorrectly cut slots for an entire fretboard once with the incorrect width and as a result used this method. It worked out fantastically although it was a bit more work. There are a few luthiers who use this method exclusively for their instruments.

http://gicl.cs.drexel.edu/people/sevy/l ... tting.html

[Ray Hodgson]

Link didn't work for epoxy fretting so I'll try again>>>

http://gicl.cs.drexel.edu/people/sevy/luthierie/guitarmaking_guide/...

[thefishinmusician]

My problem with epoxy fret work is the unintentional changing of the scale, tho'miniscual I believe it is possible to throw bits of the neck out of pure "tune"...thoughts

[Christian Johnson]

Thanks everyone for your input. Thought I'd let you know the job turned out fine, but I question whether LMI wire is really 037 at the stud. They measured 027 on my caliper. I had to really expand the tangs, and then ran superglue to be sure they stuck. A few were really sketchy, especially at the ends. But, this guitar should go on playing for another 40 years now!

Tough job.

[Jeffrey L. Suits]

Finger pressure will cause notes to be, "impure", so this is a non-issue.