Fretwire tang problem

[luthierwnc]

Hi All,

I just put a new fingerboard on a bowlback mandolin and am having a problem with the fretwire. It is standard small StewMac wire and I slotted the board with one of their power saw blades. The issue is that the diamond-shaped grips on the tang extend all the way to the bottom of the tang. There is no way to seat the wire before dropping the arbor press onto the surface and I don't want to widen the slots to epoxy the frets. Trying to tap it in with a brass hammer is also hit or miss since the wire wants to roll over under pressure.

So, either I need to figure a systematic way to grind the bottom of the tang up enough to get a positive fit or I need to get a different wire. I'm not married to this stuff. I mostly work on guitars and the larger wires usually have half a millimeter or so of clear tang so you can get the wire aligned in the slot before applying pressure.

Thoughts? Thanks, Skip

[sunburst]

I've had that problem too. I usually have to tap one end a few times until the fret starts into the slot. It will kick out first one way, then the other, so I can't tap too hard or the fingerboard will be damaged. Filing a chamfer into the top edge of the fret slot helps some too.

[Gail Hester]

I'd go with smaller wire which Stewmac does not sell. You can get smaller vintage size wire from Roger Siminoff or Jescar SS wire from Bill James here. This stuff goes into the smaller slots of vintage instruments really well.

http://www.axinc.net/040_W_x_039_H_Nickel_Silver_Fret_Wire_p/1000.htm

[pelone]

You may want to try introducing a bit of water applied with a needle syringe into the slot prior to gently tapping the fret in place. The water allows for a bit of swelling but this is more than compensated for as the fret wire is easily inserted into the lubricated slot.
It has been my experience that things slide more easily when lubricated such as when one attempts to put a foot into a swim fin.

[Paul Hostetter]

I second what John Hamlet said.

[Tony Francis]

Why is that really small vintage type wire only sold in stainless steel?

[Ian H Weston]

Hi All,

I just put a new fingerboard on a bowlback mandolin and am having a problem with the fretwire. It is standard small StewMac wire and I slotted the board with one of their power saw blades. The issue is that the diamond-shaped grips on the tang extend all the way to the bottom of the tang. There is no way to seat the wire before dropping the arbor press onto the surface and I don't want to widen the slots to epoxy the frets. Trying to tap it in with a brass hammer is also hit or miss since the wire wants to roll over under pressure.

So, either I need to figure a systematic way to grind the bottom of the tang up enough to get a positive fit or I need to get a different wire. I'm not married to this stuff. I mostly work on guitars and the larger wires usually have half a millimeter or so of clear tang so you can get the wire aligned in the slot before applying pressure.

Thoughts? Thanks, Skip

I just finished a mando with the StewMac fretwire and had the exact same problem. I compressed the wire tang with large pliers and it worked just fine. No need to re-work the slots. But I always super glue my frets in. Especially on ebony, as it can shrink quite a bit in the winter and the frets can come loose.

[Paul Hostetter]

Why is that really small vintage type wire only sold in stainless steel?

Good question! It was once also available in nickel, but they dropped that. I wish it were available in EVO.

[John Morton]

I posted about this issue awhile back: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?71281-fret-grief
My problem was with a new coil of whatever LMI sells, and my leftovers from the Stewmac stuff seemed much better (diamond nubs farther from the edge). But it sounds like they're both ... sub-optimal. My wish is for a wider tang, which reduces the risk of rolling to one side. That stuff from Axiom looks to have a tang only ~.04" deep, if the drawing is to scale.

I find the fret press to be treacherous in any case.
John