Fret wire size

[Prairieghost]

Hello Everyone, anyone know what size fret wire currently comes standard on Collins or Weber mandolins ? I'm going to attempted my first fret job on my Rover RM75 . I've played both a Weber and Collins side by side and like the feel of the frets. Compared to the Rover they are jumbo size. Thank you for your time, Henry

[multidon]

Weber uses .080 wire for their frets. I think it's commonly known as banjo wire.

[fidlplr1979]

Hello Everyone, anyone know what size fret wire currently comes standard on Collins or Weber mandolins ? I'm going to attempted my first fret job on my Rover RM75 . I've played both a Weber and Collins side by side and like the feel of the frets. Compared to the Rover they are jumbo size. Thank you for your time, Henry

I just had EVO Gold banjo fretwire put on my Eastman 615 and i love it. It had the tiny Loar style frets prior to having them replaced and i much prefer the larger fret size

[Ivan Kelsall]

This is the Weber wire type - FW37080. It can be bought in the EVO Gold style as ''EVO Gold FW37080'' . Info. from Bruce Weber.
A further piece of info.that Bruce gave me - all Weber frets are 'press fitted' - NOT glued,
Ivan

[Prairieghost]

Thank you all, I think the Collins I played had evo frets on it. The frets were definitely bigger. And the mandolins felt better .

[Frank Ford]

.080 or thereabouts is standard width for Collings mandolins. I just measured a few with digital caliper at .078 -.079.

Close enuf.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Here's the info from the Jescar Fret wire site :- https://www.jescar.com/product-categ...lloy/evo-gold/
FW 37080 = .080" in width,
Ivan

[David Farmer]

I just had EVO Gold banjo fretwire put on my Eastman 615 and i love it. It had the tiny Loar style frets prior to having them replaced and i much prefer the larger fret size

Can you articulate exactly what it is about the larger size that "feels better? I'm just curious. Is it height or width? Fret ends?

[Ivan Kelsall]

I've played a couple of Eastman mandolins & with the smaller (narrower) fret wire,they seemed harder to fret to get a clear note.
As you can imagine,the 'lower' the frets,the harder it would be to get clearly defined notes - even for the same fret width. The wider frets,for the same height,are just more 'positive' - IMO,
Ivan

[Karl Hoyt]

Another factor to consider is that if you're new to doing fretting or refrets, using a slightly taller wire gives you a little more fudge room for leveling.....not that I've ever needed that extra as all my fret jobs are on the money ;-)

[Tavy]

I learnt on instruments with low skinny wire, I didn't know any different and it sure does teach you to to place your fingers accurately. Very recently, I've become a convert to larger wire (80x35 for mandolins) and it really is nicer to play on. I'm not completely sold on the aesthetics of it, but you can't have everything I guess! Strangely this stuff isn't necessarily any higher than the traditional skinny 50x35 wire, it just feels "nicer" in some strange undefined way....

[pops1]

I bought a mandolin years ago with larger wire, tried to like it. I played it for a week and refretted it to smaller wire.