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Thread: Fretwire and slot help?

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    Default Fretwire and slot help?

    Gentleman......I have 2 questions..... #1 when you fret a bound board, do you cut the tangs back just to clear the binding or a little further? #2 is the EVO gold wire very noticeable on a mandolin with nickel hardware? Thanks, appreciated.

  2. #2
    Teacher, repair person
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    Default Re: Fretwire and slot help?

    #1. Just enough to clear the bindings minus a small fudge factor [maybe 1 to 2 64ths of an inch] to avoid pushing the binding out by accident.
    #2. Don't know. We don't see much of it around here. Yet.

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    Kelley Mandolins Skip Kelley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fretwire and slot help?

    Quote Originally Posted by justrythym View Post
    Gentleman......I have 2 questions..... #1 when you fret a bound board, do you cut the tangs back just to clear the binding or a little further? #2 is the EVO gold wire very noticeable on a mandolin with nickel hardware? Thanks, appreciated.
    It’s not very noticeable. The Evo gold frets are awesome.

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    Default Re: Fretwire and slot help?

    I put Evo wire on one of my mandolins a while ago, l like it a lot. My mandolin has nickel hardware, never noticed any problem in looks, but then I wasn't looking for it either. It is all about sound and pliability way above looks for me anyway.
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

  5. #5

    Default Re: Fretwire and slot help?

    Has any of you guys done the jumbo frets? My Son has 55/95 on his Collings and really likes them. I’m thinking of using Jescar 51/100 or StewMac 50/100 on this one I’m working on right now. The 50/100 from SM does not come in EVO. Actually I don’t know if SM even carries EVO at all? Thanks Gentleman

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    Default Re: Fretwire and slot help?

    I also want to go to a different size wire. I bought a loaed from stew mac, jsut said their standard mando wire.,but when I see other mandos, they all seem bigger then what I use. Advantage?

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    Default Re: Fretwire and slot help?

    Quote Originally Posted by justrythym View Post
    Has any of you guys done the jumbo frets? My Son has 55/95 on his Collings and really likes them. I’m thinking of using Jescar 51/100 or StewMac 50/100 on this one I’m working on right now. The 50/100 from SM does not come in EVO. Actually I don’t know if SM even carries EVO at all? Thanks Gentleman
    I've re-fretted 3 or 4 mandolins with 95 x 45 wire at customer request. In all of those cases, the large frets had a rather ungainly look, especially above the 12th fret. It was positively ugly above the 15th fret. And there was less room for the fingers in the upper registers.

    I've re-fretted many mandolins with 80 x 40 wire, and haven't had an unhappy customer yet when I used that wire.

    Most of the better modern players like wire in the neighborhood of 80 x 40. They consider it to be easier to play than the small wire that was used on most older instruments. In my experience, wire that is much larger than 80 x 40 can be considered to be oversized for a mandolin.

    For those who want to try a wire that is .095" or .100" wide, I would suggest using a narrower wire above the 12th or 15th fret.

    Stew-mac does not currently carry EVO. They do now carry "cryogenically treated" wire in four sizes, ranging from .084" wide to .095" wide. I haven't tried it.

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