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Hi

What size fret wire works best for you guys.. what plays best with what style and what do your clients usually ask for or get

Thanks

.080" was a classic size for me for SS.

I agree with Haans, but can I make a suggestion? This is for a first guitar, right? If so, then I recommend buying that width of fretwire, but in the tallest height. You might need to level the frets a bit more on a first guitar, and having extra height makes that less of a big deal. It is frustrating to put a lot of work into fretting a guitar and then have to file the frets lower than you want, due to unevenness, which is due to it being your first time installing frets. Stewart MacDonald sells a medium/highest, which is medium width, but extra tall.

I am a fan or .037 by .080
I use a number of different tang widths from .0185 to .0245
standard wire for me is .0205 tang width .037 high .080 wide

tang width will be more determined by slot width or if you compression fret , the wider frets can help pull a back bow for non adjustable rods.

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I'm a fan of medium/medium as well in the neighborhood of 80 X 37. It's the most popular size and typically what's used for refretting Martins.

Interestingly I've personally found that fret width and wider frets don't bother me at all but taller frets most certainly do. Several years ago I purchased a new US strat with jumbos and I could not play the stinkin thing to save my life.... It wasn't until the nearly .060" high frets were milled down to around .035 that it got comfortable for me.

Since then since my shop mates disagreed with me about jumbo wire, they like it... five times now guys my age or older have come into the shop and had the very same complaint that jumbo wire did not suit them well. As such I'm beginning to think that this is a geezer issue.... and likely a combination of what we once knew and liked back in the day and the fact that some of us have lost hand strength as our hair falls out, belly gets bigger, etc....

Regarding Don's comment above it does not have to be this way! Newly installed wire need not ever lose any of it's valuable real estate and height in the installation process. If the board is properly leveled on the guitar with the neck installed only kissing the fret tops with the leveling beam is usually all that is necessary in the fret dress. You can even mill in the proper amount of relief into the fret board prior to fretting resulting in even less fret material needing to be removed in the leveling process.

For those of you who fret the board off the guitar this is one of the down sides since your ability to shape the fret plane is now entirely with the frets and you may have to mill away a lot of fret material to get the level set that you need.

If the board is leveled on the instrument and the frets are then installed only the very slightest fret material need be removed for that level set.

Although like Hans I like traditional wire sizes the trend these days clearly is larger wire and that's what many players ask for and of course receive at our shop. I'm just the odd duck here, again...

Definitely true, Hesh. Uneven frets can be avoided through careful prep and installation. I'm just saying that such skills are learned, and first (really, the first few) guitars are for learning those skills. Having some leeway in the materials to allow for less than perfect technique seems to me to be a good idea. I know that I do a better job now at this than I did on my first guitar.

And the fret height thing might be loosely associated with age, but it is not a universal thing; tastes vary. I'm turning 52 in a few weeks, and I like tall frets. I even wrote a song about it:

"I . . . like . . . big . . . frets and I cannot lie
You other brothers can't deny"
And so on.

OK, it's a little derivative.

Hahaha great song that doncaparker..made me chuckle

Very cool Don and I like your song too! Yep it's an individual thing but I am finding that the only ones who agree with me tend to be geezers. I'll check you out in another ten years my friend!

Picked up to work on a 14 pound Les Paul the other day and sure felt my age there too....