Official Luthiers Forum!

About to fret the 4th Steel String 24.34" scale Dread I've built.
I've used different fret wire, from SM and JESCAR, and I don't have a preference in respect to either playing or building (I can't even tell the difference when I play).

I have ample quantities of each of the fret wires below, and I am asking which would you use, and I don't have a customer to ask for a preference:

• SM #148 Medium; .084/ wide .039 Crown Height
• SM #155 Medium Highest; .080 wide/ .050 Crown Height

I'm leaning toward the #155 .050" crown height because it will extend the useful life of the fret. The dimensions, even the tang length, differ so much, there must be considerations I'm not aware of. Does it even matter? What are your thoughts please.

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Measure Twice,

Karl Borum

I still have a tube or two of #141 medium high that I bought over 20 years ago. I've used it on everything from archtops to flat tops over the years and really like it. Maybe there's something better though.

Seems to me the taller one would give you a fret dressing or two before you would have to do a re-fret.

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

I use the Jescar 43080 for most of my builds that I send out to the wild. It’s similar to the medium/medium that you have above and about the size that most people expect. But for my classicals and for guitars I plan to play, I use the 55095 which is a bit bigger than the highest you list. When I’m playing, I appreciate the ease of making barre chords (I have a repaired tendon on my barring finger) with the higher fret. It also allows a bit more variation in tone wiggling. For the classicals, it gives a bit more resistance to that nylon string jumping on the fret giving a wavering tone when I don’t want it. So, it comes down to what you or the player might want. I miss the EVO fretwire.

I mostly use #147. That is mainly because most of my customers are fans of 1930's guitars, and 147 is the closest to the frets used on Martins and Gibsons from that era.

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

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John

Medium/medium and those of us who fret the guitar with the board already installed on the neck will have plenty of fret height (near full height since the board is shaped not just the frets...) for a very long time.

We see very little variance in customer choices of fret wire dimensions on acoustics tradition seems to rule the day.

On electrics people want all manner of different wire.

I play acoustic a lot of the time and am personally not a fan of taller frets on an acoustic. Medium/medium is more in line with what you find traditionally as John said and it works great for our clients.

I use Jescar FW43080-S on everything I build - mandolin to 28” baritone. I like that it comes in the 1# coils. I find no need to pull my FW radiusing tool out and can install right off the coil.