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Go a client bringing in a 35 year old D-18 for fretwork.
May want a partial refret - anyone know what type/size fretwire?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

.037"x.080" Tang size depending on existing slots, previous re-frets, truss rod functionality etc.

https://www.jescar.com/fret-wire-specifications/

Practical players I frequently can convert to EVO. Traditional Martin folks or those that rarely wear out frets don't generally go for it.

It should be .080" x .037" wire, and you may want to go up a size on the tang for first refret on a rosewood board, or up two or more sizes if it's been refretted several times. We keep a couple of tang sizes of Jescar 37080 wire in stock, including the .0195" (standard tang size), .0205", .0225", and .0235" for worn-out rosewood boards and compression fretting. Jescar sells this by the lb (coiled), by 2 ft lengths, and by the pack (25 pre-cut frets). We order by the roll, but if this is a one-off for you, the 2 ft lengths at $4 each would get you a nice assortment for tweaking relief for about the cost of a single 1 lb coil. Martin used to offer this wire as well in the oversized tang, but I have not checked back with them lately as we are pretty well stocks with the Jescar product.

Oops...looks like Mr. Farmer beat me to it!

Ditto on either EVO or stainless - we really like the slightly higher crown on the 43080 for Martin refrets, although it can be a little more work because the oversized tang is only available in nickel silver for that wire. Now that Martin has gone to higher and in some cases wider frets on some models, we do fewer refrets of new martins, but when we did, it was usually to go to a .043" or higher crown.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Thanks guys!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Jescar 37080 the preferred wire for mid-90's Martins as well?

It makes sense to measure the old frets or one up the neck that isn't too badly worn before pulling them.