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  • Crimson Toad December 4, 2011 at 10:58am

    just for the heckofit, i bought a box of blue colored hardened finish nails...thought i'd givem a try just for sumtin differant

     

  • Michael Fred Johnson December 3, 2011 at 9:46am

    This old mandolin has flat brass strips inserted into the fingerboard.I'll get around to trying this on a CBG build one day305755330?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024

  • William McCauley December 2, 2011 at 5:01pm

    That's pretty slick, I've used coat hangers for everything else, why not frets.


    Dwayne Ray said:

    This is only my 3rd build but I used a coat hanger and made them into a staple shape, drilled holes in the neck, and tapped them in. After stringing it up I was able to do some extra taps in the areas that buzzed. Sounds great now! 305755292?profile=original

  • Dwayne Ray December 2, 2011 at 4:15pm

    This is only my 3rd build but I used a coat hanger and made them into a staple shape, drilled holes in the neck, and tapped them in. After stringing it up I was able to do some extra taps in the areas that buzzed. Sounds great now! 305755292?profile=original

  • William McCauley December 1, 2011 at 10:11pm

    Sounds nice,lets see a pic.

    BT Cohosh said:

    I've used salvaged copper wire--scraps leftover from wiring my basement, mostly.  Not as durable, again, as traditional fretwire, and a little beefy (easy to fret the note sharp), but looks cool and "works".  I've just built a primitive little gem with eyebolt tuners and frets made of 1 1/2 inch wire brads--didn't even bother to clip the heads, just laid them in slots I cut with a handsaw.  Works surprisingly well.

  • BT Cohosh December 1, 2011 at 6:30pm

    I've used salvaged copper wire--scraps leftover from wiring my basement, mostly.  Not as durable, again, as traditional fretwire, and a little beefy (easy to fret the note sharp), but looks cool and "works".  I've just built a primitive little gem with eyebolt tuners and frets made of 1 1/2 inch wire brads--didn't even bother to clip the heads, just laid them in slots I cut with a handsaw.  Works surprisingly well.

  • Ryan Rose December 1, 2011 at 5:45am
    I use toothpicks. Same process as Jon Grinder does with brazing rod, but not as durable. For my playing, such as it is, they work fine.
  • Lonman November 30, 2011 at 10:36pm

    I used nails for 2-3 of the build I have done when I first started. I used a bolt cutter to cut the heads off, dremel to make the slot, super glue to keep them in. Also used a dremel to finish the ends so they looked like a fret. Turned out fine.

     

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  • Printer2 November 30, 2011 at 6:26pm

    Why bother, fret wire is not that expensive and ideally suited for the job.

  • Jon Grinder November 30, 2011 at 4:18pm

    I use 1/16" brass brazing rod, glued into shallow slots, when I don't have fret-wire.

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