Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tom T on June 2, 2016 at 9:25am

I love a good, home built fixture. It does the job right and shows that you understand how things work.

Nice piece. Thanks1

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Permalink Reply by JL on June 2, 2016 at 11:47pm

looks as good as the commercial fret wire benders

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on June 3, 2016 at 6:16am

Dandy tool you made.

I like my wire already bent. To me, it's easier to  press/pound/beat in than the straight wire. To each his own.

BTW StewMac sells wire in straight lengths.

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Permalink Reply by BP - RabidSalad - on June 3, 2016 at 11:20am

I'd love to buy more in support to Gitty but the exchange and postage kills me. When I buy a package of strings and the postage is $11.00...  then its a tough justification for me. 

@Paul  The straightener I built here will straighten the wire wherever its bent.  The wire I just got was woven into a tight coil so the bends were to the side, as well as having a very steep arc to it, made it unusable without straightening it..  By either tightening the screws or loosening them will determine how straight of wire you end up with, plus for really straight wire you have to run it back and forth a few times.  I like the control and if I get a bent order again it won't be an issue.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on June 3, 2016 at 6:25pm

Gotcha, wire bent to the side is bad.

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Permalink Reply by JL on June 6, 2016 at 3:38am

I'd complain LOUDLY to the vendor, the clerk that packed and shipped the fret wire obviously had no idea what he was doing, treating it like bailing wire. 

And challenge the charge with the credit card company for "failure to deliver promised product".

Imaging ordering a brass slide and it arrives flattened because that same clerk decided ordinary post is cheaper than package shipments.....?

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Permalink Reply by BP - RabidSalad - on June 6, 2016 at 8:43am

I did complain, right away.  Even pasted in the message I sent in with my order to NOT bend, twist, weave or roll tighter.  Sent pics of the wire and reminded them I was waiting for the wire in order to complete some builds which they screwed me up on. 

They were decent about it.  Refund me on the percentages I thought were un-usable and discount on next order.  Nessecity is the mother of invention and it motivated me to just build a straightener because I've had the problem before.  AND...  If I get further order all bent I'll certainly remind them again but it won't be an issue for me.  Not that I'll tell them its not an issue tho...

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Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on June 3, 2016 at 10:21pm

Yeah I'm going to try gittys wire next. The stuff I got from black dog eBay seems to be wearing down very quickly. Gittys seems to be the only straight steel wire on there. The rest are nickel based. I guess good for acoustic strings.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on June 4, 2016 at 7:13am

I've always used the Nickel wire. Stainless Steel wire has to be pressed in with the right setup or you'll have problems with it sticking up in an area and it's almost impossible to hammer down without damaging the fretboard.

Nickel wire should do fine and last a long while unless you are using a slide a lot with low string height, a lot of string bending when you play or the fret wire material is of low quality. Case in point: my oldest guitar was bought second hand by my brother and then given to me. It didn't need a re-fret til it was 20 years old.

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Permalink Reply by Mark on June 22, 2016 at 12:39am

I'm not crazy about stew mac but they ship their fret wire straight. if you cut it close one piece will give about 14 frets. I buy the bulk pack......much cheaper than buying single pieces

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