Kevin James
Member
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2010
- Messages
- 495
As the title suggests I'm in need of some advice on fret wire. I have 3 guitars I need to refret for sure and another 2 I am thinking about refreting but haven't decided for sure. The guitars are a 65 SG Standard, a 61 LP/SG Standard and a 1980 Explorer. I MAY also refret a 64 SG JR and a 75 Flying V but still undecided on them.
I can't seem to make a decision on which size wire to go with and some insight would really be appreciated. Ideally I'd like to find the best candidate for me and refret all of them with the same wire. I know its a bad idea to re-refret if I end up unsatisfied with the results so I'm really trying to do my homework now to get it right so I'm not stuck with something I'm not 100% satisfied with. I also DON'T want to end up with different size wire on each of them, I really want to keep it consistent on all of them, thats very important to me.
Where this all starts is I had my battered old 67 SG Special refreted last december by Gary Brawer in San Francisco (first time having a refret done) and truth be told I didn't really do my homework first, I just took the shops advice. What they installed is (I believe) Stew Mac 149. The invoice sys "refret with 104 x 47" although the micrometer says its actually .103 wide and that seems to match the Stew Mac 149 so I asume thats what it is.
The thing turned out amazing, plays like butter and I'm very happy with it. BUT, and there's always a but, I do REALLY wish I had gone with something slightly taller. I'm also worried about fret dressings later on down the road taking too much material off and then feeling like I need to refret AGAIN after 1 or 2 fret dressings etc.
I wanted to stay as close as possible to the original fret width of .098 but with a much taller crown hight, something above .050 at minimum. I know ideally what really I want, something .098 - .100 wide and .052-.055 tall but it doesn't seem that Stew Mac or Dunlop make the size I really want so I have narrowed it down between 4 choices that are the closest:
Stew Mac 154 @ .100 x .050 (I wish this one had just an extra .002-.005 in hight and it would be perfect)
Stew Mac 150 (or 158) @ .110 x .052 (I wish this was just a little narrower and it would be perfect)
Dunlop 6105 @ .090 x .055 (this one is perfect hight but I think maybee too narrow)
Dunlop 6100 @ .110 x .055 (This one is again just a little wide)
If Dunlop made something right between the 6100 and 6105 it would be perfect, but they don't.
I think I will probably settle on the Stew Mac 154, but I'm just worried how much will be taken of during leveling bringing them UNDER .050 and then any future fret dressings taking them down even more which makes me think maybee I should just deal with the extra .01 in width and get the Stew mac 150 or even Dunlop 6100.
Any advise anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated, and sorry for the long post.
I can't seem to make a decision on which size wire to go with and some insight would really be appreciated. Ideally I'd like to find the best candidate for me and refret all of them with the same wire. I know its a bad idea to re-refret if I end up unsatisfied with the results so I'm really trying to do my homework now to get it right so I'm not stuck with something I'm not 100% satisfied with. I also DON'T want to end up with different size wire on each of them, I really want to keep it consistent on all of them, thats very important to me.
Where this all starts is I had my battered old 67 SG Special refreted last december by Gary Brawer in San Francisco (first time having a refret done) and truth be told I didn't really do my homework first, I just took the shops advice. What they installed is (I believe) Stew Mac 149. The invoice sys "refret with 104 x 47" although the micrometer says its actually .103 wide and that seems to match the Stew Mac 149 so I asume thats what it is.
The thing turned out amazing, plays like butter and I'm very happy with it. BUT, and there's always a but, I do REALLY wish I had gone with something slightly taller. I'm also worried about fret dressings later on down the road taking too much material off and then feeling like I need to refret AGAIN after 1 or 2 fret dressings etc.
I wanted to stay as close as possible to the original fret width of .098 but with a much taller crown hight, something above .050 at minimum. I know ideally what really I want, something .098 - .100 wide and .052-.055 tall but it doesn't seem that Stew Mac or Dunlop make the size I really want so I have narrowed it down between 4 choices that are the closest:
Stew Mac 154 @ .100 x .050 (I wish this one had just an extra .002-.005 in hight and it would be perfect)
Stew Mac 150 (or 158) @ .110 x .052 (I wish this was just a little narrower and it would be perfect)
Dunlop 6105 @ .090 x .055 (this one is perfect hight but I think maybee too narrow)
Dunlop 6100 @ .110 x .055 (This one is again just a little wide)
If Dunlop made something right between the 6100 and 6105 it would be perfect, but they don't.
I think I will probably settle on the Stew Mac 154, but I'm just worried how much will be taken of during leveling bringing them UNDER .050 and then any future fret dressings taking them down even more which makes me think maybee I should just deal with the extra .01 in width and get the Stew mac 150 or even Dunlop 6100.
Any advise anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated, and sorry for the long post.