Uncoiling fretwire

[Nick Payne]

Any suggestions on the best way to straighten fretwire before using it to refret a classical (flat) fretboard. I have some EVO jumbo fretwire which came coiled, and when I press a piece flat in the almost-closed jaws of a metalworking vice, not only does it require considerable force to get it flat, but it springs right back to it's previous curvature when released. If I don't get it it flat before fitting it, I'm worried that it might spring out of the fretboard some time after fitting.

So I need some way of bending it evenly past flat, so that the existing curvature is lost. I've seen devices for doing the opposite, but not ones for straightening.

[Nick]

Do a search on here Nick for a home made fret bending jig, I'd say you are going to have to coil it back the opposite way to get it straight (similar to 'flattening' a rolled up newspaper). I seem to remember some fairly cheap alternatives to the likes of the Stewmac & Lmi models.
The EVO is a bit harder than standard Silver Nickel so it will put up a bit of a fight to being straightened.

[Tod Gilding]

Hi Nick,
I fretted a flat fingerboard around about 12 months ago with EVO Gold jumbo wire that I got from ALS,it came radiused also, but I found that as I hammered it into the kurf it flated out perfectly and has given me no lifting problems at all.That said the kurf was perfect for the tang and this was not a refret, if you have pulled out old frets you could have a wider slot than the EVO's tang requires.iIf that is the case then Im not able to offer any tried and proven advice, but Im sure one of the guru's here will.

Tod

[kiwigeo]

Get a piece of MDF...cut a fret slot in it with your fretsaw.

Cut each fret off the roll and straighten it by placing in the dummy slot in your piece of MDF and giving it a few light whacks with your fret hammer.

Note that I actually like to leave a bit of curve in my frets when doing a fret job on my classicals...less chance of the ends ending up sitting proud of the fretboard if I hit the fret a bit too hard.

[Nick]

Get a piece of MDF...cut a fret slot in it with your fretsaw.

Cut each fret off the roll and straighten it by placing in the dummy slot in your piece of MDF and giving it a few light whacks with your fret hammer.

Note that I actually like to leave a bit of curve in my frets when doing a fret job on my classicals...less chance of the ends ending up sitting proud of the fretboard if I hit the fret a bit too hard.

There you go Nick, knew there'd be a cheap bastard here somewhere!
No it's actually a damn good way of doing it, plus as Martin & Tod point out, leaving a slight curve in it, help the ends to stay seated.

[Nick Payne]

After reading the suggestions, this is my ultra-cheap solution. Cut a skinny piece of 6mm ply about 100mm long, cut a slot in it just deep enough for the fret tang with a dremel cutting wheel, clamp a couple of bicycle tyre levers to the sides of a trestle so that they support the ends of the ply about another 6mm above the face of the trestle, put a 100mm long piece off an old industrial hacksaw blade over the fretwire to provide something comfortable to press on and to distribute the pressure evenly, and press in the middle until the ply contacts the top of the trestle. This is a fret after doing this. it still has about 1mm of curvature, which is about what I want and a bit less than half of the original curvature.

[rocket]

I'd probably opt for the lazy way, put the radiused wire back into stock till i need it and buy some straight stuff for the job i'm on at present.
Cheers,,,,
Rod.

[Craig]

G'day Nick, and everybody ,, it's been a while ..
Quite a few years ago I made a little fret bending jig much like the StewMac one . Here it is : The wheels are made from 2 mudguard washers and a smaller washer between them. The white nylon ones are door runners and so won't mar the wire

call61.jpg (51.1 KiB) Viewed 19838 times

Some time later after receiving some new stainless wire which was coiled way too tight , I got to thinking about how this jig could uncoil to a bigger radius and came up with this additional fourth wheel . You can see that the adjustment wheel can be moved in it's (two way )slot to increase or decrease the radius:

To decrease the radius ;

TT41.jpg (50.49 KiB) Viewed 19838 times

To increase the radius ;

TT51.jpg (47.32 KiB) Viewed 19838 times

[kiwigeo]

You didn't make that!!! Wheres the inlay???

[DarwinStrings]

Has anybody complained about how difficult it is to open and shut that sliding door now Craig?

Jim

[Craig]

Has anybody complained about how difficult it is to open and shut that sliding door now Craig?

Jim

Well, yeah , there is a bit of that, now you mention it Jim, but more importantly ,may also explain why the mudguards fell off the car

Inlay is on the back Martin ,,,,,,,,,,like you didn't already work that one out...

[stepheneb]

I know this is an old thread -- but I've gotten here twice with google searches -- so I thought I'd describe a simple way I adapted the stewmac fret bender (which only increases curves) to straighten a coil of 43080 EVO gold fret wire.

I used a C-clamp and large fender washer to position and clamp a 7/8" bearing in the right place so that the fret wire ends up straightened when fed through.

See picture.

[Trevor Gore]

Here's another fret bender. I've since used it for un-bending, too, by making another "drive" wheel (the one made with the washers) and swapping the wheels around to have the two "washer" wheels in the lower two holes. I wasn't smart enough to think of mounting it permanently as a 4th wheel! Thanks to Craig for that idea and thanks to Stephen for bringing it to my attention!