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Hi everyone,
I have a question regarding fret selection and quality control – have you ever experienced fretwire where the tang is not perpendicular to the bead? I am starting to fret a guitar using Sintoms fretwire which I have never used before, but chose because of its oversized tang (.025”, same as the slots) and bead were the dimensions I wanted. When installed, one side is perfectly seated against the fretboard, while the other side has a gap of about .004”. At first I thought maybe the slots were not perpendicular to the board (even though I routed them with a Foredom and base). I tried again with another fret, different slot…same result.
Then I removed them and flipped them end for end to confirm whether the slots were indeed not perpendicular, but the gap showed up on the opposite side. This leads me to believe the fret tang is not perpendicular to the bead.
Just to confirm this was the case, I installed a piece of StewMac fretwire of similar dimensions (.023 tang though), it gave a perfect seat on both sides.
Any thoughts on this? Am I missing something? Have you ever experienced this kind of thing with Sintoms or any other brand?
Thanks in advance!
4 Comments-
It is actually fairly common and challenging to remedy. .004 is a pretty big gap, but if you need the torque from that larger tang, you might just fill it. All of the Jescar fretwire I put in is never as down as I like, but by the end of the job, so much detritus from the fretwork as filled the gap, I never notice.
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Ok thanks Ian! That’s both reassuring and frustrating at the same time, but at least now I know that it’s not just me!
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Yeah, I once had a couple pounds of LMII wire 30 years ago that had huge sections of tang leaning over almost at 30 degrees to the bead. Unfortunately, it’s usually there to some extent. When bending a piece of steel, the outer radius has to stretch, and the inner radius has to compress (the tang) so it’s almost impossible to avoid especially if you’re buying coils. The straight wire seems to be much more consistent. I buy Jescar by the pound and just have to pay attention there are sections that are not usable from time to time. Make sure you wipe your wire with acetone, there is always an oil residue left over from the manufacturing process.
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Thanks for the input Dave. Much appreciated!
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