Looking for advice on fret wire size

[John Adrihan]

Any one have any opinions on these three sizes of wire

Jescar EVO gold - 37053, 37080

Jescar SS 39040

I have seen a lot of folks going with the 37080 - My situation is, I have a thin wire Gibson and need to refret and I want to go with a little bigger size - maybe not so much the 37080 but I was looking at either the evo gold 37053 or the SS 39040

Any opinions or experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Tavy]

I've used both - 37053 on acoustics - where it's very much "regular mandolin wire", and 37080 on a prototype electric. The thicker 37080 wire plays very nice, but looks rather chunky on a mandolin IMO.

[HoGo]

I've used the SS39040 on three mandolins now and it is quite thin wire (but quite high for the thickness). It looks great IMO but the thinness made it harder to install on older board with worn slots. You cannot chamfer the edges of worn slots, which is common practice, as the frets may tend to seat deeper and more work will be required to level the frets. On perfect new boards with thin slots the installation was a breeze, no levelling needed altogether.
I would love to try 37053 in SS if it was available. I'm not particularly fond of the gold look of the EVO.
I ordered some 37080 EVO and it is certainly guitar sized wire I wouldn't put it in standard mandolin board above 15th fret.

[John Adrihan]

I ordered some 37080 EVO and it is certainly guitar sized wire I wouldn't put it in standard mandolin board above 15th fret.

I think .80 is wider than I want as well. I am leaning towards these two:

evo gold 37053

SS 39040

Decisions, decisions

[Stevo75]

Isn't 0.080 the standard on all new Weber and Collings mandolins (among many others)?

[George R. Lane]

According to the Weber website, they use 0.080 fret wire. They also have 0.050 wire.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I asked Bruce Weber the size of the wire they used on my "Fern" - it's the FW 37080,& it's smaller than any guitar fretwire that i've seen. I bought 2 meters of the EVO Gold variety ready for a re-fret when required. It also seems to be the same sized wire on my Lebeda & Ellis as well - at least very close to it,
Ivan

[Johnny60]

Have recently used 37080 when my wife's KM1000 was refretted. Really comfy, not too big at all.

[fatt-dad]

I'm torn on fretwire preference. I am used to the 80 wire, but a year or so ago, Dave Cohen put some 40-ss on my (then) A-model snakehead. I sort of liked it and it looked right too. My A3 will soon need a refret and I don't know whether I'll go with the 80 or the 40.

f-d

[Paul Hostetter]

Any one have any opinions on these three sizes of wire

Jescar EVO gold - 37053, 37080
Jescar SS 39040

I have seen a lot of folks going with the 37080 - My situation is, I have a thin wire Gibson and need to refret and I want to go with a little bigger size - maybe not so much the 37080 but I was looking at either the evo gold 37053 or the SS 39040

I have done many mandolins with the EVO 37080, and the players love it. For players with a stronger grip, it slides easier under the fingers than, say, 37053. For many players, that aspect of the feel isn't important. They're both good.

EVO is a copper-based alloy, and it's more durable than stainless. It's also a lot easier to install. I think people are in love with the idea of SS frets, but I don't quite see the point anymore, for those reasons.

I really wish the 39040 was available in EVO. It's got a great look.

BTW, perhaps this chart would be helpful: http://www.lutherie.net/fret.chart.html

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Paul above - "..It's also a lot easier to install.". My own luthier would totally agree. He's used SS for a while,but much prefers the EVO gold. For mandolins with Gold hardware,it looks beautiful as well,
Ivan

[Tavy]

From Paul above - "..It's also a lot easier to install.". My own luthier would totally agree. He's used SS for a while,but much prefers the EVO gold. For mandolins with Gold hardware,it looks beautiful as well,
Ivan

For the most part it's as easy to work with as regular wire, the only difference I find is in dressing the frets - this stuff is so slippery, and takes a shine so easily, that it's hard to get the fret-file to bite into it. But you sort of get used to it.

[Ron McMillan]

Another vote in favour of the Evo Gold 37080. I have it fitted to two acoustics, and can't fault it.

I like it so much that I thought I would hate old-fashioned thin fretwire, but when I got my 1920 A2, with original wire still installed, I immediately adapted to it. If I wanted the old A2 refretted, I would go with a narrow equivalent of the traditional size. We can easily adapt.