.053 stainless fret wire

[David Houchens]

I've been serching for some .053 stainless fret wire. Haven't found any.
Jescar has it in EVO but I didn't see it in stainless. I bought some of their .040 stainless, but don't think the owner will like it that small. He goes through EVO in about 2 years and I thought I'd try stainless for him.
Has anybody seen .053 stainless? Thanks

[Ward Elliott]

Hi David,
I have never seen any available either. I wish Jescar did make it, I would use it quite often. I've gone to the EVO for customers who really want that size, but you're right, there are some players who can go through the EVO pretty quickly. I've heard that Jescar will tool up to make any size you want, all you have to do is order something like 5000 lbs.��

[Ward Elliott]

That was supposed to be a smiley face at the end!

[David Houchens]

Thanks Ward. I guess I'll have to hold off on that order. I guess he'll have to pick between nickel/silver, EVO, or go with another size stainless.
By the way I talked to Henry and told him I'm up for the July 2019 event. Hope to see you before then though.
Hope all is well. David

[Ward Elliott]

Yeah, we probably ought to talk about that thing next year, make a plan! I still want to get up to see you and maybe bring my friend Mike K. who has been doing some building here in Floyd lately. We'd both love to see your shop and what you're working on. Cheers!

[Bernie Daniel]

Do you have an idea why someone would wear down EVO wire in two years? Do you think they just press down much harder then most individuals or that they just play so much that it is caused bu "normal" wear? I'd like to ask that person how many sets of strings he kills in two years because the wire is what is wearing down the frets.

Maybe if Jescar got an inkling of how popular that size wire is in stainless they might go for a batch of 0.053 (I assume that is the CW?)-- what height did you want it in? I just put some nickel FW05078 wire (from Jescar direct I think) on two mandolins and found that you really have to build a tall nut to clear it properly ( I like 0.013" action on the first fret). But I like the playability.

[David Houchens]

Bernie, This guy wears the EVO worse between the courses than he does under the strings. I believe this wire is .053 x .037. Thats what I'd like to find in stainless.

[Ward Elliott]

Yeah, what David described is the same thing I've seen a couple times. The wear is between the strings, not under them. It's weird looking and I think it may be the "acid sweat" issue, just may work differently on the EVO. The sweat may be eating at the frets, but the strings somewhat protect the area directly under them. That's really only a guess, but one of my customers wore out a set of EVO frets as quickly as standard frets.

[Marty Jacobson]

Bernie, This guy wears the EVO worse between the courses than he does under the strings. I believe this wire is .053 x .037. Thats what I'd like to find in stainless.

Looks like a job for tungsten carbide...

[Mike Conner]

Marty, I'm actually an engineer for a major cemented carbide tool manufacturer! While it might seem that the hardness of carbide would offer the desired wear resistance, what appears to be needed for the OP's customer is corrosion resistance. Carbide tools are primarily made of extremely small (micron size) tungsten carbide particles cemented together with cobalt in a sintering process. Other carbides can be added to alter the properties for different machining applications, and some containing chromium carbide can be more corrosion resistant, but not enough to help.

Some other points to ponder:
- Cemented carbide is very dense, probably at least 4x heavier than our typical fret wire alloys, so if you could produce carbide frets you'd be awfully neck heavy!
- Cemented carbide is very brittle and would break in tension - impossible to bend to conform to the fretboard.
- Diamond blades are required to cut the carbide. And you think SS is hard on fretting tools ;-)

All this was way more than anyone wanted to know, but I had to jump in. Sorry to divert the thread...

[sblock]

Perhaps the player in question should consider using some hand cream regularly?