Seems whenever I order fret wire it comes wrapped into a tight roll and woven to hold it into that tight roll. This is done in spite of my sending a message, with my order, to NOT bend, weave and roll tight to fit a smaller package. I was waiting for some wire to arrive so I could finish a couple builds I have going. It shows up but its had the smeg bent out of it, so I contacted the seller to complain. Long story short the fix isn't going to happen soon, aargghh...
So... off to the hardware store. Bought some #6 finishing washers, three brass machine screws, some washers and I had some bearings left over from the days when I flew RC heli's... Simple assemble on a piece of hardwood and shazaam... a fret wire straightener. Works well enough to get the wire back to being usable again.
The two bottom holes I drilled are an inch apart. The upper middle hole is 3/8ths from center of the two bottom holes. By loosening the screws a little the wire can be fed in. Once in tighten them enough so you can pull the wire thru. The more times and tighter the screws the straighter the wire will get. Cost me $4.and change to build, build time... 15 min...
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I love a good, home built fixture. It does the job right and shows that you understand how things work.
Nice piece. Thanks1
Dandy tool you made.
I like my wire already bent. To me, it's easier to press/pound/beat in than the straight wire. To each his own.
BTW StewMac sells wire in straight lengths.
I'd love to buy more in support to Gitty but the exchange and postage kills me. When I buy a package of strings and the postage is $11.00... then its a tough justification for me.
@Paul The straightener I built here will straighten the wire wherever its bent. The wire I just got was woven into a tight coil so the bends were to the side, as well as having a very steep arc to it, made it unusable without straightening it.. By either tightening the screws or loosening them will determine how straight of wire you end up with, plus for really straight wire you have to run it back and forth a few times. I like the control and if I get a bent order again it won't be an issue.
Gotcha, wire bent to the side is bad.
I'd complain LOUDLY to the vendor, the clerk that packed and shipped the fret wire obviously had no idea what he was doing, treating it like bailing wire.
And challenge the charge with the credit card company for "failure to deliver promised product".
Imaging ordering a brass slide and it arrives flattened because that same clerk decided ordinary post is cheaper than package shipments.....?
I did complain, right away. Even pasted in the message I sent in with my order to NOT bend, twist, weave or roll tighter. Sent pics of the wire and reminded them I was waiting for the wire in order to complete some builds which they screwed me up on.
They were decent about it. Refund me on the percentages I thought were un-usable and discount on next order. Nessecity is the mother of invention and it motivated me to just build a straightener because I've had the problem before. AND... If I get further order all bent I'll certainly remind them again but it won't be an issue for me. Not that I'll tell them its not an issue tho...
Yeah I'm going to try gittys wire next. The stuff I got from black dog eBay seems to be wearing down very quickly. Gittys seems to be the only straight steel wire on there. The rest are nickel based. I guess good for acoustic strings.
I've always used the Nickel wire. Stainless Steel wire has to be pressed in with the right setup or you'll have problems with it sticking up in an area and it's almost impossible to hammer down without damaging the fretboard.
Nickel wire should do fine and last a long while unless you are using a slide a lot with low string height, a lot of string bending when you play or the fret wire material is of low quality. Case in point: my oldest guitar was bought second hand by my brother and then given to me. It didn't need a re-fret til it was 20 years old.
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