Fret bending?

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Jim
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Fret bending?

Post by Jim » Tue Jun 12, 2018 7:17 pm

Hello all,
About to fret my first radiused board and pondering how to go about bending fret wire. I've got the straight stuff from stewmac.
I've seen the fancy fret radiusing jigs and people bending by hand on you tube. Just thought I'd mine the collective wisdom of the forum before setting about it. Is it worth buying/building a fret radiusing jig? I'm planning on this being an ongoing obsession so I won't just do one.
What do you guys do?
Thanks
Jim

simso
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Re: Fret bending?

Post by simso » Tue Jun 12, 2018 7:25 pm

Definetly buy or make one, they make it easier

Steve
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Pat.Hawkins
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Re: Fret bending?

Post by Pat.Hawkins » Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:16 pm

Trevor Gore has one in the Jigs and Fixtures section.

I followed his example and it works pretty well.
Mine's "not quite as precise" as Trevor's - it consists of a piece of mdf and three wooden dowels.
The spacing was a bit wide so I wrapped with masking tape to "fine tune" :D

Jim
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Re: Fret bending?

Post by Jim » Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:21 pm

Thanks for the advice gents. Since I got Steve's reply I've been looking at you tube for ideas but I'll check Trevor's out now too.

simso
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Re: Fret bending?

Post by simso » Tue Jun 12, 2018 10:07 pm

Real easy,

Two skate board roller bearings from local bearing plac, maybe two bucks a piece or online eBay 6 for 3 dollars or similiar. Piece of dowel wood, cut it to same thickness as skate bearings, spin it up in a lathe or drill a hole and fit a bolt in it and spin it up with a battery drill, whilst it’s spinning lay a file against the centre and that will put a groove in, the groove is for your fret tang relief area.

Bolt the two skate bearings (black pic) to a piece of wood in a straight line about 5cm apart then bolt your grooved one (red pic) between them in the shape of a low slung triangle, the height of the grooved one in relation to the fixed straight ones, push or pull the fret wire through and it will set your radius, want to be fancy, make either the grooved one or one of the fixed ones moveable and or attach a wheel to crank the grooved roller, then you can accomodate different radius’s and roll the wire with a handle

Finger sketch up
92921793-95D9-4814-B56A-BBAED13C9EC6.jpeg

Steve
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Do your own repairs - http://www.mirwa.com.au/How_to_Series.html

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TallDad71
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Re: Fret bending?

Post by TallDad71 » Wed Jun 13, 2018 5:32 am

Jigs a great idea but..... if this is a serious hobby why not just buy it in bulk, 5m, 10m +++++ rolls? Already curved a treat. Since it’s in a roll you can decide to store it as 30cm 12” diameter or 50cm 16” diameter.
Alan
Peregrine Guitars

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kiwigeo
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Re: Fret bending?

Post by kiwigeo » Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:56 am

A valid point and I try and buy my wire in rolls but sometimes you're stuck with straight stock...or as Trevor noted in one of his posts coiled wire that has too tight a tight radius :)
TallDad71 wrote:
Wed Jun 13, 2018 5:32 am
Jigs a great idea but..... if this is a serious hobby why not just buy it in bulk, 5m, 10m +++++ rolls? Already curved a treat. Since it’s in a roll you can decide to store it as 30cm 12” diameter or 50cm 16” diameter.
Martin

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Re: Fret bending?

Post by Fisherman » Wed Jun 13, 2018 5:03 pm

thanks all - i need to make one of these too!

Re Steve’s post... I got a good tip from this video about drilling the centre of dowel etc

https://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Trade_Se ... ricks.html

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rocket
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Re: Fret bending?

Post by rocket » Wed Jun 13, 2018 5:58 pm

yep ,,, what they said, build a simple one to do the job thats what i did 10 years ago, still using it!!

Have fun!
Rod.
Like I said before the crash, " Hit the bloody thing, it won't hit ya back

www.octiganguitars.com

Jim
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Re: Fret bending?

Post by Jim » Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:57 pm

That Frank Ford clip is great.....

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kiwigeo
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Re: Fret bending?

Post by kiwigeo » Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:08 pm

I agree....make your own fret bender. The money you save can go towards buying one of these - https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/O ... nster.html

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

rocket wrote:
Wed Jun 13, 2018 5:58 pm
yep ,,, what they said, build a simple one to do the job thats what i did 10 years ago, still using it!!

Have fun!
Rod.
Martin

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rocket
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Re: Fret bending?

Post by rocket » Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:44 am

kiwigeo wrote:
Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:08 pm
I agree....make your own fret bender. The money you save can go towards buying one of these - https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/O ... nster.html

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

rocket wrote:
Wed Jun 13, 2018 5:58 pm
yep ,,, what they said, build a simple one to do the job thats what i did 10 years ago, still using it!!

Have fun!
Rod.
Huh Martin?

Yeah still saving for one of them thingos

Rod.
Like I said before the crash, " Hit the bloody thing, it won't hit ya back

www.octiganguitars.com

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demonx
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Re: Fret bending?

Post by demonx » Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:58 am

For years I bought fretwire in tubes and straightened the old school way with a pair of pliers either end gripping the tang. My first fifty or eighty fretjobs would have been done this way before I finally bought a fret roller/bender.

These days I buy by the roll and I don’t even use the roller. Sure it’s over radiused, however I like it that way when I hammer the frets in.

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