Hello,
I need to replace a few frets on my banjo. Does anybody know what size of fret wire that I should use to replace the factory fret wire? Only the top five friends need replaced at this time.
quote:
Originally posted by cew702001Hello,
I need to replace a few frets on my banjo. Does anybody know what size of fret wire that I should use to replace the factory fret wire? Only the top five friends need replaced at this time.
If I replaced my top 5 friends, I wouldn't have anybody to jam with !
Not sure what size fret wire you need, if you have calipers, you could measure and figure it out, allowing a little extra height that will get leveled and crowned to the correct height.
I recently replaced frets on my banjo. A friend who makes some banjos suggested I get the narrow/medium number 0147 from StewMac after he looked at it. It was identical to what I had. Now if the frets aren’t the large ones like on the Earl Scruggs Gibson, then these might work. Since you would need only a 1 ft piece, you wouldn’t be out a lot if this wasn’t the right size. ..if this is any help…
Have you tried crowning the worn frets in question? Might be liveable then?
Just completed a complete refret in Jescar 47095 stainless. These are marginally larger than those that my RK35 came with but is not a problem and appears to play easier, certainly bends are smoother. Using stainless for a first refret was not as much a challenge as expected but you do need the correct tools.
Please take this advice, if you are only replacing the first five frets which is very very common, first you get a set of calipers and measure the width, then go to stewmac and order what they have thats the closest, they will have what you need, IGNORE ALL THE SUGGESTIONS FOR DIFFERENT MATERIAL ETC, you must get the same material as the rest of the frets which you are not changing. I was involved in the developement of the rk banjos but sorry dont remember the fret spec
Edited by - desert rose on 12/08/2024 03:02:02
