Radius of Stainless Fretwire

Drluxurious

Planning on a refret of an old neck to use as a test bed before proceeding with others.
Going with jumbo stainless (probably the Jescar 57110 from ToneTech) and wanted to check if the frets should be over-radiused, say 250mm for a 300mm neck, or should they be radiused the same as the neck due to material memory?
Many thanks.

Roland

ToneTech send their fretwire coiled up in a box. The coil hanging on my workshop wall has a 10” radius, so it might have unwound slightly. I’ve just used it for a 12” radius neck. I don’t worry about it.

Drluxurious

Is that Stainless fretwire you have there Roland?

WezV

I wouldn't overbend SS.

With NS the overbend is important.  It means the end tangs go in first, then get pushed sideways as the middle comes down, effectively locking the fret in place

SS is more likely to spring back to the smaller radius.  It's best to match the board radius as closely as possible.

roberty

WezV said:

I wouldn't overbend SS.

With NS the overbend is important.  It means the end tangs go in first, then get pushed sideways as the middle comes down, effectively locking the fret in place

SS is more likely to spring back to the smaller radius.  It's best to match the board radius as closely as possible.

I had a guitar refretted recently and this is exactly what he said about radiusing stainless steel. I asked because I was curious

Roland

Drluxurious said:

Is that Stainless fretwire you have there Roland?

Jescar EVO Gold. 

Drluxurious

Many thanks all.