The £10 fretwire bender. (now with minor nitro finish disaster. Randella - 0 again)

randella

If I were a rich man I could spend a fortune at Stewmac, I genuinely could.  However being as I am firmly in the 99%, 124.95 US bucks (plus postage and VAT and duty and admin and whatever other nonsense) for a fretwire bender is a bit rich, so I made this out of £10 worth of stuff I bought on the internet.  I'm pleased with the results - the neck is from my roundly-abused late 80's Japanese '68 reissue and the frets seated a treat having been knocked into shape.  The fretboard's a vintage (7.25") radius and the first few I tried without bending the wire just popped straight back out again so it's worth a go just for your own sanity.

Obviously they need filing and dressing, but I've been obsessively watching them for the last hour and all 21 of them are exactly where I left them so job done I guess!  Happy days.

On the incredibly mega-slim chance anyone wants to know how it was made just shout.

GuitarMonkey

I have the Stewmac fret bender because in the time it would take me to make a fret bender I can refret a neck and earn the money to buy one.

randella

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a dig at Stewmac - like I said, if I had cash to throw around I'd be all over their stuff.  For people like me who don't make a living from it and might do half-a-dozen refrets in their life, it's nice to have a stab at making your own!  Took me a couple of hours to make and it did the job - I've no doubt nowhere near as slickly as the gen article but it worked nonetheless

GuitarMonkey

And I didn't mean to denigrate your achievement. It's always satisfying to make something and especially a tool.

Well done and if you'd like to share your ingenuity I'd be interested to see how you made it.

WezV

I would also be interested.

I bought a cheap copy of the stew -mac one about 12 years ago. It works okay but is fiddly to adjust.

Just seeing this thread is making me think about re-working it a bit

Although I used to be very good at radiusing fretwire with little more than a saw slot in the edge of the workbench.

randella

@GuitarMonkey - no bother, I didn't think you were having a crack! I write software for a living and a colleague asked me the other day what was the best tool for writing a bit of code for his own website.  Without thinking I told him I always use Microsoft Visual Studio. I then went and looked up the cost of a user licence - £1300 or thereabouts. Nearly had a coronary. Makes the $130 fret wire bender look like a bargain to someone who does luthier work to pay the mortgage!

I certainly didn't mean to sound cocky in my thread title, I was just super-pleased with the fact I managed to make a tool that did a good job. 

The attraction for me is messing about in my spare room. My old MIJ Strat needed a refret, badly - the already non-existent vintage profile wire was worn to buggery after 25 years of my godawful vibrato technique, and levelling the fretboard would have left nothing.  Hence I thought I'd have a go, which a) saves me a bit of cash and b) gives me a lovely distraction from work that I can concentrate on and gives me a bit of pleasure.

I will say this - anyone who scoffs at the £250+ that a good tech charges for a refret on a maple neck finished in nitro lacquer is a fool, that's a bloody bargain. You guys should be knighted for your services

The bender itself is fairly straightforward. It's a sheet of acrylic, cut in two and expoxyed to itself to make a sandwich for a good base. The main wheel is made from repair washers - 38mm with a smaller one sandwiched in between to make a groove in the wheel which accepts the fret wire tang. The handle is from a hand drill I inherited from my father-in-law. The other two wheels (the smaller ones that the wire is sandwiched against) are ball bearings about 20mm in diameter held in place by M8 machine screws.  One of the bearings is bolted to the base in an 8mm hole, the other one is located in an elongated slot that allows a bit of adjustment - it can be moved nearer to the main wheel or further away, which changes the amount of force exerted on the wire for a variation in the radius of the bend. 

@WezV - I'll be honest, your Stewmac copy bender is without doubt a lot more refined than my effort, there's a reason these things cost money! 

randella

WezV said:

Although I used to be very good at radiusing fretwire with little more than a saw slot in the edge of the workbench.

I tried that, got blisters. I think it's a definite knack! My second attempt involved a bit of planed softwood with two Dunlop straplocks screwed to it next to the plastic wheel off an IKEA trolley. 

In my photo above, you're looking at Mk. III

thermionic

Guitar and Bass magazine had a great how-to article on making a fret bender a few months back. I don't think it had a handle like yours though.

Sarge

Excellent work OP!
Likewise I can't justify paying StewMac for a decent bender at present.
I bought oneyfrom Ebay in Greece, a sheet of perspex with 3 rollers, handle, feet etc, but it's bloody awful and only corrugates the wire as the main roller's hole is too large for the bolt going through it.
If you ever feel like making another I'll certainly buy one from you, I have my own handle

randella

Sarge said:

Excellent work OP!
Likewise I can't justify paying StewMac for a decent bender at present.
I bought oneyfrom Ebay in Greece, a sheet of perspex with 3 rollers, handle, feet etc, but it's bloody awful and only corrugates the wire as the main roller's hole is too large for the bolt going through it.
If you ever feel like making another I'll certainly buy one from you, I have my own handle

Thank you for the kind words!  I think I'm going to keep this one for now, I certainly don't feel it's of any sort of standard to be selling

As for the neck - my good fortune was somewhat short lived as it turns out.  The nitro lacquer on the neck is pretty knackered and I was pleased beyond all hope that it stayed intact when I pulled the frets out.

However what it didn't survive was the masking tape I put on the fretboard to protect it whilst I filed the ends flush.  Despite the low-tack tape, I was left with one very sorry-looking fretboard after I pulled it off.

Ah well, I suppose this is why God invented Rothko and Frost.  I now have some clear nitro and some amber tint on the way to refinish it.  I'm more fed up because the neck was beautifully patina'd before, and now it's going to have new finish.  I'll have to start the 25-year relicing (playing hell out of it) process all over again

Sarge

Ahh what a shame you'll have to play it, bugger!

FelineGuitars

If you buy fretwire loose in bulk it comes coiled in a roll that is somewhere between 18-24" diameter.

That means it is already a 9"-12" radius which eliminates a lot of need for a fretwire roller.

We have sold cut lengths of wire to approx usable sizes pre-bent to some people doing fretwork in the past

Sarge

FelineGuitars;1066379" said:

If you buy fretwire loose in bulk it comes coiled in a roll that is somewhere between 18-24" diameter.That means it is already a 9"-12" radius which eliminates a lot of need for a fretwire roller.

We have sold cut lengths of wire to approx usable sizes pre-bent to some people doing fretwork in the past

This, except I've been buying Boston fretwire which comes coiled in a 12" record type sleeve, once opened it uncoils to around 14", so I tighten it to around 10" and zipwire/tape it for storage, it helps a little but still a bender would belp me considerably.

thermionic

Sarge

"Bah, I'll get my own fret tool, with hookers and blackjack!...... Meh forget the blackjack.... "