Fret wire size, and brand advice, please..
 

I have owned my Martin OM 21 for around 3 pos. now, and while I love the guitar, the Honeymoon is over, and I am looking to make improvements better suited to my style. The frets are not worn, but the ht. is way to short for my liking and playing style, and the fret ends are poorly dressed.
I would like to have it refretted with a taller fret, that will stand up to daily playing. I hear good things about Jescar Evo Gold wire, but have no experience with it. I need it to be tall enough to accommodate chord work over the entire neck with ease, and soloing. I would love to hear suggestions on fret wire, and shops within 300 miles or less of Montgomery, Alabama , that have a rep for great work. Thanks.

How long is a “pos.”? Long enough to become dissatisfied, I guess. If you have not seen any wear, chances are good that merely having a proper set up done would make your guitar a whole new experience.

Jescar wire comes in many sizes, as do other wires. The Jescar advantage is chiefly in wear, which it doesn’t seem to do. If you have not tried a high wire, say .050”, you may find it has more disadvantages than advantages, I know I don’t like it much. Nor do most of my customers. I have found the .042 wire nearly ideal for feel as well as latitude re eventual resurfacing.

Thanks Brad. The guitar is set up about as good as it gets, the problem is that there is barely anything to them ht. wise. Don't get me wrong, the guitar plays great as is, just not as great as it could. Best I can determine they are around .031. (It is possible that the guitar had a fret level and crown sometime before my owning it.) .042 sounds much better. Do you have a suggestion on fret width? Any pit falls in either direction that I should be aware of before deciding?
I appreciate any help. I put down the acoustic 25 years ago to concentrate on electric, so having to refret an acoustic is something I have never had to know about.

Pick a good luthier and trust the wire that he recommends. Each luthier chooses a certain brand of wire and becomes most proficient using it. Personally, I like the nickel wire that Stew-Mac sells. I shy away from the harder wires as they tend to wear my tools out and produce a slightly brighter tone. Some people love stainless steel wire and the gold wire your speak of.

I'm wonder along with, "Brad" what a pos is.

No guitar wire I am aware comes .031 tall. In fact, IMO fret wire ought to be replaced on an acoustic guitar when it gets under .035. Try standard medium guitar wire, in the neighborhood of .080 by .040. I think I use EVO #74, available from LMI.

How come you asked another question without answering mine?

I just started using Evo and I like it. You have to get over the color but that's easy enough to get used to. It's good stuff.

My personal preference is high wire too. In fact I have a couple acoustic guitars with jumbo wire and I quite like them.

I was wondering what he was referring to as well. After rereading my post, I see that there is a typo. "Pos" should have been "months".

Thanks again Brad. Question addressed above. Lol

yes to EVO
 

It sounds like the wire your looking for is EVO gold FW55090. At 0.090" it is a little wider than standard wire (0.080") and 0.055" tall. I used it when I refretted my Taylor 414 which came stock with their standard (wimpy IMO) wire. The added height gives you plenty to work with in getting them perfectly leveled. The beefier wire does tend give you a bit of a meatier tone, especially in the unwound strings, which may or may not be what you like. The hazard with tall wire is that people with a strong left hand can press the fretted notes sharp if they squeeze hard. It has worked out fine for me as I have the action dialed down perfectly (it's lower than my electrics!) and I play with a relatively light touch all up and down the fretboard. EVO's life span is it's big advantage, it seems to run around 4x that of standard nickel/silver. On mandolins it's a lifesaver, indeed on two mandos 2 years in I see no sign of grooves forming at all or even any wear. Ditto for the Taylor.

I used to say "around 4x" re EVO wear relative to NS wire, but now I am comfortable with "around 8x", which is on par with SS wire. The truth is I haven't seen any addressable wear at all in nearly ten years of using EVO almost exclusively. Could it possibly be around 20X? In the past there have been multiple guitar players for whom I have had to resurface the frets every 6 months.

What I am wondering, probably along with hundreds of others, is how come you are able to address Bruce as "Brad".

It's some kind of early childhood familiarity, right ? Pre-school buddies ?

Reminds me of the story involving Bill Monroe and Bill Keith. Couldn't have more than one Bill on stage, so for his tenure in the Bluegrass Boys Bill Keith was always introduced as "Brad Keith". Monroe was one of a kind!

And now back to fret wire....

Man, you guys don't miss anything! Lol. Sorry about that ,Bruce, and thanks again for the advice.

I had the pleasure last week of meeting and talking with Steve Cooley, who was one of Bill Monroe's Mountain Boys back in the day. A true gentleman.

Turned out we had a couple of acquaintances in common ... Kydave being of them !