Differences in Fretwire Hardness Between Brands?

[mirwa]

For some interesting info

I hardness tested some frets today, taking into consideration there shape and size and the limitations of hardness testing

I carried out a rockwell f scale test.

A gibson les paul I defretted, the frets at 4 points registered 108 F
A stemac wire out of the packet, at 4 points registered 96 F

That is approx 11 percent softer than a Gibson fret.

Got a refret later this week on an ibanez, so might test that one as well

Steve

[Hot Vibrato]

Originally Posted by mirwa

For some interesting info

I hardness tested some frets today, taking into consideration there shape and size and the limitations of hardness testing

I carried out a rockwell f scale test.

A gibson les paul I defretted, the frets at 4 points registered 108 F
A stemac wire out of the packet, at 4 points registered 96 F

That is approx 11 percent softer than a Gibson fret.

Got a refret later this week on an ibanez, so might test that one as well

Steve

Hmm... The real question at this point is if older wire is significantly harder. Got any wire from an old Martin or Gibson? What year LP did the fret come from?

[Bruce Sexauer]

Relative hardness is all very interesting, but it has very little to do with wear characteristics and longevity. As I and others have pointed out earlier, the fretwire that was available when I started building is extremely malleable and cuts very easily. At the same time it wears several times as well as the StewMac wire that many consider the industry standard today. I still have 20 or 30 feet of the old wire here in the shop, so it is not faulty memory. It is actually challenging for me to do a professional refret with this wire as it is difficult to get it to lay flat enough against the fingerboard using a mallet as I do. Might be better with a press, but I'm gonna die with a hammer in my hand.

[mirwa]

Relative hardness is all very interesting, but it has very little to do with wear characteristics and longevity.

Actually it goes hand in hand with an alloy. The harder the alloy the more resistant it is to wear, the softer and alloy the more it wears.

Tool steels are different as they have macro and micro hardness's. That is steel a and steel b may have same macro overall hardness, but on micro grain structure analysis the hardness's differ greatly due to its makeup. This difference affects wear characteristics.

Steve

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by Hot Vibrato

Hmm... The real question at this point is if older wire is significantly harder. Got any wire from an old Martin or Gibson? What year LP did the fret come from?

Having now hardness tested some wire and managed to get a result suitable for comparitive assessment, I will check any fretwire from any guitars that I defret from now on.

The Gibson is just a les paul, possibly late 80's, I finished last week a Gibson refret from the 60's, so wish I had kept the fretwire.

Steve