What’s a suitable replacement for EVO Gold?

Roland · July 2023

No one has any stock of EVO Gold fretwire. The story is that the metal alloy is no longer being made. What other fret wire materials are there, without using stainless steel?

BillDL · July 2023

It's strange that Jescar still haven't updated their web pages to reflect the discontinuation of EVO Gold fretwire, for example on this page:

https://www.jescarguitar.com/jescar-fret-wire/

I don't think there is a viable alternative around at the moment and the best you can do is make sure that you are using consistently well made 18% nickel wire from a good maker like Jescar. They do make a point of mentioning that not all 18% wire has the same hardness.

A long time ago when Dan Erlewine had his column in Guitar Player magazine and few people, if any, were communicating by email, I wrote to him via the magazine and asked a question that he not only addressed in a subsequent column, but included in one of his books with my name. At the time I was buying wood from Touchstone Tonewoods (now owned by Stentor) and I was curious about their reference to "Dutch Fret Wire" and "Japanese Fret Wire", with one being harder than the other. I can't recall which one was harder, but from memory one was of 12% nickel and the other 18%. I asked Dan Erlewine for his thoughts, and also about what recrowning file to buy for a given width and height or wire.

He was sufficiently interested in this to do his own experimentation with various samples from different suppliers/makers and to contact Touchstone Tonewoods. He sent a bunch of samples to a lab for "hardness" testing, results given on the "Vickers Scale" (maybe "Rockwell" - can't recall), and noted the differences. He also discovered that by bending wire on a fret radiusing machine, straightening it, and re-radiusing several times, the hardness increased noticeably, but doing it too many times could make it brittle. Doing the same thing on standard fret wire might be something you could try yourself and test by scraping or filing the wire as a rudimentary test.

[UPDATE]

I see that StewMac are now doing their own "Gold" fret wire. All they say is that it is made for them, but no mention of Jescar or "Evo". The problem is that it's damned expensive by the time you pay postage from America and any additional duty charges.

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/materials/fretwire/stewmac-gold-fretwire/

Dan Erlewine's discussion about fret wire hardness appeared in this edition of "Guitar Player Repair Guide - How to Set Up, Maintain, and Repair Electrics and Acoustics":

Image: https://tfb-user-images.eu-central-1.linodeobjects.com/1f6649c7b5acd1458744059b75631fbec022540d90c3f0935b

Roland · July 2023

Thanks @BillDL I’ve read that StewMac’s gold wire isn’t as hard as EVO, and I’d be reluctant to buy it at their prices.

Danielsguitars · July 2023

I think the touchstone japanese fretwire is hosco, it's nearly as hard as jescar from memory.

You can always ask Neil at touchstone.

I only use jescar now because it comes coiled up and enough to last me along time so it's worth buying direct from jescar.

earwighoney · July 2023

Roland said:

No one has any stock of EVO Gold fretwire. The story is that the metal alloy is no longer being made. What other fret wire materials are there, without using stainless steel?

Hosco have a EVO gold alternative and the hardness looks very similar.

https://www.armstrongmusic.co.uk/fretwire-c366/hosco-phosphor-bronze-frets-fretwire-pre-cut-pack-of-24-p24619

Roland · July 2023

Thank you @earwighoney ;

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What’s a suitable replacement for EVO Gold?

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