Tie-on frets for electric guitars

Unfortunately I get precious little time to contribute to the tuning
digests. For those with really good memories, (Hi JoeM!) I still
have the pre-archived TDs and one-day will have the lot up for ftp.
At least the ftp's will be quicker from NYC than Western Australia...

I can verify the nylon fret approach of Doty's works fine and used
the knot he showed in his book, wrapping the monofilament twice
around the neck for each fret. I found I needed to use pliers to
tighten the monofilament enough. If your neck is set up correctly,
use the same gauge nylon thread over the entire neck. I use "type
30", presumably 30 thousandths of an inch. A down side is
monofilament for fishing is made of transparent blue (so the fish
can't see it???), which makes it difficult for guitarists under stage
lights (not that I encounter that problem often :-). I also
encountered suspicious looks from the guy behind the counter at the
fishing tackle shop, seems fisherpeople are the same the world over
:-)

I've also experimented with nylon cable ties, but I'm yet to find
thin enough versions for a workable action. These are better because
they self tighten, whereas the tie-ons need to be pushed up the neck
towards the bridge, so you need to work from the highest pitch frets
first, down to those nearest the nut. The frets stay remarkably well
in place and are my preference if you are playing ET, than hammering
frets in. More blurb is at
http://www.leighsmith.com/Music/GuitarSynth.

If you are using a non-sloped neck, you need a completely different
knot, which is the case for an electric saz I'm restoring/playing, I
almost managed to properly tie a fret last night! :-)

--
Leigh Smith leigh@tomandandy.com (MIME)
tomandandy +1-212-334-0421 (W) +1-212-334-0422 (F)
89 Greene St. New York, NY 10012, USA
http://www.cs.uwa.edu.au/~leigh
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