Fret bender

A fret bender is an essential part of any luthier's armoury. Bending by hand is time-consuming and likely to be inconsistent, especially with harder wire. I've used a variety of fret benders over the years and this is the best and most cost-effective. Unlike most of the others, it can be used to straighten fretwire too.

Dial in the required radius with the top thumbscrew and then just feed the fretwire through for a consistent radius. I like to set the fret radius just a whisker tighter than the fingerboard radius to ensure good adhesion at either edge.