fitting a fretboard

[uethanian]

i need to make a fingerboard for a pre-existing guitar. im a little confused as to how you cut the fret slots. i've seen it done with a miter box, but most fingerboard blanks are tapered, so...how? how do you make accurate, straight slots?

then after that i need to cut the thing to shape...i dont have access to a band saw, although i do have a jig.

[Jonsbasses]

Miter box + fret saw + careful measurements or a fret template. Or you can use a table saw, make a jig for it and use an expensive blade with a template (this is what I do). If you don't have any power / hand tools and just need a single board, buy a pre-slotted fingerboard.

First, you joint the fingerboard so it fits flush against the miter box / tablesaw jig, then you slot all of the slots and taper the fingerboard. I glue the fingerboard on a hair oversize and use a pattern bit to trim the fingerboard to the necks width.

[T2W]

I also taper the board after slotting it, much easier. I use a damned pull saw from stewmac. Im startin to dislike the handsaw and I might go for tablesaw blade soon...

[eleonn]

I find powertools for certain jobs to be just too much. You have to have a perfect jig and with no errors at all or you will have a nice piece of scrapwood. I prefer the control you have with manual tools for things like fretwork but off course... thats just me.

[Nelson Guitars]

Unless you intend on doing a bunch of fretting I would just pay someone who has jigged up for this task to do it for you. The jigs and blades are either expensive and/or time consuming to set up properly.

Yes, cutting them while they are still square is the way to go. However, you can set up a cradle to put the FB in that will square it to the blade if it is already tapered. I do this on occasion when the wood I am working with is special enough to save the scrap. Snakewood for instance makes a great binding on an ebony FB. If I can save the off cut from a Snakewood FB before I cut all those kerfs then I have something I can use on the next build.

Greg N

[uethanian]

well wats the point of companies selling tapered fingerboards if 1)they're more difficult to slot and 2)you're going to cut it to fit anyways

the way i saw it on projectguitar is they taped the fingerboard down on the centerline of a straight piece of wood, and butted that wood against the inside of a miter box. i have one of the fretting saws from stewmac...just trying to use it the right way.

well stewmac has untapered fingerboards (at least thats what they look like). i wanted to buy from lmi because they have the right width trim for filling slots (lined fretless), and they have cheaper, but tapered fingerboards. not to mention i also need an end nipper for frets. lmi's are cheaper but still...$30? anyone know where to get cheaper end nippers?

[T2W]

end nippers? Home Depot for about 8$. I dont get the point in buying some from stewmac.

[uethanian]

thanks, i've looked at the local OSH and was surprised that they didnt have anything.

[Nelson Guitars]

Do the home despots have flush nippers? Don't think I have ever seen that. You can however take a set of normal nippers with a double bevel and grind the top off until you reach a single bevel at the cutting edge. Be careful not to over heat and loose the temper. Also make sure to grind a crown in the top so the cutters can be flush and don't take more off one side than the other. The blades want to meet evenly across the entire length. Either that or just buy the nippers from LMI

The point of selling pre tapered finger boards is getting paid for pre tapered finger boards. They don't know or care if you have a proper jig for cutting the kerfs and perhaps you are building a fretless. Well, maybe they do care if you don't have a proper jig. Then maybe they can sell you one! The slotting or kerfing service is not expensive at all so maybe you might want to consider it the next time you purchase a fret board and don't have the proper set up for cutting your own.

Greg N