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Looking for some quick feedback on my first fretboard

Fynn

Fynn

Jan 6, 2022
1,152
1,406
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Germany
#1
I'm in the process of building a Carl Thompson style instrument and I've done quite a bit of research. However some specifics I'm still trying to figure out.

Either way, I've cut all the wood roughly to length, leaving some wiggle room for mistakes. Today I have planed the fretboard to the best of my abilities (with an electric handheld planer) and tried to cut the first fretslot.
IMG_20230328_205741366.jpg

I did this by hand and I don't mind the scratches as I would put a radius on it afterwards anyways and I'm guessing that would remove the scratches quite easily. I was also planning to cut the sides off a bit to create a taper from the nut to the last fret.
Here are some of the slots from the side
IMG_20230328_205816482.jpg

Again, I'll put a radius on it and I was trying to not go too deep. My logic was that I could afterwards cut them out deeper anyways. I was just trying to make a basic slot so I would later have an easier time actually fitting all the frets.

Now, I'm just looking for some general advice and maybe some tips. I feared that maybe the edges could splinter away when trying to saw the board thinner with the slots already there. Should I be concerned about that when using a table saw (you can see the blade in the background of the pictures)?

I have enough wenge to make 4 fretboards, which is why I just went for it. It's a beautiful wood, but has very open pores as you might be able to tell from the pictures.
 
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#2
I'm sure some others will chime in, but I would go a bit deeper on your slots. When you radius the fretboard, those ends are going to dissappear quickly.

I also would cut to shape, and then radius. Depending on how you plan on building the bass, you might even consider gluing the fretboard to the neck prior to shaping it, so that you only cut the neck out once.

Are you going to do any binding? Have you thought through how to finish the ends of the fret slots? There's a lot of folks around here that do beautiful fret jobs.
 
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#3
Videojunkie said:
I'm sure some others will chime in, but I would go a bit deeper on your slots. When you fraius the fretboard, those ends are going to dissappear quickly.

I also would cut to shape, and then radius. Depending on how you plan on building the bass, you might even consider gluing the fretboard to the neck prior to shaping it, so that you only cut the neck out once.

Are you going to do any binding? Have you thought through how to finish the ends of the fret slots? There's a lot of folks around here that do beautiful fret jobs.
Click to expand...
Is there any harm done by going too deep with the slots? I think I've seen fretslots that are deeper than the frets can even go in.

My plan right now is to finish the slots roughly, route a channel for the truss rod in the neck blank, add the truss rod, glue the two together and then cut the excess off the sides of the neck. As you said, only one piece to worry about then. Then do everything else.

I don't want to add binding, but I'm a bit concerned about how the edges of the fretboard would handle the sawing. I was hoping I could just cut it and then try to round them with sandpaper. Don't really know any other way and I know that wenge fretboards are a thing, even without binding. So there's definitely a way to do it nice and clean
 
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#4
What tools do you have at hand? Obviously the table saw and electric planer. Most of us use some combination of rasps, files, spoke shaves, draw knives, and sanders to shape the neck. Doing it with just sandpaper is going to be an exercise in frustration I think.

A bandsaw or good jig saw will shape the neck more easily than the tablesaw. You can even use a router, with a proper template...
 
#5
As to your question about slotting too deep, allegedly it is possible for frets to rattle if the slot is too deep or wide. Some folks add thin CA glue to help fill the excess slot depth. A bit of CA glue and fine sawdust will nicely fill the ends of your fret slots.
 
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#6
Videojunkie said:
Most of us use some combination of rasps, files, spoke shaves, draw knives, and sanders to shape the neck. Doing it with just sandpaper is going to be an exercise in frustration I think.
Click to expand...
As I read him, he didn't say he would shape the neck with sandpaper. Just shape the edges of the board. :laugh:


One drawback of cutting the fret slots deeper than needed is taking out too much wood can diminish the stability of the neck. Better to shape the fretboard and then cut again as needed.
 
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#7
Flamingo21 said:
As I read him, he didn't say he would shape the neck with sandpaper. Just shape the edges of the board.
Click to expand...

We get all skill and equipment levels around here. I've seen some threads where guys have made amazing instruments with the most rudimentary tool sets. Trying to make sure we're all on the same page.

I'd love to see the rest of the build! Carl Thompsons are always a fun build.
 
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#8
Wenge is very brittle. I would use something with much finer theeth that that blade to cut the taper avoiding tear out. A band saw or hand tools are better suited for that job.

Edit: The normal process would be to cut the rough taper of the fretboard leaving a couple mm of margin with a saw and then take it to it's final shape with a router following a template. You can do it either before or after glueing it to the neck.
 
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#10
That saw blade isn’t the best for fine work. I recommend a Freud carbide,80 tooth fine finish blade. That will minimize splintering and leave a glass edge. As you are cross-cutting the neck try using a back up scrap to completely eliminate any tear out of the wood grain. Or like kidammesia said cut the neck a little wide and then trim after slot cutting. Enjoy. Post pictures when you are done!
 
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#11
Videojunkie said:
What tools do you have at hand? Obviously the table saw and electric planer. Most of us use some combination of rasps, files, spoke shaves, draw knives, and sanders to shape the neck. Doing it with just sandpaper is going to be an exercise in frustration I think.

A bandsaw or good jig saw will shape the neck more easily than the tablesaw. You can even use a router, with a proper template...
Click to expand...
I have a bunch of different files, a sander and a box cutter knife.

I do have a jigsaw. I thought about using it, but that would require some more precision on my part I would imagine. At least it's not as straight forward as just shoving it through the table saw. Maybe that's the way to go though. I'll think about it a bit.
 
#12
KidAmnesia said:
Wenge is very brittle. I would use something with much finer theeth that that blade to cut the taper avoiding tear out. A band saw or hand tools are better suited for that job.

Edit: The normal process would be to cut the rough taper of the fretboard leaving a couple mm of margin with a saw and then take it to it's final shape with a router following a template. You can do it either before or after glueing it to the neck.
Click to expand...
Yeah, well I don't have a router, but doing a rough cut with a saw and then use a sander, or something like that, should get it done I think
 
#13
A large hardware store here where I live went bankrupt. They're doing 20% off everything now, so I'll take a look tomorrow if I can get something that can help me.
I noticed that I messed up a fretslot at the end, so I decided to just go with a new piece of wenge. Wasn't in the mood for figuring out how to salvage it. I guess something was bound to go wrong at some point.
I spent a couple hours measuring the new slots to the best of my abilities (and tools) and now did a slight precut with a box cutter.
I'll look tomorrow for a sort of Japanese style saw. I've heard those are great for cutting fretslots, thin tall blade with small teeth.

I was thinking, maybe I could use that failed attempt board and make a fretless neck for my p bass after I'm done with this build.
 
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#18
Fynn said:
Either way, I've cut all the wood roughly to length, leaving some wiggle room for mistakes. Today I have planed the fretboard to the best of my abilities (with an electric handheld planer) and tried to cut the first fretslot.
img_20230328_205741366-jpg.5014205
Click to expand...

I have a question about your fretboard. It looks like all of your slots are the same spacing. Is that just a trick of perspective?
 
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#19
Videojunkie said:
I have a question about your fretboard. It looks like all of your slots are the same spacing. Is that just a trick of perspective?
Click to expand...
That's probably a mix of my camera and perspective doing weird stuff. I used the stewmac fretslot calculator. 32 inch scale length and 29 frets. Well, I put in 812,8 mm as scale length, because I'm using mm not inches, but that should work out the same if I didn't have a total brain fart with those elementary school type maths.

I did the same today with the new board. Just that I measured every slot three times and measured in-between the slots with calipers, just to check if I went off a little with the previous slot (I did not do that to measure the position of the next fret, just sanity check). Worked out pretty good. Just gotta cut straight and I'll be fine haha
 
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#20
Fynn said:
A large hardware store here where I live went bankrupt. They're doing 20% off everything now, so I'll take a look tomorrow if I can get something that can help me.
I noticed that I messed up a fretslot at the end, so I decided to just go with a new piece of wenge. Wasn't in the mood for figuring out how to salvage it. I guess something was bound to go wrong at some point.
I spent a couple hours measuring the new slots to the best of my abilities (and tools) and now did a slight precut with a box cutter.
I'll look tomorrow for a sort of Japanese style saw. I've heard those are great for cutting fretslots, thin tall blade with small teeth.

I was thinking, maybe I could use that failed attempt board and make a fretless neck for my p bass after I'm done with this build.
Click to expand...

What did you cut those slots with?

Fret slots should be 0.6 mm wide, not every saw blade (japanese or not) is thin enough. A fret saw is one of the few specific tools you can't realy build without.
 

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