Fret slotting jig - anyone want to slot some boards?

[JupiterCreek]

Hiya

I know at least one member here has made up a fret slotting jig for use on a tablesaw. Before I go to the expense and effort of making one up for myself I thought I'd ask if anyone has made one and would like to slot a few boards for me (for some monetary compensation of course!).

[Wild Dingo]

Hiya

I know at least one member here has made up a fret slotting jig for use on a tablesaw. Before I go to the expense and effort of making one up for myself I thought I'd ask if anyone has made one and would like to slot a few boards for me (for some monetary compensation of course!).

Lazy sod :rolleyes:

I mean ask for some info on makin a slot cutting jig no worries someone will hook you up with a plan or tell you how they did it... but mate!!! you dont want to make one yourself? Lazy buggar! and you want to pay someone to do it for you? CHEEKY LAZY BUGGAR!!! :p

[JupiterCreek]

It comes under the heading of not having enough time to get everything done. ;-) I've actually been buying fretboards from Stewmac to save time, but I'd prefer to use Aussie timbers, so I thought if someone else had done the R&D and wanted to recoup some of their costs this could be a good opportunity for them.

I did buy some nice dry jarrah from Bunnies the other day that's slotted a lot easier than the better quality jarrah I get from Australian timbers. I know that generally "nice" and "Bunnies" don't go in the same sentence but I guess it depends on the context and needs of the buyer huh? :eek:

My little GMC BC07 bandsaw shat itself last night after 2 years of faithful service, so it looks like another trip to Bunnies. :(

[kiwigeo]

Rob,

If youre on the market for a bandsaw head down to MIK.....if you can spare $700 you can get a nice Carbatec 14" bandie....better than the crud theyve got down at Bunnies. Talk to Johnno at MIK and tell him I sent you...he might give you a discount.

Re slotting fretboards.....I do it by hand and can get a standard scale fretboard slotted up in 30 minutes. I use Stewmacs slotting jig but I dont use the templates. The board gets marked up with an xacto knife....a knick across centreline at each fret position. It then goes into the slotting jig and I cut the slots with a Strewmac fretting saw.

Im of the opinion that too many jigs and machinery can take the fun out of luthiery. Its the reason my fancy fox style side bender gets neglected these days and I bend up sides the old fashioned way on the iron.

Cheers Martin

[JupiterCreek]

Hi Martin... nothing personal here mate...

MIK... that would be the incredibly expensive tool shop who think they're the only source of quality tools in SA? I've had 4 phone conversations with the staff at MIK and they've all been condescending either to me, their competition, or products they've chosen not to stock. Maybe it's because I worked in the hand tool department at Flintware. Maybe it's because Flintware were a business from another era... a dinosaur like me... one extinct and one facing extinction. ;-)

The 14" Carbatec is nice isn't it? I'm not in the market for anything in that ballpark mate. I use the little bandsaw for cutting out guitar bodies and necks and general trimming. I've seen the Carbatec units on their website. They're very nice. Leda have a clone at a similar price that I've drooled over a few times. For resawing tonewoods a bigger unit would be sweet, but overkill for me.

Re slotting fretboards... Are you using rosewood? Have you ever sharpened the Stewmac saw? I'm wondering if maybe it's time to find someone who can sharpen the saw and keep the cut at 23 thou. I got some samples from Dan at Barking Log and it was like trying to cut glass. The timber was gorgeous but my elbow grease was running out. The maple and rosewood from Stewmac cuts easily, really dry jarrah's similar... hence my thinking on a tablesaw system.

You mention use of jigs etc. I'm a bit the same with jigs. I use a few MDF templates for bodies and necks but most things are done by eye and measurement... that's probably why there's so much variation in my instruments! :-)

As I've said before Martin, you're a luthier. I'm a fabricator and assembler of funny little guitars.

[Paul B]

Hi Rob,

I was going to post some pics of my set-up wasn't I? Sorry mate, I've been way too busy (working 14 hour days) to take pics and haven't made it into the shed yet. I'll get some pics posted as soon as I can. Frustrating, I've got a nice little steel string acoustic thats about 95% finished, but I don't have time to get in the shed.

Re: slotting some boards for you, I'd be happy to, but I don't know when I'd find the time at the moment, maybe in a couple of weeks. Also I've only got one slotting template for a 630mm scale 12 fret parlor guitar so far. I'm hoping in a few weeks I'll be putting in a big order with stewmac and plan on getting a set of templates then.

How many fretboards do you need slotted, what scale length, and how soon do you need them?

[kiwigeo]

Hi Martin... nothing personal here mate...

MIK... that would be the incredibly expensive tool shop who think they're the only source of quality tools in SA? I've had 4 phone conversations with the staff at MIK and they've all been condescending either to me, their competition, or products they've chosen not to stock. Maybe it's because I worked in the hand tool department at Flintware. Maybe it's because Flintware were a business from another era... a dinosaur like me... one extinct and one facing extinction. ;-)

The 14" Carbatec is nice isn't it? I'm not in the market for anything in that ballpark mate. I use the little bandsaw for cutting out guitar bodies and necks and general trimming. I've seen the Carbatec units on their website. They're very nice. Leda have a clone at a similar price that I've drooled over a few times. For resawing tonewoods a bigger unit would be sweet, but overkill for me.

Re slotting fretboards... Are you using rosewood? Have you ever sharpened the Stewmac saw? I'm wondering if maybe it's time to find someone who can sharpen the saw and keep the cut at 23 thou. I got some samples from Dan at Barking Log and it was like trying to cut glass. The timber was gorgeous but my elbow grease was running out. The maple and rosewood from Stewmac cuts easily, really dry jarrah's similar... hence my thinking on a tablesaw system.

You mention use of jigs etc. I'm a bit the same with jigs. I use a few MDF templates for bodies and necks but most things are done by eye and measurement... that's probably why there's so much variation in my instruments! :-)

As I've said before Martin, you're a luthier. I'm a fabricator and assembler of funny little guitars.

Rob,

Sorry to hear youre experiences at MIK havent been positive.

Next time you go in talk to Johnno...hes one of the owners of the joint and hes always looked after me. Some of the counter staff there dont set me on fire but if Johns there and I walk in then I get personal service. There are a few luthiers (youre one too mate) who do business with MIK and John seems to go out of his way to keep them happy.

I use ebony on all my fretboards.....its durable and its black.....I have a thing about black fretboards and gold machine heads.

Nothing wrong with a bit of variation in your instruments. I build open method using a workboard rather than using external molds so all my instruments are different..its the way I like to do it.

Cheers Martin

[kiwigeo]

Paul.

About time we saw some pics of your work up on the forum :)

Cheers Martin

[JupiterCreek]

Hi Paul

Is that the short scale Martin template from Stewmac? If so then starting the board at the first fret would give the 595mm scale I use for tenor guitars and bouzoukis, at the 6th fret gives the 440mm scale for tenor ukes (and cut off the first section for concert ukes), and at the 10th fret gives the 353mm scale for mandos and soprano ukes. I think with the 353mm stuff we may not have enough frets though. It's nice to have at least 15 or a few more, although I doubt many people would be able to actually fret a note much past the 14th on a mando! How many slots does the template allow for?

[Paul B]

Martin, I posted some pics of my first a year or so ago you can find the pics here: http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=16773. I'll post some pics of my latest soon.

Rob, I'll send you a PM tomorrow when i get some time (I'm on hols til Monday, wahoo!) and we'll work something out.

Night guys.

[kiwigeo]

Thanks for the link Paul. Will have a look and a drool when I get a chance.

Having neck dramas here. Am in the process of changing from building in spanish method to seperate neck and bodies with M and T joins. Completely different mind set with this technique. Got some practise pulling off a fretboard yesyterday and also had to get an epoxied truss rod out (second time for the latter). Then had to saw off heel and glue on new heel block as Id cut neck tenon at an agle to allow for expected neck rake.

All part of the learning experience that is luthiery I guess but my vocabulary of swear words is the best its ever been.

Will post up a few pics of the current build in Pics forum. Soundboard is just about done.

Cheers Martin

[kiwigeo]

Martin, I posted some pics of my first a year or so ago you can find the pics here: http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=16773. I'll post some pics of my latest soon.

Rob, I'll send you a PM tomorrow when i get some time (I'm on hols til Monday, wahoo!) and we'll work something out.

Night guys.

Paul,

Nice instrument.....visually well balanced and nice clean lines, I love that.

I notice youve bound the fretboard. I'd like to start binding my fretboards but cant find a good reference on procedure for same. Any ideas or hints would be much appreciated. Do you use a router or a Dremel for cutting fretboard binding channels?

Cheers Martin

[C.R. Miller]

Out of interest, what exactly happened to the GMC bandsaw? If it's just the motor that's burnt out then you could get it rewound and reconditioned for a reasonable price. It'll probably be ten times better than the original motor.

[JupiterCreek]

The screw that hold the top "pulley" broke. The blade had jumped off the guides and I was putting it back in place and retensioning it and as I adjusted the alignment on the back the top wheel came away. Given that the whole thing retails for less than $100 I decided to just cut my losses and buy a new one. I did strip the motor, light and switch though. I'm thinking it maybe handy for making up a little buffer.

[Paul B]

Paul,

Nice instrument.....visually well balanced and nice clean lines, I love that.

I notice youve bound the fretboard. I'd like to start binding my fretboards but cant find a good reference on procedure for same. Any ideas or hints would be much appreciated. Do you use a router or a Dremel for cutting fretboard binding channels?

Cheers Martin

Thanks Martin, I was going for the less is more look.

I just plane the fretboard undersize by the thickness of the binding, then glue the binding on with titebond and use masking tape to clamp them down.

[Harry72]

I was watchin the woodwork channel last night, they had the American Woodworker show on with this dude who makes Ducliamer's(spellin?)for a living he has made a machine that cuts the whole scale of frets at once.
Its just a heap of saw blades on a shaft driven by a 1 1/2hp motor, the neck/fret board sat on a sled that traversed across the blades(like a cross cut sled on a tablesaw).

God knows where he go the saw blades from, not your every day blades... how thin would the kerf need to be for the frets 1~2mm?

[Paul B]

I was watchin the woodwork channel last night, they had the American Woodworker show on with this dude who makes Ducliamer's(spellin?)for a living he has made a machine that cuts the whole scale of frets at once.
Its just a heap of saw blades on a shaft driven by a 1 1/2hp motor, the neck/fret board sat on a sled that traversed across the blades(like a cross cut sled on a tablesaw).

God knows where he go the saw blades from, not your every day blades... how thin would the kerf need to be for the frets 1~2mm?

I was part of a group buy on a luthiers forum, we got a bunch of blades made up for us, ended up costing about $50 each including shipping. The kerf is 0.024", or about 0.6mm. There are a couple of luthiers supply places in the US who also carry them, we wanted to improve on those a little so we got our own made. You really need to have blade stabilisers as well, or the blade will wobble when you bung it in your table saw.

[Harry72]

This looked like the blades were only about 4" in dia, looked nothing like a table saw.
This thing cut all fret slots on the FB at the same time.

[JupiterCreek]

Someone in the Musical Instrument Makers Forum had a setup like that. It was basically a long spindle with 22 blades and spacers that cut all the slots in one go. He had a few shafts set up, one for 25.5", one for 24.75", and another one that did two 13 7/8" fretboards at a time. The blades were 3" diameter jewellers saw blades, only 25 thou thick but the spacers acted as stabilisers at the same time.

Late update on my situation... I'm going to buy a saw and make up my own jig. I checked at Bunnies yesterday and the little GMC saw Paul used is only $68. The downside is that the Stewmac blade works out to be about AUD$110 landed! It's still good value and will turn a chore into a pleasure.

[Phil Mailloux]

Someone in the Musical Instrument Makers Forum had a setup like that. It was basically a long spindle with 22 blades and spacers that cut all the slots in one go. He had a few shafts set up, one for 25.5", one for 24.75", and another one that did two 13 7/8" fretboards at a time. The blades were 3" diameter jewellers saw blades, only 25 thou thick but the spacers acted as stabilisers at the same time.

I'd love one of those. Imagine the time spent to make sure every single blade is perfectly aligned in it's spot for a given scale. :rolleyes: Must be going nuts going through tons of fretboard blanks to set it up :D

[Harry72]

Wouldnt need a fret board to test run it... just a piece of wood!

[Strungout]

Late update on my situation... I'm going to buy a saw and make up my own jig. I checked at Bunnies yesterday and the little GMC saw Paul used is only $68. The downside is that the Stewmac blade works out to be about AUD$110 landed! It's still good value and will turn a chore into a pleasure.

That sounds interesting.

Can you keep us posted how it works.

Greg

[JupiterCreek]

Hi Greg

I'll take some photos this week and work up a bit of a blurb on the setup an its use. Let's just say I'm rapt! :D

[Strungout]

Thanks very much Rob,

I will look forward to your info.I thought about doing this a while ago,but I wasn't sure about the setup.

Regards

Greg

[Strungout]

Hi Greg

I'll take some photos this week and work up a bit of a blurb on the setup an its use. Let's just say I'm rapt! :D

Hi Rob.

When you get time can you put the details up on the MUSICAL INSTRUMENT FORUM .

Thanks

Greg