Thread: Australian Guitar Magazine - Guitar Building

It's a great read, Perry.

Just a question though, Do you follow this order of glueing the fretboard down onto the neck blank before any bandsaw action as a rule ?
Or is this to simplify the process for the series?

I'm still feeling my way through the whole process and any input helps.

The new shop looks well equipped and quite spacious.

cheers, Stu

I dont bandsaw until the fretboard is down, and frets installed/filed/crowned. It solves a bunch of problems that are caused by doing it the 'other ways' (frets installed after, for example).

Everyone does it differently, so my way is right for me, but you may not prefer it.

The new workshop is fantastic. Apparently, its the third largest guitar making facility in Australia, behind Maton and Cole Clark... not that size means anything! Well, it means i can store more timber
Ive made a bunch of changes to how things get done (streamlining, and larger batches), but im still getting more orders than i can build... 24 month waiting list now It feels weird to be buying timber and hardware that i wont be touching until 2009...

Do the mag have a website??
did a google and never found the actual website......

Originally Posted by old_picker

Do the mag have a website??
did a google and never found the actual website......

No, a lot of Aussie mags dont have websites.

I used to rout the trussrod slot, then completely shape the neck, then shape the fretboard to exactly match the neck, install the side dots, then fret the board, then glue it all up (and end up sanding the mismatched join anyway!), then drill the tuner holes and finally spray and apply a decal.

Now I trace the shape I want with a template, rout the truss rod slot, cut the neck shape with the bandsaw, slot the fretboard, glue it to the neck blank, then get the final shape using the belt and disk sander, then I start shaping the neck and headstock. Side marker dots go, then the frets. It might not be the best way but overall I'd say it takes half the time to complete a neck compared to my old way and I'm doing a lot less levelling of frets than I was before.

Another timesaver for me has been using foam backed sanding pads for tidying up fret ends. After any levelling and crowning I used to sit with a file carfully rounding each fret end, then polishing the frets on the Dremel. Now I just use a flat file (with a safe edge) to round off the very edge of the fret to get rid of the main burr, then lightly sand along the edge of the fretboard using fine, very fine, ultrafine and microfine sanding pads. Once I get to the ultrafine pad I gently sand all the frets, then again with microfine, then finally with a worn out microfine pad. A quick buff up with some soft towelling and it's good to go.