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Wonky Frets 2 - Multiscale Sixer


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Definitely.  I don't have the room to accommodate a machine large enough to cut full bodies and necks, but this little 200 x 300 benchtop unit will work exactly as I need it to for templates and small jobs.  With a little imagination I could probably get it to do fret slots in two halves using index pins milled into a sub-baseplate attached to the bed.

I haven't tried directly cutting anything tougher/thicker than 6mm MDF with it yet.  The cavity cover recess jig shown further up was initially made with 6mm MDF and then attached to 2x 10mm perspex pieces to be trimmed to shape with the handheld router.

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Undercutting the tangs on the frets is done by purchasing a super-expensive fret tang nipper from Stewmac.  The cheaper alternative is to buy a generic nibbling tool and modify it by cutting a channel in the top face underneath the cutting head:

 

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24 frets later:

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And then tap the ends into each slot ready to be pressed:

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To the tune of Roxette's "Dresed for Success" - It's time to press...in some frets... :rolleyes:

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Clean up the ends to get rid of the overhang and add a bevel (yet another homemade alternative to an overpriced Stewmac tool):

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Carving the neck. I always used to dread this part, but I've now come to really enjoy it.  Very satisfying watching the profile take shape, especially when the scarf laminations start appearing:

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All done for now:

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You're spot on in that Stewmac tools are overpriced, however they still have their value to a working professional where they return their value moreso than us enthusiasts. I spanged my fret nibblers on some SS wire a few years back. Since then I've been manually doing each fret, fettling the ends. Maybe I need to buy myself some nibblers and do this mod as the basis for an article....

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True enough, but there are definitely items in the Stewmac catalogue that stand out as being stuff that can be reproduced for a fraction of the asking price.  The fret end bevelling files can be made for the cost of scrap wood and a cut down fine cut file.  You shouldn't even need to contemplate buying their 90 degree end-trimming file when a normal fine cut file will do the same job.  Other stuff, I agree it's worth the asking price - the miniature Dremel router base, the straightedges, the fret slotting mitre box, gauged nut files...

I think I'd originally seen the nibbler mod done over at the TDPRI.com forums.  The one I've modified is really set up for jumbo wire, but it seems to have coped OK with the medium/wide wire I've used for this build with some minor filing where the tang gets nipped off.  For the price of these nibblers I could probably buy a few of them and change the dimensions of the channel in each cutting head to accommodate different sized fretwire, and still have change leftover versus buying one fret tang cutter from SM.

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I went looking to see what the exchange rate for Finland was, hoping that maybe the Markka was worth $0.02AUD or something, but not surprisingly you're using the Euro, which still clobbers the AUD by 1.5:1.  D'oh!

Decided to have another go with the Arbortech Turbo plane.  This time around the result was much better than my practice run on the offcut eucalyptus burl.  Don't know if it was the bigger mass of the body, or just that I'd developed a better technique with the grinder, but the results are much better than my test piece.

Comfort carve:

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After knocking off all the high spots with the rasp:

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And then polishing up with the scraper:

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So, decided to man up and hit the top with the Turboplane.  Worked out surprisingly well after all my misgivings about the agressivness of the cutting action:

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Taking shape with the scraper from this point in (didn't want to push my luck with such an agressive tool):

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Grain- and void- filling with epoxy.  Think I might have exorcised the wood demons from the myrtle topped guitar for now.  The big opaque-looking epoxy fill in the eucalyptus topped guitar is better than it was, but will probably still require digging out and refilling.  Can wait for now:

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Cheers Scott.

Definitely faster.  Definitely more brutal if you let it get away too. The comfort carve was roughed out in about 3 minutes. Top carve in about 10. Lots of flying woodchips but far less dusty than the flapdisk. Still requires a softer touch for the finer areas of the carve, so it still takes lotsa hours with the scrapers, sandpaper and spokeshave.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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