Pre-radiused Fretboard Thickness

[Mickguard]

I ordered a pair of ebony fretboards from LMII a while back. I ordered the pre-slotted and pre-radiused.

Except the boards I received are much thicker than they should be --the boards are both about 8 mm thick at the center, when they should be more like 5 mm.

So it seems to me that I'm going to have to sand the boards down, which basically means that I'll be radiusing them myself. Luckily I bought a radius block.

And sanding off 3mm of ebony is going to be a chore--assuming I can get the radius right, keep the fretboard level, etc.

So why did I pay for this 'service'? Is this the way LMII ships all of their boards?

Unless there's something I'm missing here? I realize you'd have to sand any board, but I didn't expect to have to take off this much.

(Not only that, one of the boards wasn't cut straight --the frets are slotted okay, but the board itself is just sloppy...)

[ibreakemineedtobuildem]

Instead of having to continue radiusing it down to thickness,just take it off the bottom.

[fryovanni]

I agree that kinda defeats the purpose of the service. They advertise 1/4" at the thickest portion. Honestly I would give them a call. If it was "blank" material dims. have a bit of float (on the plus side), but a machined part should be more accurate than that. 6.4mm-1/4" vs 8mm doesn't sound like much, but it a fair bit of hand sanding.

Peace,Rich

[Supernova9]

Or use the jig Setch showed once upon a time (used for making radiused sanding blocks), make a long one (the length of the board) that matches the radius of your board, then double stick tape the board in that, making sure it's level, then use the router thicknessing jig to take the extra off the back.

I love my complicated solutions

[johnsilver]

I've ordered 4-5 ebony boards from LMI and they've all been a little overthick. I just checked the last one I still have and it is 7.6mm thick (not pre-radiused). I've only ordered one pre-radiused board from them and I can't check it because its being glued to the neck as we speak.

[mammoth guitars]

The pre-radiused fretboards we have recieved have also been thicker than needed. We take the excess off with a radius block. Taking it from the bottom is risky unless you have a way to keep it flat.

[Mickguard]

The pre-radiused fretboards we have recieved have also been thicker than needed. We take the excess off with a radius block. Taking it from the bottom is risky unless you have a way to keep it flat.

Besides which, the fret slots are cut very deep, so it's not really an option.

But yeah, last time I order a pre-radiused board from them. What about StewMac's boards?

[johnsilver]

[ryanb]

I have also found that the lmi boards are pretty thick. The edges are not supposed to be finished, so that might account for your rough edges. It isn't very hard to take material off the bottom if you have a jointer. I can't comment on the deep slots, because I don't buy the pre-radiused/slotted boards (in that case it is nice to have them too thick as opposed to too thin). If the slots really are that deep, you would probably want to take the top down anyway.

In my experience, the Stew-mac boards are definitely closer to the finished dimensions. Don't know if that is always the case. I would suggest you try them and see if it suits your needs.

[mammoth guitars]

The pre-radiused fretboards we have recieved have also been thicker than needed. We take the excess off with a radius block. Taking it from the bottom is risky unless you have a way to keep it flat.

Besides which, the fret slots are cut very deep, so it's not really an option.

But yeah, last time I order a pre-radiused board from them. What about StewMac's boards?

The stewmac boards are the same. In fact some are crooked where the radius is correct but lower on one side than the other. I beleive its just the nature of these things - fit it to your design is a must.

[johnsilver]

I beleive its just the nature of these things - fit it to your design is a must.

Exactly. That's why they come a little thick. You can take off what you need but you can't put back on.

[Mickguard]

LMI provides a place to specify requirements when ordering (which I've used before and never been disappointed), so I'm guessing that if you specify a maximum thickness when you order a pre-radiused board that you will get exactly what you want. Chris can clarify. I have found them to be most helpful and accommodating.

I'd asked them about the thickness before I ordered and was told that the radiusing process took care of the thickness and that the boards would be ready to go.

I appreciate that there's a degree of fitting that is always required, and it's nice to have the leeway for that.

But this goes beyond that -- it really means that I paid for a service I didn't need, since I have to redo it anyway.

Like I said, the slots are very deep, so it's just not possible to take off from the bottom.

I will write to LMI (again) about this one. I wrote to them the before about my other problems with the boards--that nothing is cut straight on them, so if I lose the centering mark they made (in other words, if I trim the ends of the boards --and I have no choice, since neither end is cut straight) it makes it that much more difficult to redraw the centerline. Because the sides aren't trimmed equally either--one side is markedly wider than the other, and it's way to rough to know exactly where the edge is anyway.

The reply I received was basically that I'm expected to do all of this work myself.

In contrast, I bought a couple of fingerboards from these guys --they don't come radiused, but the thickness is right and they're very nicely trimmed. And you get to see a photo of what you're actually going to receive, which is a nice plus. Of course, I'm not buying bulk.

And they come with the zero fret (Stewmac's boards don't--at least I'm pretty sure they don't--which is why I haven't tried theirs).

[WezV]

The stew-mac ones i have had have all been very close to thickness and perfectly usable, in fact i prefer to use them when i am after a skinny neck because they are thinner than the fretboards i make myself from blanks. Some of the pre slotted and radiused boards i have had from them have been quite pale indian rosewood, wheras the blanks have always been darker and prettier, probably just down to chance but there you go. They dont have the zero fret but some have the nut slot for fender style nuts.

I just ordered the fret slotting jig to replace my home made solution because i rarely use ebony or rosewood for fretboards at the moment.

[Daniel Sorbera]

I've used 4 ebony pre slotted boards from stewmac and have been happy with them all. They we're all very nice dark ebony (one with some very nice looking dark grey streaking) and they we're all very clean cut, thicknesed, and ready to go.

[Mickguard]

Anyway, I managed to screw up this board right royally trying to sand this thing... the board's nice and uneven now and I don't think it can be rescued (at least not by me ).

I'm looking at having to take it off the neck and starting all over again.

I bought a pre-radiused board because I knew having to radius would add an extra level of difficulty for my first neck, and I wanted to avoid that.

Definitely the last time I order from LMI though.

Now I have to figure out how I screwed up the sanding so badly--don't want to make this mistake again!