Questions About Fret Slotting Miter/templates

[P90]

I see that Stewmac and LMI both sell a fret miter system with templates...

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_suppl...30.html#details

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts....Slotting+System

(I made a 26" scale in the past, but did it with pencil and a yardstick )

2 questions...

Do the templates both essentially work on the same principle? It looks there are notches in the template which a pin on the miter slots to.

How hard would it be to make a 26" scale template? (nobody sells that) I guess I could get a blank from LMI and use the online calculator from Stewmac. What type of saw is best to cut the notches?

Edited March 2, 2007 by P90

[ToneMonkey]

I used a Japanese Micro Saw from David Dyke in the UK. Ha dthe right kerf for jumbo fret wire. Didn't use a template, just a ruler and a square.

[SwedishLuthier]

Well, LMII sells a 655mm template and that is pretty close to the 660 mm for a 26" scale

[larryguitar]

I just built a miter box for slotting fingerboards and it's worked great. Here's what I did:

Built a miter box (oak sides and base) and slotted through the sides on the table saw, to get a perfectly square slot for the saw.

Attached some UHMW plastic to the fretting saw to act as both a depth stop for cutting and to give it a width to match the slot left by the table saw.

Added a mounted clamp to the base of the miter box, which flips down and holds the fingerboard.

Made a very fine, square line inside the miter box.

Now I just tape the fret scale (I use the Stew-Mac one, but a printed paper one could be made to work) to the back of the fingerboard blank, line up the first marking with the line and flip the clamp down. Cut the slot, flip the clamp and line up the next marking on the fret scale.

Takes about 15 minutes per board and is at least as accurate as the fretboards I've bought pre-slotted.

Larry

[maikman]

any pictures of it by chance?

-Matt

[P90]

SwedishLuthier - Thanks! I looked again at the LMI site, and sure enough, there's a 660mm template. #SPFS3

(assuming: inches x 25.4 = mm .... so that would be 26" x 25.4 = 660.4mm... right, anyone?)

OK... who's miter/saw/template system is better... StewMacs or LMI's?

(If the answer is StewMac, will the LMI 660mm template work in the Stewmac miter?)

[carousel182]

i have the stewmac template saw and miterbox and it is amazing

[P90]

Oh wait... Stewmac sells a 660mm template too... Doh!

(Stewmacs miter/saw combo sure costs much less than LMI's .... )

[carousel182]

stewmacs is great and simple to use. just get some good double stick tape. i couldnt see anything being worth 2 times more than it that does the same thing.