fyb Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 Hey all! I was wondering what the consensus was on getting fellow forum members to do small tasks and what not. Is it usually a good or bad idea? So far I have only bought pre-radiused and slotted boards from Stewart MacDonald but a friend of mine just gave me a slab of rosewood that I'd like to use as a fretboard. He used to sell saw blades and knew the guys at the old Guild plant so the piece I got was a fretboard blank from them in the pre-Fender days. I'm not really ready (time, money, and the learning curve are always factors!) to do my own slotting and radiusing, so I was wondering if anyone was perhaps willing to do it, or to recommend someone who could do it (for a fee of course). All input is welcome. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fyb Posted August 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 Bad idea or just no takers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 I was anticipating this thread being filled with "be careful"s and references to some legendary 'litchfield' that I never had the pleasure of sharing the forum with... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 (edited) EDIT: looking at the wrong thread entirely. why you ask? because i'm an idiot. Edited August 19, 2007 by thegarehanman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fyb Posted August 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 I will do it for $1000. Or....you could by some b/w pickguard material from stewmac.com and cut it out yourself. You should be able to do a fine job of it with very few tools, given enough time. peace, russ That was a useful answer. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 (edited) Oh, darn. I was looking at the wrong thread. I bet that left you pretty confused. lol. Sorry! Let me see if I can answer this one correctly! Jon, a member here has a slotting service. You can send him the fretboard and he'll slot it for you for a very reasonable fee. I don't believe he radiuses boards, but you don't really want to radius the board until it's glued to the neck anyhow, to insure it's level. A radius block costs only about $10-$15 and all you need to do is use it like a sanding block. Once you've got the board radiused, you'll want to use a longer (perfectly) straight sanding stick to even out the board so that it's as close to perfectly level as possible before installing frets. Ok, so is that a bit more usefull? Sorry about that confusion. peace, russ Edited August 19, 2007 by thegarehanman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fyb Posted August 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 Oh, darn. I was looking at the wrong thread. I bet that left you pretty confused. lol. Sorry! Let me see if I can answer this one correctly! Jon, a member here has a slotting service. You can send him the fretboard and he'll slot it for you for a very reasonable fee. I don't believe he radiuses boards, but you don't really want to radius the board until it's glued to the neck anyhow, to insure it's level. A radius block costs only about $10-$15 and all you need to do is use it like a sanding block. Once you've got the board radiused, you'll want to use a longer (perfectly) straight sanding stick to even out the board so that it's as close to perfectly level as possible before installing frets. Ok, so is that a bit more usefull? Sorry about that confusion. peace, russ Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 I don't mind helping. http://www.jonsbasses.com/pages/service.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 I guess it depends on who you ask to do the work. If it were me, I'd just look through past posts and make sure the person I was dealing with was reputable. Myself, I have a very accurate jig for radiusing boards and would be glad to do it for anyone who asked, and very precisely, for a nominal fee for time and tool wear, but I use a StewMac miter box and fret saw which is a royal pain, so I wouldn't offer to help anyone slot a board since it's a whole lot of trouble just to do them for myself, much less someone else. (I actually hurt my shoulder slotting the last board I made with that piece of crap StewMac saw...the painkillers and doctor's office visit were way more trouble than just buying a pre-slotted board. I *really* need to get a good .023" kerf Japanese pull saw.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 I guess it depends on who you ask to do the work. If it were me, I'd just look through past posts and make sure the person I was dealing with was reputable. Myself, I have a very accurate jig for radiusing boards and would be glad to do it for anyone who asked, and very precisely, for a nominal fee for time and tool wear, but I use a StewMac miter box and fret saw which is a royal pain, so I wouldn't offer to help anyone slot a board since it's a whole lot of trouble just to do them for myself, much less someone else. (I actually hurt my shoulder slotting the last board I made with that piece of crap StewMac saw...the painkillers and doctor's office visit were way more trouble than just buying a pre-slotted board. I *really* need to get a good .023" kerf Japanese pull saw.) If you have access to a table saw the blade from stewmac makes it a walk in the park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 I do have a table saw but I don't trust its accuracy enough to use it for fret slots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MP63 Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 You can do what I did on my first guitar. Do not taper the fingerboard and use a square against the edge. Take a small fret saw (that's up to you to buy) and use the square as a guide. Keeping the fingerbioard untapered allows for any imperfections on the slot to occur on the unused portion on the fingerboard. When you're sawing, the top edge or bottom edge sometimes will have the slot wider becasue of your arm moving sideways and messing up the slot a bit. That gets cut off when you're done slotting. I used an Ibex ruler with four scales on it. I learned this from Irving Sloane's book, Steel String Guitar Construction. Once you get slotting down, you won't need a service. I like radiusing the fingerboard before glueing, because if I need to deepen a slot onced I radius, I can do it easier not glued to the neck. I still finish radiusing and check for slot depth after I glue, but it's much less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarEng Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 I'll CNC cut them if you want....I can do rounding, slotting, profiling, and do any inlay routing you may want as well....Message me if you are interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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