Donut Man Posted March 28, 2008 Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 1. Is is possible to taper an Ebony or Flame maple fretboard with handtools? Maybe with sandpaper/sander and a plane? 2. Providing I can end up with a tapered fretboard, is it possible to shape the neck without a router also? ie. maybe using a spokeshave and a plane to get it level with the pre-tapered fretboard? 3. Does anyone in the UK sell pre-tapered and slotted Ebony or Maple fretboards? (I know David Dyke Luthier Supplies does them slotted, but I don't know if he can taper them, anyone know?) If all else fails I guess I'll just taper everything with my router, its just that I dislike using routers in general, and try to avoid it as much as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted March 28, 2008 Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 1) You can taper a fretboard with a handplane easily - I'd suggest taking precautions to avoid chipout and that the edges are square I often to this job after the board is attached to the neck. 2) I usually buy the wood for my neck blanks surfaced four sides, or at least two sides, oriented so the side I plan on attaching the fretboard to is on of them. So it's already close to level, if not perfect, depending on how decent a job the mill did and if there's any movement after I let the wood acclimate to my shop. A little planing or sanding with a long, level block, and I'm good to go. Shaping the sides and back is easily done with hand tools. 3) Don't know much about U.K. Suppliers as I'm in the States, sorry. depending on how much work needs to be done and how your shop is set up, hand tools can be quicker on occasion - Because I don't have a proper shop and do most of my building on the porch, many times it's quicker for me to grab my handplanes then dig out the router, the router table, set up jigs, run power out to the porch, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted March 28, 2008 Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 I taper the neck first, then attach the fretboard (a little oversized), and bring it down to finished taper with files, sandpaper, and a scraper. I shape the neck profile entirely with hand tools (some combination of rasps, files, Microplanes, sandpaper, and [mostly] a spokeshave). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donut Man Posted March 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 1) You can taper a fretboard with a handplane easily - I'd suggest taking precautions to avoid chipout and that the edges are square I often to this job after the board is attached to the neck. 2) I usually buy the wood for my neck blanks surfaced four sides, or at least two sides, oriented so the side I plan on attaching the fretboard to is on of them. So it's already close to level, if not perfect, depending on how decent a job the mill did and if there's any movement after I let the wood acclimate to my shop. A little planing or sanding with a long, level block, and I'm good to go. Shaping the sides and back is easily done with hand tools. 3) Don't know much about U.K. Suppliers as I'm in the States, sorry. depending on how much work needs to be done and how your shop is set up, hand tools can be quicker on occasion - Because I don't have a proper shop and do most of my building on the porch, many times it's quicker for me to grab my handplanes then dig out the router, the router table, set up jigs, run power out to the porch, etc. Heh, I build in my conservatory, its warmer and less windy, and since the garage is full of stuff. What precautions should I be taking to avoid chipout? Also, I assume that by an extension of this, I can also plane the fretboard sides down further (or the neck sides less) to leave a channel for binding? When I said shaping the neck, I actually meant tapering the sides to that of the fretboard, but I assume if I can taper a fretboard by hand, then I can also do the neck? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted March 28, 2008 Report Share Posted March 28, 2008 Spokeshave, rasp and sandpaper will do the job for you. I also use a chisel for the tighter curves where the neck blends into the headstock and into the heel. I carve the neck, attach the fingerboard, and bring the fingerboard down to the neck profile with the same tools I used on the neck carve. It works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted March 29, 2008 Report Share Posted March 29, 2008 (edited) I taper the finished, slotted, radiused board with a simple handplane. Make sure it's sharp, taking light cuts, and even ebony can safely be planed. Keeping things square is really quite simple, and besides, It's not like the edges will stay square once I fair them into the neck anyway... Binding goes on after tapering, then the board gets glued on the (partly shaped) neck, and the rest of the neck is brought down to the board using either a router (if you're feeling brave or trusting, I usually don't) or a rasp, which takes all of 5 minutes longer than the router approach, really. Edited March 29, 2008 by Mattia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donut Man Posted April 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 Another quick neck related question: I don't have a bandsaw, and I need to take a 45mm thick piece of Maple down to around 30m for roughing out the back of the neck before administering the spokeshave and rasp. I was thinking of sawing along that area in something like 5mm intervals and then knocking the bits in between out with a chisel. It would be rough, but it would be faster than scraping it to death with a spokeshave I guess. I could at do that until I've got about 10 cm down, when I can then use a saw to saw straight down the rest of the way. And then just I would be able to leave 10mm extra for shaping and room for error. Anyone got any idea? The neck is too wide to use a jigsaw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 The neck is too wide to use a jigsaw. Well, if you don't know anyone with the proper tools (a thicknesser would be nice), there must be a friendly carpenter near you. All you have to do is ask politely, and offer to pay him (modestly) for his trouble, and he'll set you up. If the first one you ask won't, the next one will. Chances are they'll be really interested in your project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djhollowman Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 3. Does anyone in the UK sell pre-tapered and slotted Ebony or Maple fretboards? (I know David Dyke Luthier Supplies does them slotted, but I don't know if he can taper them, anyone know?) Yeah, try Craft Supplies - don't bother trying to order from with their website cos it's RUBBISH! The website has almost NOTHING on offer, and almost no photos. However, their printed catalogue is immensely useful, full of good tools, woods, etc etc. I would phone them, ask for a printed catalogue, they have lots of good stuff. You can get their phone number from the Contacts bit on the website, or I can PM you it if you like. I bought an ebony fingerboard from them recently, it was a 24-fret, 25.5" scale length, pre-slotted and pre-radiused. They have plenty other woods and sizes of 'boards to choose from. Very good! Definately worth asking them to send you out a printed catalogue, please don't be put off by their awful website! DJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donut Man Posted April 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 3. Does anyone in the UK sell pre-tapered and slotted Ebony or Maple fretboards? (I know David Dyke Luthier Supplies does them slotted, but I don't know if he can taper them, anyone know?) Yeah, try Craft Supplies - don't bother trying to order from with their website cos it's RUBBISH! The website has almost NOTHING on offer, and almost no photos. However, their printed catalogue is immensely useful, full of good tools, woods, etc etc. I would phone them, ask for a printed catalogue, they have lots of good stuff. You can get their phone number from the Contacts bit on the website, or I can PM you it if you like. I bought an ebony fingerboard from them recently, it was a 24-fret, 25.5" scale length, pre-slotted and pre-radiused. They have plenty other woods and sizes of 'boards to choose from. Very good! Definately worth asking them to send you out a printed catalogue, please don't be put off by their awful website! DJ I visited yesterday, I didn't realise that they were so close (about 10 miles away). Bought myself a slotted radiused ebony board. I picked up a catalogue, but it didn't have any woods in, maybe they have changed it since. Either way, the guys were very helpful and they had a lot more stuff than I originally thought they did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 I visited yesterday, I didn't realise that they were so close (about 10 miles away). Bought myself a slotted radiused ebony board. I picked up a catalogue, but it didn't have any woods in, maybe they have changed it since. Either way, the guys were very helpful and they had a lot more stuff than I originally thought they did. You don't want their full main catalogue, you want their 'Sound Woods' one, not very thick (20 pages, maybe), but chock full of wood, laminates, etc. etc. At least, it was a few years ago. Haven't ordered wood from them in years as I tend to try and buy local where possible, and buying high-end stuff I'd rather go with someone I feel I can talk to/trust more directly and/or will send me pictures of what I'm going to be getting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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