Fretboard Slotting Template Question.

[killemall8]

ok, ive searched, around the whole internet even, and havnt even figured out this simple question. so you have your scale template for fret slots, and your using a table saw or a radial arm saw. how the heck do you line it up and stuff? i just dont get you you guys even use the templates. like THESE kind. i mean, what do you do with it? do you just stick it to the fretboard when using a table saw? i have no idea how this works.

Edited May 4, 2008 by killemall8

[j. pierce]

Appears it indexes against a pin on your mitre fence - if the fretboard wood is attached to the template, lining those notches up with something moves the entire deal a fixed distance to the next slot.

That probably didn't make sense because I'm not explaining it well. Look at this if it makes more sense: (scroll down to the instructions tab)

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_suppl...15.html#details

[erikbojerik]

The radial arm saw method works just like that....except upside-down & backwards (i.e. you can view the side of the fretboard being cut, and you drag the blade across the piece rather than dragging the piece across the blade).

[killemall8]

so you just line it up by eye and cut it like that? i just dont see how you can possible just line it up by eye and have it come out exact.

[erikbojerik]

no no no....click on the StewMac link and read it

There are slots at the edge of the template that correspond to each fret slot position, about 1/16" wide for the StewMac templates. You drive a 1/16" metal pin into a horizontal fence, and when the pin goes into the slot....you make the cut. Move the template so that the pin goes into the next slot, make the cut. etc etc

[killemall8]

i did read it. it makes absolutley no sense to me. at all. i dont get things unless i see them being done. it took me 4 months to get how to cut an glue a scarf, and the only reason i got it was because i saw a video for it. hmm. still confusing to me. i now get that the pin goes in the slot on the template, but other things still baffle me, and no matter how much i read, i dont get it. i am like that with everything. if you gave me a description of something ive done every day for my whole life without telling me what it was, i wouldnt have any idea what it meant.

[Supernova9]

i did read it. it makes absolutley no sense to me. at all. i dont get things unless i see them being done. it took me 4 months to get how to cut an glue a scarf, and the only reason i got it was because i saw a video for it. hmm. still confusing to me. i now get that the pin goes in the slot on the template, but other things still baffle me, and no matter how much i read, i dont get it. i am like that with everything. if you gave me a description of something ive done every day for my whole life without telling me what it was, i wouldnt have any idea what it meant.

Then maybe you should stick to buying pre-slotted fretboards. Seriously, there's a pin in a fence, the template is stuck to the fretboard, and everytime you cut a slot you move the pin from one slot on the template to the next. Repeat 24 times and you have a slotted board.

[j. pierce]

Did a youtube search.

Here's a video:

I think the drawings and explanation at the previous Stewmac link where a little more clear, but perhaps this video helps it make more sense. It looks a bit different than the first drawings in the Stewmac instructions because the fellow in the video is using a slightly different, larger mitre fence, (a "shooting board") with a sliding, slotted table surface and not just a rail to press against.

You could also set the sliding adjustable mitre gauge that comes with most table saws to 90 degrees, and use that in combination with a longer piece of wood attached to it. (As shown in the drawing at Stew Mac) the extra wood is there for stability. The gauge should not have any side to side play. The long stabilizing piece of wood should be attached to the mitre gauge so that it doesn't move.

Whatever is used, a slot is made in this mitre jig (simply by running if through the blade of the saw) for reference, so you know where the blade will be cutting.

Basically, four things things going on -

The whole fretboard is butted up against the mitre fence - this keeps the fretboard perpendicular at all times, so the slots will always be cut 90 degrees to the edge of the fretboard. The mitre fence slides against the slots on the table saw, only allowing it to move forward and back, and not side to side at all.

The table saw is set with the blade height (above the saw's table itself, or above the mitre fence's table surface in the youtube video) equal to the desired depth of the fret slots.

The template is attached (via tape in the example shown on youtube, stewmac suggests double-stick) to the back of the fretboard - keeping it from moving during the operation keeps the frets in proper relationship to each other.

The fretboard is obviously face down, so that the blade cuts the fretboard and not the template!

there is a pin driven into the edge of mitre fence - (it's not over where the blade will be cutting, to avoid accidently cutting into it and ruining the blade, or worse!) With the fretboard held square against the fence, you line one of the notches in the template against the pin, which should help keep it from sliding side to side as you make the cut. Hold everything square, slide it through, and make the cut.

Because the notches are the same distance apart as you want the frets to be, you can simply move the fretboard (with the template still attached!) sideways until the next notch lines up with the pin. Make another cut, and you'll have your next fret. Keep on going down the board until you've got as many frets as you need or you're out of notches on your template.

This will leave you with extra wood, most likely. The first slot on the template is where you'd cut off for your nut, or a zero fret if you prefer. Cut off the end where it suits you. As you would have a mitre setup already on the table saw, you might as well use it to cut the end of the board square. I believe the last slot on the Stewmac templates is the cutoff point for traditional boards, but I may be mistaken.

You want to true your fretboard first- the fret slots will be perpendicular to the surface of the board riding against the fence.

[killemall8]

ok, so i got how it works now. but heres a new question. in that video, how does that board that you use for the miter stay straight? how is it just sliding perfecty square the whole time?

[Mattia]

Slides in the mitre slot doodads design to move that way.

[j. pierce]

It's similar to how the mitre gauge on many band saws and table saws tools works - it slides in tracks on the surface of the table; probably using rails adhered to the bottom of the shooting board.

(Oops, somehow I missed Mattia's reply)

[DC Ross]

Do a search for "crosscut sled" - they're pretty handy