Dremel Tool Fretboard

[K Ryan]

Hey all, first time posting but I've been watchin' the threads for several months

Anyway, Just thought I'd mention an extremely successful parallel fretboard cutting rig I came up with. It consists of a Dremal tool, a small dremal tool blade, two metal rulers (same thickness), some duct tape, and two clamps.

First put one ruler on each side of the blade, and clamp both rulers at one end with a single clamp. Then duct tape the other end together (blade is still in between). This will give you a slot between the rulers of exactly the blades width. It might be an idea to use a clamp on both ends instead of duct tape, but it worked fine for me.

Next remove the blade from between the rulers. You need to figure out exactly how far below the bottom of the rulers the blade will go, and attach a strip of wood at one end with the duct tape to act as a guide at the appropriate height. The rig is now done.

To prepare your fretboard, mark on each side where each fret should be, along the side of the board, since you won't be able to see the top of it.

Now line up the gap between rulers with the appropriate line on each side of the fretboard, and clamp one ruler to the fretboard. (The ruler rig is now forming a 't' across the fretboard, with the fret position between the rulers.) At this point it may be an idea to quickly hammer the offset out of your blade if there is any.

Put the Dremal between the rulers, run it along the guide, and unclamp from the fretboard. Next fret.

It took about an hour to make the rig, and cut out 16 frets on a slanted mandolin fretboard.

cheers

-kelly

[reamer]

Some pictures would be great as well! If ya got the time...