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Fretboard Slots not straight


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I am a very novice guitar builder and was looking for some advice with a fretboard issue. I orderd a pre-cut fretboard from ebay which came with precut pyramid inlays that you put in yourself. I got the inlays expoxied in and the fretboard radiused. When I went to test fit it on the neck, The precut fret slots are not straight. It appears the person making the fretboard cut the slots perpendicular to the tapered fretboard which made the slots crooked when centered on the neck.

I guess I am looking for advice being a novice if I am just being stupid and this is not an issue or is there a way to possibly cut the same slots trying to straighten them but making the slot a little wider. Or is it really not a big deal and I can just fix it with the intonation.

Im really confused on this one and any help would be appreciated.

 

 

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Wow! Someone really didn't know what he was doing there!

If I see right the frets are farther apart each other on the bass side. I'd say that's a positive thing!

There's two ways to fix the issue.

The first one is to fill the slots with pieces of veneer and recut the slots. That requires at least a very accurate ruler to mark the fret slots and an accurate saw to cut them. There's jigs and other tools for that, and it can be done just with a ruler, a pencil and a saw. Either way it's not for the faint-hearted.

The other way is to take it as a fanned fretboard. They are more ergonomic than a straight one and for what I've heard one get's accustomed to one very quickly. Normally the bass side is somewhere in the Fender ballpark, 25.5" and the treble side in the Gibson range, 24,75". In fanned fretboards there's a "zero" or "neutral" point where the fret is perpendicular, the rest of the frets starting to lean towards the other direction after that. The bridge is equally slanted to match the scale lengths on both sides.

In your case it looks like the difference is not as much as between Fender and Gibson and it's also uncertain whether there's a turning point or not. Before you glue it on, compare each and every fret with a fretting table. There's lots of them in the Internet. Start by measuring the length from the nut to the 12th fret on either side and multiple that by 2 for the scale length. Then compare each and every fret to a fretting table of said scale lengths. If they don't match with the tables, your best option would be to get another fretboard and ask your money back from ebay.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, ADFinlayson said:

Put the fretboard in the bin and order one from someone else 

See how a native English speaker can put the essential message into one sentence.

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Stop, stop, stop!

The wood doesn't look too spectacular to be used for truss rod covers and other small objects but you can always reuse the inlays!

Edited by Bizman62
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