Fretboard slitting

[lemic_ray]

Hi gang,

My first ShopBot question is about fretboard slitting.

A fretboard is the part on a guitar neck that the frets (wires up and down the neck) are attached to.

The slit that a fret wire is hammered in to is abou .020" wide. It is a simple kerf with a flat bottom.

They are spaced at decreasing intervals along the fretboard which typicaly measures about 18" long.

I am imagining I will need to make a dedicated spindle that mounts horizontaly on the Z axis.

but then I remembered I often over complicate things, especially when I'm unsure.

So I put it to you folks,
Is there a simple way to make these fine slits?
Are bits this fine redily available?

I've attached a picture of a typical fretboard.
common materials are: Rock Maple, Indian Rosewood and Macasar Ebony.
51465.jpg

[bob_s]

Raymond
That is really very simple to cut. Just do the layout in a cad or 2d vector program, and Z zero carefully on top of your material.
The bits are probably available from several places. I would try http://www.precisebits.com I have bought .031 1/32 bits from them with collars to help in setting depth, nice feature.

[lexluthier]

You could use a die grinder with a slitting saw blade and mount it to the z-axis.
Another way is to cut the slots on a table saw using a special blade available from Stewart MacDonald's guitar shop supply.
Look in Bob Benedetto's book "Making an Archtop Guitar" to see how he does it using a pre-slotted fingerboard.

[lemic_ray]

Bob,
That was THE link I was looking for!
This is going to be a lot simpler than I had imagined!

Thanks so much

Ray

[ed_lysne]

I do fret boards on my Benchtop Alpha. You can get bits from Precise Bits. It's easy to setup the cuts in Partworks.

[lemic_ray]

Hey Ed!

This is good info, If some one else can do it so can I.

Curious, do you slit the fretboard the make the radius? or do you radius the board first and slit after?

I had planned on slitting the board and mount the board to the neck and radius it then followup by cutting the depth with a fret saw after.

[richard_saylor]

I have yet to come up with an efficient method of cutting the radius/radii for a fretboard. The back of the neck is another story!

[ed_lysne]

I slot the fretboard while it is flat. Then I radius the board by hand and then go back through the slots with a fret saw to ensure they are all deep enough.

[lemic_ray]

thanks again Ed,
that is pretty much wow I percieved the process.

no different than I have done before except no miter box.

[widgetworks_unlimited]

I was thinking about cutting the radius on the fret boards while shoveling snow today...

I'll bet it would be pretty fast to do with a 4th axis. A simple jig could hold the piece between centers while machining.

Don't know how hard it is to do the rounding by hand or if you guys have a 4th axis, but it could be interesting to experiment.

This might also be helpful for rounding the backs of your necks.