@darrenking You da Man! 

Part of the fun iv'e been having is doing things for myself, ie making templates. I try to take the same approach with jigs as and when I need them. I might be able to adapt this mitre saw into a fret slotting jig. But thats in the future, iv'e got two of Mark's pre made fretboards to be getting on with.

I might be able to adapt this mitre saw into a fret slotting jig.

@robin I’ve got the exact same mitre saw and I have thought I could convert it for fretslotting too. Having said that, after seeing @darrenking designing his fretslotting jig, I’ll go with that instead. 

I’ve got the exact same mitre saw

You & me both @johnnierox-boo!

Me too! Good old Nobex!! I bought mine to make some picture frames for an artist in Dunfermline when I was in my late teens. It seemed like a lot of money at the time (£65 from memory - probably get one for not much more than that now, 35 years later!) but it taught me that you sometimes have to spend money in order to make money. The framing job paid for the mitre saw within a couple of weeks and then generated a bit of profit - and I had a paid for mitre saw!

The problem With converting the mitre saw is finding a 0.5mm-0.6mm thick blade that fits it.

Anyway, I have modified the drawing and have run a first batch of revised slotting jigs. I am going to record an assembly video over the weekend and then they should be ready to go. I’ll post more details shortly. 

Anyway, I have modified the drawing and have run a first batch of revised slotting jigs. I am going to record an assembly video over the weekend and then they should be ready to go. I’ll post more details shortly. 

Top job @darrenking it’s such a good idea. 

@johnnierox-boo Hi John et al,

I have now finished pricing the little fret slotting jig and can confirm the following end user prices:

Main jig - £37+ VAT = £44.40 inc VAT

Scale length templates - each with registration holes for six scales lengths - £20+VAT = £24 inc VAT

Initially, I have two versions of the templates ready to go, one for electric & acoustic and one for baritone & bass. The scale lengths on each are as follows:

Electric & Acoustic - Gibson 24.75" (628.65mm), PRS 25" (635mm), Maccaferri Grande Bouche 640mm (std Classical scale), Martin 25.4" (645.16mm), Fender 25.5" (647.7mm) and Maccaferri Petite Bouche 670mm

Baritone and Bass - 26" (660.4mm), 28" (711.2mm), 30" (762mm), 32" (812.8mm), 34" (863.6mm) and 36" (914.4mm)

I will also be producing one with the education market in mind, but also for anyone who wants to make a variety of instrument types, with the following scale lengths: Gibson 24.75" (628.65mm), Maccaferri Grande Bouche 640mm (std Classical scale), Martin 25.4" (645.16mm), Fender 25.5" (647.7mm), Bass 34" (863.6mm) and Concert Ukulele 375mm. Other combinations can be made if there is a reasonably good chance they would appeal to the market but I can't, at this stage, produce entire custom mixes of scale length as one offs.

I am also awaiting confirmation of the pricing for a suitable slotting saw to go with the jig (if you don't already have one) but this price may be a few days away. In the meantime, if you are interested in the jig and templates then please let Mark/Carol know and hopefully they can place an order for stock.

Further comments and suggestions gratefully received and there is already one on its way to a very quiet, shy and retiring forum member who has offered to do a independent review! 🤣 

Cheers

Darren

Watch out Stewart & MacDonald.

If you could put a catalogue together @darrenking, Mark could have another one to work through, buy8ng everything ...

😆 😆 

I am also awaiting confirmation of the pricing for a suitable slotting saw to go with the jig (if you don't already have one) but this price may be a few days away. In the meantime, if you are interested in the jig and templates then please let Mark/Carol know and hopefully they can place an order for stock.

@darrenking Well done sir! I will register my interest with Mark and Carol immediately. I need some advice on the saw to go with it though. Cheers. 

Wow, that is a great price assuming it's accurate which I guess is mostly down to the quality of your CNC. The plywood should be pretty stable but I can put a finish on it.
I have a Crimson Guitars fret cutting saw already, so if it works with that I'm golden.

I'm not ready to build anything yet, so I can wait till I see the review before pulling the trigger, but very interested.

I'm not ready to build anything yet, so I can wait till I see the review before pulling the trigger, but very interested.

@jonhodgson This will be a great investment and a few of us will be buying them and reviewing them soon. Rock n Roll 

The CNC router is pretty accurate! The hole positions are specified to three decimal places of 1mm so it should be good enough for rock'n'roll! The only thing that you really need to check is that the saw is cutting square to the fence and that there is no movement in the scale length template. I'm going to reshoot the assembly video later today (didn't like the first effort) and this shows all the stages of puting it together and how to make any small adjustments that may necessary. All of those that I've put together so far have cut perfectly square so I don't want to give the impression that there is a lot of setting up to do, that would defeat the object really.

If you think about it the plywood is going to be more stable than the wood you are building your guitar from. You can finish it, but just be careful with getting finish in the holes as these are very precise diameters and you don't want the registration pin to become too tight a fit. The Crimson saw should work fine as it is supplied with their StewMac looky likey jig and is going to be of very similar dimensions to my own (around which I designed my jig)

Ok, The saw price has now been confirmed.

It is a UK (Sheffield) made saw, 16 TPI, pull cut with a brass back and rosewood (coloured I suspect) handle.

The price will be £30inc VAT which, considering that I am not buying in a huge quantity, is a good 'there or there abouts' price compared with other suppliers. Crimson are a couple of quid more (but don't have any) and the StewMac version is about £45+VAT + every other tax HMRC can think of when it lands!

I should have these early next week at the latest and I have sent Mark and Carol their prices too.

Let the fun begin!

@darrenking
Your CNC may let you specify hole positions to the micron, but I'm pretty sure it's not placing them that accurately. Not even a Kern Milling Machine promises that (and it would be pointless with wood anyway).

But for this task, if it can repeatedly put things to the nearest 10th of a millimetre that's probably fine.

@jonhodgson There is a measurable (just not by me!) difference between the theoretical accuracy and the 'real life' accuracy of any CNC machine. All I can do is to ensure that the GCode sent the the controller is of greater accuracy that then the machine is actually capable of cutting as this ensure only a single stage of tolerance and this is why I bother to specify positions to 1000th of 1mm in the software creating the cut files. A vertical drilling operation will be more accurately positioned than a longitudinal path as there is no side loading to cause deviation on the path the tool is following and the moving mass of the machine iis n the vertical plane, which introduces far fewer forces likely to throw things out a little. 0.1mm for rock'n'roll? I agree, probably better than most of our ears anyway! 

for rock'n'roll?

@darrenking I think it will be fine Darren, a few of us can continually test them out and report back. You have gone to the trouble of designing and building this thing so, I for one, I’m willing to stress test it by making lots of fretboards and building lots of guitars. Let’s just see how accurate and durable it is, you can always tweak things if we report anything negative. But, until then, I’m looking forward to using it. And, like you said, It’s close enough for Rock n Roll 

Great work Darren. What's next? 

@boo Hi Boo, PM me and I'll see what I can sort out for you. I have made a couple of tweaks following feedback from one our esteemed group but I'm more than happy to expand my 'beta test' group a little to expand the scope of received (constructive) criticism.

@mikeyrjiom I am currently finalising details of the template sets for Mark and then I will be revising the design of my powered dish sander to allow for kit form birch ply construction. After that will be a similar redesign of a neck dovetailing jig and then I am open to suggestions? What do you need?

PM me and I'll see what I can sort out for you.

@darrenking Hi Darren, thanks for that, I’m only too happy to help. Just one question, how do we PM each other on here?