@rocknroller912 the glue in the fret slots isn't to hold the fret in (or at least it shouldn't be), it's to solidify and stiffen the fretboard.

@rocknroller912 makes sense, I can’t say it’s one of the bits of the Build I’m looking forward to honestly. Mostly when I’ve used the stuff whatever it’s in seems to seal up part way through squeezing the stuff out then I’ve ended up with half a job done. Something for me to practice first.

@jonhodgson Interesting point, honestly hadn’t considered that!

Interesting point, honestly hadn’t considered that!

@Tej I must watch more videos than you do, it's a pretty common opinion. I've actually never heard a professional luthier say the glue was needed to hold the fret in (though there may be some), but heard a number say it is to strengthen the fretboard. We wouldn't need to use narrow kerf saws and hammers or presses if we were going to rely on glue. These days glues are available which are more than strong enough to do the job on their own, as demonstrated by the one exception to the rule, Parker. Their frets were tangless and glued ON TOP of the fretboard (they must have had some precision jig for holding them in place).

Some luthiers (And a little guitar company you may have heard of called PRS) actually press all the frets in without glue, and then flood the slot from the end with water thin CA glue, which gets sucked in by capillary action.

Ben Crowe has tried various methods in his videos over the years. He used to be a medium thick CA in the slot first kind of guy (and that is what was taught on their courses when I went there to do a refret), then in a couple of his timed builds he decided to use the PRS method to save a bit of time. He's currently back on putting glue in the slot first (he's not in a rush on his current build) but he's switched to using Alcolin glue (which it seems is Titebond-NumberYouCannotBuyHere made under license in South Africa) because the cleanup is much easier (just a damp rag). 

First attempt at making a sound hole ring cut from a flat sheet salvaged from the off cuts of acoustic sides and joined together. After it was scraped down I decided that it needed purfling either side, so I’m cutting two more channels. Probably would have been better to do the whole thing in one go but the walnut is brittle and the glue stiffened it better for cutting. 
The top is a practice board I bought for £5 a long time ago and I’m not sure what to do with it, wall art maybe as I don’t think it will ever sound good. 
You can see I’m getting a real dirty mark from the base of the Dremel cutter despite giving it a good clean first. Appreciate any tips on how to avoid this. It was from Tonetech so it should be good quality.

ps Mark makes it look easy, it’s not !

Nice @rocknroller912!

@rocknroller912 could you use some tool wax on it, presuming the result would be sanded it should cause issues?

@tej

Will give that a try this afternoon and let you know if it works

@rocknroller912 did you sort this out in the end?

@tej 

Thanks for asking, I’m still working on it. I had a router malfunction of course possibly due partly to operator error but partly not. I found that the centre pin on my Dremel circle cutter was very slack and wasn’t giving a precise circle, so I’m making a new pin and brass bush on my metal work lathe. 
I got the pin to what I thought was a tight fit but it was still a sloppy fit, and then I found that the brass buss didn’t have a consistent diameter hole so I’m doing a bush as well. The bush is also a loose fit in the base plate. 
For the underside which was leaving dirt on the wood I’m going to try some NEC tape on the base but with the backing left on.
Hoping finish it all tomorrow and post some photos. 

@rocknroller912 ah the trusty lathe, one day I’ll find one cheap enough to justify 🙂

 the other thing I thought with the base was that you could polish it to sanding through grades to 2500 grit and then polishing with something like this https://www.thepolishingshop.co.uk/autosol-products/autosol-metal-polish-100gm75ml-400055-autosol

Once you’ve buffed it after that there is nowhere for dirt or any oxidisation to hide! You could always make a thin Perspex base for it too!
All that said the NEC tape backing is pretty slippy and a much quicker solution I guess 🙂

Good thing this is only a practice on cheap wood as it didn’t go too well. I got some bad tear out around the outside edge and had to do a fudge with violin purfling. Definitely going to be wall art.

Blunt router bit perhaps? 

@tej 

It was a new Dremel bit straight from the packet. Likely the very soft wide grain wood.

Didn’t like the centre pin and bush that came with the Dremel circle attachment so I’ve been making another one on my lathe. It’s a tight press fit now not a sloppy loose fit.

@rocknroller912 nice work, have you tested it?

@tej

Not yet I’m planning to try it this afternoon if the monsoon rain stays away.

@tej

Tested my new bushing and pin cutting out the sound hole. It works much better. I know Mark uses a big router to cut these inlays but I wasn’t using a standard 6mm inlay only a DIY one from a bit of scrap.

@rocknroller912 looking good, somewhat off centre looking though of is that just the grain/light!?

@tej 

Its the camera angle, I checked it with callipers

@rocknroller912 excellent, it certainly looks like a really clean cut and no marks either!!!