Well today was a lovely parcel day. I got my neck and fretboard blanks and my fret slotting jig...
The slotting jig is excellent quality, well made and came really well packed and protected only minor niggle I have with it is an Allen key would have been a nice addition but I'm sure I have one that will fit somewhere but as I said it's only a very minor niggle...
As for the neck blank it looks like planed on 1 face and both sides so should be really easy to work with. The fretboard blank 1 face looks good but the other has a few really rough spots but I think I can take care of them when I radius it. Neither of the sides have been planed or squared so it might be an issue working centreline out but I'll have to work around it and hope it goes well, wierdly though one end has been squared off
All told a good day for parts for my next build.
The fretboard blank 1 face looks good but the other has a few really rough spots but I think I can take care of them when I radius it. Neither of the sides have been planed or squared so it might be an issue working centreline out
You'll cut the sides based on the centreline, rather than work out the centreline based on the sides (if you get my meaning!).
Work out the rough middle of the board at both ends, and draw a line between them. There's your centre line. Line up that centreline with the centreline of your template and cut to the template. There's your fretboard with nicely squared edges (assuming you're using a bearing guided router).
😀
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I use a handplane to sort the edges of the board, need one good side then work from it. Centre doesn't have to be exact centre of the board as there's usually room to have the fretboard off to one side of the blank. But if you sort one side then you can measure from it and use it to line up in the fret slotting jig.
I buy a lot of B grade ebony boards and get rid of cracks and stuff doing that.
You'll see often that only one side is planed as a reference to which you have to plane the other sides plum and straight. So make sure that all surfaces are straight to begin with , but the bottom and top of the fretboard needs to be as square as possible to this reference side too. The top and end of the fretboard do not matter that much yet, as the fretboard will be tapered lengthwise anyway so they will not end up square anyway. Once everything is square and straight, then you can decide where your center line goes. Once you have decided and drawn where your centre line will be, from then on, your center line becomes the reference point for all other measurements ( fretslots and ends needs to be cut square to the centre line, unless you are working with a multiscale fanfretted guitar of course ).
You DO need to check that the reference side is straight though!
The best way to get the fretboard or neck blank planed is by using a No 5 Plane with a good sharp blade ( or a No 4 if that is what you have ), a good straight edge, an engineering square, some elbow grease and a lot of patience ( plane, check , plane, check, plane , check, check, check,.. plane, check, well you get the idea 😀 ).
Also a good tip with any surface that requires a center line is to mark the center line with a marking knife instead of a pencil. If you cant plane or sand away this line afterwards, then mark the outer points of the center line with the knife so you can always find it back, even if you have sanded or erased the pencil lines