Cutting Slots in Fretboards

Cutting Slots in Fretboards

Here is how I made some fretboards in early 2010. I haven't had the need to make any new fretboards since, because I took a break from making guitars.

I started out using a handsaw that was about 0.020" thick that I bought at Harbor Freight tools. It was very cheap. I only managed to use that saw on one fretboard and it got too dull to use any longer.

Then I bought a 0.023" tablesaw blade from StewMac and it made my life much easier. I made these four fretboards in just a few hours.

There are four fretboards shown; two purpleheart, one walnut and one Jatoba.

Here is the guitar neck with truss rod slot and the bare fretboard intended 

for the LED guitar. I copied the guitar neck on the right.

The "epic fail" fret saw. I spot welded sheet metal to the sides, and then 

super-glued plexiglass strips to act as a depth stop.

I simply marked the distances with a good ruler, and then used a square to draw the lines. I also used the square to hold the fretsaw next to it while I sawed away. It worked... until the saw got dull.

The new table saw blade and the template I made. As you can see, the 

template had slots I cut with a thicker table saw blade, and I used a 

woodscrew as the template pin. I screwed the pin into my 

table saw fence and then sawed the screw short.

A closer look at the template pin

I practiced on a piece of poplar wood first.

Jatoba (Brazillian Cherry)

Walnut in the middle, purpleheart on the sides

The tablesaw blade/fret slot cutter.