Cherry fretboard viva Fender?

printer2

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I am building an inexpensive tenor for a group at work who want to give it away as a gift at Christmas. It will be cherry b&s's and maybe a cherry neck. I was thinking of using walnut for the fretboard but then thought walnut is not any harder than cherry. Why not take a page out of Leo's book and not bother with a fretboard and just leave the neck blank a little thicker and put the frets into it? Has anyone done this before?


Hmmm... ..Just thought of one, fretboard going over the body. Maybe mill an extension in the blank?
 
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The rest of the projects are pushed back in order of importance. One side bent, one to go.
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This was unplanned, using the other uke body as a temporary form so it holds its shape. Did not think I would make more than one I did not make any forms for this shape.
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Gluing the neck and tail block.
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Trimmed and looking good.
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Installing the linings.
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A nice piece that is an orphan guitar side, need to thin it down some.
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Thinned down, with some wings on it should make for a good top.
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The back already joined.
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Cutting the sound hole.
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Bracing the top.
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Bracing the back and adding a bits under the bridge area.
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Gluing the sides onto the top. The clamp is for insurance the sides do not bow. A spacer runs from the neck block to the tail block and with the clamp nothing moved when adding the weights. I find this faster and easier than using clamps.
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Glued on the back as well. Trimmed and almost ready for finish. Need to put a ring of wood in the sound hole in place of a rosette. Then with some sanding it is almost ready to go. Time to think of the neck.
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Looking good. I can hardly make out the "wings" on the top. Nice disguise. ... My only quibble: Round off those back brace edges. Only takes seconds. A very minor detail. Looking forward to progress.
 
Darn it, missed that step. Managed to do a lot of work yesterday and in the end my mind was a little fried. Not much of a sound hole to get my hand in but I think I can manage to knock of the edges.
 
Thanks for the step-by-step, it's useful to see how others go about their work.

Bob
 
That is what I like about seeing other's build threads. Not much tonight from the pictures of my scarf joint but it took me a day to get this far. I have a tablesaw that ate a motor and I picked up a cheap on in the meantime. I never thought anything of it but it did not have any guide slots in it but rather than a table that slid. It was not a problem till I wanted to do a scarf joint. I tried to do a quick hack job on my chop saw, a little more difficult than I thought it would be. In the end I just drew the lines and cut the thing with a hand saw. After gluing it together I touched up the top surface on my belt sander than needs a new belt and then thined the back side with my drum sander.

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Need to trim some of the excess wood before gluing on the fretboard and shaping.

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Mark out the shape.

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Now it looks a little chunky. We have a fix for that.

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Adjust my drum sander so the neck fits in between the drum and the table then thin down the thickness.

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Gluing on the fretboard.

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Rough carved the neck with a spoke shave.

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Getting to the point where it is starting to feel like a neck.

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My home made mill cutting the saddle slot in the bridge.

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Cutting and chipping away the excess.

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Some cleaning up is needed and then drill the string holes.

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Scraping sides.

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Some walnut for the soundhole. Checking fit before glue.

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They want their logo on the headstock, notice the nifty dremel jig.

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It will get some touch up once the grout dries.

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Great thread, I love seeing the play by play. And I'm encouraged by the fact that one can build such a nice looking instrument with common tooling.
 
Thanks. Not the greatest of pictures, where I am today. I need to trim the fretboards, wanted to get the finish on the parts in order to harden and I was indecisive on the FB's.

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So much for starting to relax. One tuner is fine, the others feel like sand in the gears. It hurts but had to do it, have some cheap ones that actually feel fine but they have a shorter post. Have some work to do yet.

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Darn, starting to look like an instrument.

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Now frets, glue the neck and bridge.
 
Just need to do a nut and saddle but otherwise done. Sorry for the slightly washed out top picture.

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