Cutting fret slots.

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Livetosculpt

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Any ideas? I glued down the fret board onto my neck before I cut the slots, and then tapered the neck. I no longer have a square surface along the length of the side of the neck. I'm not sure how to accurately cut the slots. I have a dedicated fret table saw that I made a sled for, but the neck is attached to the body.
 

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The only thing I can think of now is accurate measuring, which may not be accurate enough, or trying to take the fretboard back off the neck again.
I expect a sensible person will be along soon with some more practical ideas.
 
That pretty much rules me out then. I'll just sit here and watch if that's ok.
 
Too much work into getting the body to that point and stuffing anything up over a dumb mistake. I'd be removing the fret board and dealing with cutting slots off the instrument. As it doesn't look like you've got finish on the uke yet, it's not going to worry you there.

Well, actually while it's possible to cut slots in a tapered board, I find it a pain in the bum. I'd just make a new fret board and cut slots in it when it was squared up, then taper it. All up this shouldn't take more than a couple of hours before the new one is glued on.
 
No problem. Have a look at these links and you can see how I do it on some of my ukes.

http://www.argapa.blogspot.se/2009/12/fretting-jig-for-piccolo.html

http://www.argapa.blogspot.se/2009/12/fretting-jig-cont.html

http://www.argapa.blogspot.se/2009/12/fret-slots-with-new-jig.html

http://www.argapa.blogspot.se/2011/02/slotting-neck.html

http://www.argapa.blogspot.se/2011/02/checking-depth.html

I made my jig of perspex, some acrylic plastic. The glue is rather awkward to use, stinks like hell and hardens in sunlight (only). But anyway. I glued a piece with parallel edges to two strips lying next to the neck, making sure the centerline of the top piece was in the middle of the neck. Then I cut guide slots for my fretting saw through the top piece, the two side strips hold the resulting smaller pieces together.

I hope I make sense. English is a second language you know.

The reason I did it this way is because I build my piccolos without a separate fretboard, and I want to make sure the 12th slot is exactly in the neck/body joint. And when I fit the neck it gets shorter before it gets square and straight...

This jig might be a lot of hassle to make just for one uke (or jarana). So consider removing the fretboard and make a new one with slots before you glue it. But then again, if you don't have any perspex you could make it of wood or mdf or anything.

Good luck, post the progress. The instrument does look really good. I feel the need to carve a delicate volute on my next neck.

Sven
 
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This is an interesting and enlightening thread. I'd have thought that cutting the fret slots while the neck, fingerboard, bridge saddle and nut are in place would be the only way to absolutely guarantee the frets are bang on.
 
weerpool said:
... what i do is i pre mark the slots and score the lines with an exacto knife while its still a squared blank. ...
Click to expand...

Yup. No problem if it's still squared. But as the op's board isn't, he needed some input.

The Big Kahuna said:
This is an interesting and enlightening thread. I'd have thought that cutting the fret slots while the neck, fingerboard, bridge saddle and nut are in place would be the only way to absolutely guarantee the frets are bang on.
Click to expand...

Nope, way easier to glue the bridge last. Measuring from the nut end of the fretboard. And cutting the slots in the fretboard while it's still squared is also the easiest way to do it, and even better if it's not glued to the neck yet.

Sven
 
Thank all of you for your advice! This was my first instrument, and I am teaching myself as I go along. I did not repeat this mistake a second time. So,
I have to decide whether I want to remove the fretboard and start over (doesn't sound easy), or build a template. I've never used a hand fret saw, I built a sled for the table saw, and it works perfectly. So maybe I'll try the template route. It takes awhile to think it all through!
 
Just learn to do it by hand. Measure carefully, score with a knife as suggested, saw with a Japanese thin kerfed fret saw with a depth stop.

Why is everyone so afraid of learning to do accurate hand work? Believe me, if you can do it by hand, you'll do a better job with a machine.

We do production work cutting on either a table saw or our CNC machine, but I can hand cut in reasonable time at least as accurately as any player's fretting hands. I had to quick make a fingerboard for one of my students a few months back. It came out fine... If I needed a fanned fretboard, I'd be entirely likely to do it by hand if it was a one-off.
 
Do it as is and if it doesn't work out then remove it. The odds of you getting it off in a condition to reuse it would be pretty slim any way. Its a good learning experience no matter how it works out and I think that's how you need to look at it.
 
You are all correct! I just need to do it by hand and not be afraid of it. I do most everything else by hand, I might as well learn this. Thanks for all of the good advice!
 
I think you could measure and cut. Maybe clamp a block at each position to guide the hand saw.
Or you could glue on a sacrificial board on top of the fingerboard....square and line it up with the center line of the fingerboard. Something large enough to work on your table saw set up
 
I would make a tapered wood strip and "thinly glue" or "double-side tape" it to the side of the fretboard, to make a square edge. Make a small square so you can scribe the fret lines with a knife, and cut slots on the lines.
 
go to any home improvement store and get a bevel square. It will adjust to give you a correct line across the fretboard. You could attache a 3/4" wood block to it for a fence to ride the saw against. 5 bucks and some handsawing and you're done.
 
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