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Hey folks!

I haven't been on here in quite some time, but I have been doing some work with CBG's. Actually, I've been spending most of my time learning to play harp, but that's a different story.

Anyway, here's a picture of my latest build. It's a Christmas present for a friend of mine which still has not been delivered. The scale length is only 22" and the neck is a little narrow because my friend has small hands. The fretboard has a 10" radius on it.

One thing that I wanted to bring to everyone's attention was how I did some of the detail work; specifically the f-holes, inlays and frets. This was all done using a laser engraver. (Yeah... I have some pretty cool toys.) I have used this tool on just about every CBG I've made (and an upright bass) to at least mark where the frets should be. It has worked fine every time.

I got to thinking about this a little bit since I have finished and wondered if there would be enough interest from the community to offer laser cut fingerboards? What I was thinking was to just mark where the frets and nut should be for a specific scale length, inlay the dots and cut the width (based on your nut and 12th fret widths). I would let you do the finish cut on the length. If you wanted a radius on it, you would have to do that yourself.

Hmmm... Thinking about it, if you sent me your cigar box, I could cut the sound holes in it, too, but that may be too expensive after you start adding shipping for two directions.

Regardless, I am interested in what your opinions are on the matter.

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Mark Lindsay on January 13, 2013 at 9:30am

I'd be interested in some fretboards. I'll shoot you a PM a bit later.

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Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on January 14, 2013 at 3:59am

That is some amazing detail, awesome.

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on January 14, 2013 at 2:26pm

This is an interesting proposal. If your laser engraver can cut fret slots to a high degree of accuracy, I'd be interested, but I fear that postage to China may be cost prohibitive. But I suppose if I could have a batch of say 25 done I could pick them up in the States when I visit in the summer. Where are you located?

Also, my specs for fretboards are different than many other builders. I build my instruments usually with a 50cm scale length (VSL), and use wood like cherry trim wood that comes in dimensions of 3cm wide by 0.5cm thick. I might try other wood, but they'd still have to be dimensioned to these specs. Also, my fretboards are diatonically fretted, usually for a full 2 octaves starting at fret 0, and including frets 6½ and 13½. So, that's 17 frets in all. I usually rough cut the lengths of my fretboards about 39 or 40cm. Is this something you can build (including purchase and sizing of the wood)? If so, how much are you interested in selling to me them for?

I'm not interested in inlaid fret marker dots, or radiused fret boards.

-Rand.