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Permalink Reply by carverman on December 6, 2010 at 3:30am

Good idea you have there Mark...and it saves building a custom mitre box.

I finished sawing my blank a couple of days ago and it turned out fine.
Having the S-M precut 24.75 scale, allowed me to use it as the template for the
miter box, which turned out to be 26" long to allow clamping of the blank FB
with a small C-clamp.

What I did was to set the S-M fret saw in a precut fret slot, then measure
and scribe the end of the FB, before the first fret . Always using this end of the FB
as the measurement reference point and setting the fret saw in the appropriate
fret slot, then measuring the ends of both FB's with a machinist's square..
(the economical h/w store kind with the movable edge) .
Placing the cast end agaisnt the edge of the miter box and the rule end touching
the end of each FB. gave me the precise fret locations to lock in the blank.

To saw the fret on the blank FB, I just tightened down on the C-clamp,
so it wouldn't move on me, then moved the S-M preslotted FB out of the way, to
cut the actual fret slot. Once the slot was cut, I just moved the reference FB back
under the saw . placed the saw in the next fret slot, and moved the blank accordingly
using the machinist's square to measure the actual location. Worked for me.



Mark Bliss said:

Carverman,
I am not disagreeing with you whatsoever in my additional comments. Cheap, or free is great, and desired if you are going to build just one, or a few pieces. I added my ideas with the thought that others might read this and combine ideas for their own needs.
I also have to confess to being a tool junkie. And that I often get as much or more satisfaction out of a well designed and built jig or fixture than the job it is built for. Having them hanging there brings satisfation to me, even if I rarely use them. Guilty as charged!
That said, I have been thinking a lot about your approuch on the fingerboards. I have to say I never really considered using a pre-sawn piece as a template and reproducing it. I have 25.4" acoustics, 25.5" solid body electrics, short stuff, chromatic stuff, diatonic stuff, etc etc so each one has kind of been aproached as an individual project. Which is odd because I generally like to build several identical pieces at a time on other projects to make best use of my time and set-up.
Anyway, Carverman got me thinking of a simple duplication procedure using a pre-sawn fingerboard and I came up with this idea.

*Note that for best results and accuracy, I would first check that the fingerboard blank has a straight edge, either by running it through a planer set to lightly cut, or by running it across a long straight surface with sandpaper on it. At least check it with a decent straight edge.

1: clamp the fingerboard you wish to saw, and the pre-sawn board to a flat worksurface side by side along the front edge, with the board to be sawn in front and just proud of the edge of the work surface.
2: with a fret saw (with depth guide removed or retracted) and a framing square (like the one used in the Back Porch Mojo vid) use the pre-sawn board as a spacing guide, and the square to guide the saw, and just cut all the slots enough to mark them.
3: Remove the pre-sawn board, set the saw in a slot of the pre-sawn board and set the depth guage against the fingerboard and secure. Now go to the fingerboard you are sawing (still clamped or re-clamped to the work surface as before, but without the pre-sawn board) and finish cutting the slots, using the square again if needed to guide you.

There you have it! A copy of the pre-sawn board with no miterbox, no extra tools, no fuss! And reasonably quick too!
I like it!

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