Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on July 19, 2012 at 12:25pm

You're right, bandsaw blades are too thick. Scroll Saws are the ticket. uniform depth and perfectly square. Darren Duke did a youtube on the subject.

Permalink Reply by Habanera Hal on July 19, 2012 at 2:47pm

Yep, that's nice, but a scroll saw's not in the budget right now.  That, plus the wife would kill me if I brought home another power tool!  Guess I'll have to learn to glue the frets in.

Permalink Reply by smilingdog1 on December 31, 2012 at 2:40pm

This looks worth a try. I've been needing to upgrade from my Stewmac back saw. I know the table saw blade is nice but expensive, so this looks reasonable for those of us with a scroll saw handy.

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on July 21, 2012 at 1:57pm

Hal,

You can pick up a scroll saw on Craigs List for less than $50 almost any day.  I've seen them go for $25.  Less than the price of a band saw blade for a dedicated fret cutter.

 

I can't help you with the wife issue, but I do long distance counselling... :-)

 

the best,

 

Sam

Permalink Reply by Habanera Hal on July 21, 2012 at 4:04pm

LOL! I will check out CL locally, but I went and ran a file against the blade and trimmed the tooth set down to where the fret wire holds tight.  I think I'm good to go, and will not have to incur the wrath of the boss!

I'll put up some pics of my jig in a couple of days.  It should work on a scroll saw too if there is a miter slot on the table.  I  also built a jig to rout saddle blanks at an angle, and a string spacing jig.  Next will be some headstock templates and other scale length templates.

I suppose you can guess that I got an incredible buy on some Plexiglas!

Permalink Reply by Lou "cubancigar2000" on February 25, 2013 at 11:01am

I bought the stew mac blade for my radial arm saw. I do a test on a piece of wood like the fretboard is made of until I get the depth set and then start sawing. It is very fast and slick. Yes the blade is expensive