Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chuck Cobillas on August 18, 2012 at 10:33am

I have the Stewmac frt saw and I am happy with it. I just saw Bluesheart's post and didn't realize Harbor Freight had one for only $10.

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on August 18, 2012 at 10:57am

As I recall, the Stemac fret saw has some kind of depth stop to keep you from sawing your fret slots too deep. With the Harbor Freight saw, you don't get that thingy. If you are good at drilling accurate holes in metal saw blades you could drill your own holes in the drill blade and then go to Tap Plastics and buy a suitably shaped piece of plastic, drill 2 holes in it at the appropriate place and mount the plastic to your saw and have an equivalent stop mechanism. Or, you can do what I do and just wing it. Don't kick yourself if you found a cheaper fret saw. A good fret saw with the stop mechanism allows you to cut fret slots more accurately and will give you more confidence than trying to wing it with a similar sized saw blade.

-Rand.

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Permalink Reply by wormil on August 18, 2012 at 9:17pm

That's a good idea, I have plastic and I can drill holes, going to make a depth stop for my saw.

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on August 19, 2012 at 3:33am

Let us know how it turns out. I haven't done it before (make my own depth stop thingy for a Harbor freight saw).

-Rand.

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Cobillas on August 19, 2012 at 3:49am

Yea, I'm not too sure if a standard drill bit will go through the hardened steel of a saw blade very easily. I'm interested in hearing how it goes too!

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Permalink Reply by Nobby 1974 on August 20, 2012 at 9:40pm

I wonder if you could save yourself the trouble of drilling by making a wooden or plastic block which fits over the top of the blade and then slap some cyanoacrylate on to hold it in place.

I've not tried it, but if ya took a block of wood or plastic which was deeper than the blade, then cut a groove into it which is the depth of the blade minus the depth you want your frets, then flipped that over the top of the blade and glued it on, that might work too. I'd rather cut wood or plastic than drill a blade!

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Permalink Reply by Hal Somervill on August 21, 2012 at 12:08pm

My first builds (about 20) used a Piezo Pickup and mono jack because it was cheap and easy. However, the sound was REALLY limited and a lot of pedals don't like the Piezo's. I then tried a single coil pickup with a volume control and it's a whole 'nother world! Check out this site (Cigar Box Nation) for wiring diagrams and look on eBay for the single coil pickups. They are very inexpensive and give a whole lot better sound. Just my 2 cents worth.

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Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on August 21, 2012 at 12:21pm

Hey, the Japanese pull saw works really well. For depth, I just put a bright light at the end of the fretboard and saw straight across until you no longer see any light through the teeth and stop! Perfect depth every time!

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on August 22, 2012 at 6:04am

Maplin also do them for about £1.49 ku49 from memory... use 2 is best, there are loads of clever ways to stop them picking up unwanted vibrations... maybe somone could elaborate?

There are some shots of these on my very first build video from memory.

I tend to ue a big and a small together. Also a 230v buzzer coil or almost any coil can work as a magnetic pickup if you have a big enough NI magnet and a steel screw through it...

Piezo is easiest by far.. and can be stuck on with double sided if needs be.... but you might need a decent amp with  pre amp to get it loud enough.   

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