Aloha all. Haven't posted in awhile, which means things have been going smoothly, until now.
Using a new C.B. Gitty fret saw, I cut my slots as always, excepting I have a new fret wood, sapele, that I am trying out. As I started laying in the fret wire, it almost press fit into the slot, without hammering. Every slot, not like I just made a sloppy cut on one or two slots.
I had only one choice, gluing in the fret wire, something I never do. In the past I have been using mostly koa or mango for the fretboards, without encountering this problem.
I measured the thickness of the fret saw blade compared to my old, dull one, and they were basically the same.
Has anyone else had a situation like this occur? At this point I am assuming that the sapele has more of a tendency to tear out, but I'm just guessing. It's a very nice wood and I would like to use it if I can figure out the solution to this problem.
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Don't get Sapele here Michael, but i can say some woods definitely grip frets better than others, tear out on such a fine tooth blade would be a bit odd, all i can suggest is make sure your saw is not rocking side to side as you cut, opening the kerf etc, also , maybe a bit of beeswax or olive oil on your blade might help, but check to make sure it's compatible with whatever finish you intend to use first, i do know others have used sapele for fretboards, and don't recall hearing of this issue with sapele particularly. Pretty sure when everyone wakes up, someone will give you a better answer.
Thank you Darryl. I think you are probably right that the saw may be rocking side to side. I am using a Gitty fret mitre box, and the saw sits somewhat loosely in the slot of the box. I am thinking I might be needing a more sophisticated fret mitre box to hold the saw more tightly. The saw buzzed through the sapele very quickly and I may have just gotten a little cocky at how easily it was going through the wood and was careless.
Thanks, I always appreciate your thoughtful comments. I'm going to try the square.
troubleshooting basics, change 1 thing at a time till it works
101: try a scrap of a different type of wood, cut a slot exactly the same way and install a fret from the exact same batch of fret wire. If its tight, its the wood, it its loose its the slot or the fret's tang
102: the same cutting technique, and a fret wire from a different batch. it its tight now, it was the old fret wire tang, if its still loose its likely the slot
103: try to improve your slot cutting technique to not wander/waver/see-saw using a better rig. If its tight now you're golden, if its still loose your saw might be the culprit.
Thanks, JL. You are right about the troubleshooting basics. After "fretting" about it all yesterday, I am doing exactly that this morning.
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