Hi everyone! I'm new to the group and the hobby. I have built one simple fretless guitar and want to get into fretting on my next build. I have been ordering supplies from CB gitty and have been very satisfied and I am looking for opinions on whether or not to bite the bullet and get their $90 fret kit or just buy fret wire and a couple other things? How necessary is a fret bevel ? What are your experiences with novice fretting? Also- I have been cutting my necks from wood I get at Home Depot- where can I get wood thin enough to use for fret boards? I don't have a lot of power tools - only a circular saw and drill. Would I be better off just ordering hard wood blanks from gitty ? Thanks so much !!!
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You didn't ask, bubba, but I'm gonna suggest that you order a CB Gitty fret spacing template, too. Takes all the guesswork out of marking your fretboard spacing.
Home Depot has Oak "hobby" boards many folks use for fingerboards. 1 1/2" wide and 1/4" thick. I used 70 or 80 and they work fine. When I first started fretting I used whatever saw I could find, but a fret saw is a good investment. The CB Gitty one is about half the cost of the stew-mac one I use. And a simple miter box that you can make from wood scraps. I use a fretting template and a carpenters square to mark the fret lines. There is lots of good advice in this thread, but I go for cheap and simple and what works. And practice is a good thing.
The cheapest and simplest fret board (besides fretless) is to fret directly on the neck. I wouldn't do it beyond a 3 stringer or a uke as you wouldn't have the extra thickness for strength.
I use a 4 1/2" jewelers saw blade .223 on an old skill saw. I made a jig that that holds a MASTER fret board upside down and sticky tapes a New blank on top. on the bottom of the fret slot in my jig is a razor blade set just to fret slot depth so I slide my MASTER fret board over the Razor blade and the fret slot falls over blade, slide saw across fret board the repeat again and again. I made my jig to have an adjustable height that I can adjust according to different thickness and widths of Fret Board blanks. My Fret Board MASTERS are all cut by hand though. I have used this jewelers blade for maybe 50 fret jobs before I change it out. I bought the blades on EBAY. These are good for Med Frets.
Fretwork with power tools: you will have the problem to get the correct saw blades. For an optimal clean slot you need a saw where the thickness of the blade equals the kerf equals 0.020" to 0.023". For table saws StewMac sells a special blade for hundred bucks, whether you will find a correct blade for a scroll saw, I have my doubts. If you think about building a dozen of cigar box guitar in the next few years, the real power tool for you is Chickenbone John's set with mitre box, ruler, and fret saw for sixtysix bucks. For your first cigar box guitar cbgitty's fret slotting saw is a good investment, with blade thickness equals kerf equals 0.020".
Why a saw blade with thickness equals kerf? With this type of saw blade the sides of the slot are like polished, and the bigger the value of (kerf - blade thickness) the rougher the sides of the slot. For general purposes a value of (kerf - blade thickness) of 0.004" to 0.006" works best, with smaller values the blade tends to stick, with bigger values you may risk a slanted cut, but too you have a chance to correct a deviation from the wanted direction.
Scroll saws work very well for fretting, i've used them often, but i prefer using a handsaw, as i find it not much slower and a lot less likely to miss my mark
First thing you should do is scour craigslist and spend the 90 bucks on a table saw. I picked this one up for 80 and it came with a set of dado blades.
Everyone has the methods well covered. For the first try, take a piece of scrap and mark a few spots to cut your fret slots and give it a try. See how square you are and how deep the slots are. Tap in a fret and bevel it. Check your measurements and see if you are hitting your dimensions and if your fret edge is smooth. If anything is not right, figure out why before you scar a nice neck or fretboard. Or if that sounds too tedious, just go for it!
Replies
Home Depot has Oak "hobby" boards many folks use for fingerboards. 1 1/2" wide and 1/4" thick. I used 70 or 80 and they work fine. When I first started fretting I used whatever saw I could find, but a fret saw is a good investment. The CB Gitty one is about half the cost of the stew-mac one I use. And a simple miter box that you can make from wood scraps. I use a fretting template and a carpenters square to mark the fret lines. There is lots of good advice in this thread, but I go for cheap and simple and what works. And practice is a good thing.
The cheapest and simplest fret board (besides fretless) is to fret directly on the neck. I wouldn't do it beyond a 3 stringer or a uke as you wouldn't have the extra thickness for strength.
I use a 4 1/2" jewelers saw blade .223 on an old skill saw. I made a jig that that holds a MASTER fret board upside down and sticky tapes a New blank on top. on the bottom of the fret slot in my jig is a razor blade set just to fret slot depth so I slide my MASTER fret board over the Razor blade and the fret slot falls over blade, slide saw across fret board the repeat again and again. I made my jig to have an adjustable height that I can adjust according to different thickness and widths of Fret Board blanks. My Fret Board MASTERS are all cut by hand though. I have used this jewelers blade for maybe 50 fret jobs before I change it out. I bought the blades on EBAY. These are good for Med Frets.
Fretwork with power tools: you will have the problem to get the correct saw blades. For an optimal clean slot you need a saw where the thickness of the blade equals the kerf equals 0.020" to 0.023". For table saws StewMac sells a special blade for hundred bucks, whether you will find a correct blade for a scroll saw, I have my doubts. If you think about building a dozen of cigar box guitar in the next few years, the real power tool for you is Chickenbone John's set with mitre box, ruler, and fret saw for sixtysix bucks. For your first cigar box guitar cbgitty's fret slotting saw is a good investment, with blade thickness equals kerf equals 0.020".
Why a saw blade with thickness equals kerf? With this type of saw blade the sides of the slot are like polished, and the bigger the value of (kerf - blade thickness) the rougher the sides of the slot. For general purposes a value of (kerf - blade thickness) of 0.004" to 0.006" works best, with smaller values the blade tends to stick, with bigger values you may risk a slanted cut, but too you have a chance to correct a deviation from the wanted direction.
Scroll saws work very well for fretting, i've used them often, but i prefer using a handsaw, as i find it not much slower and a lot less likely to miss my mark
First thing you should do is scour craigslist and spend the 90 bucks on a table saw. I picked this one up for 80 and it came with a set of dado blades.
Everyone has the methods well covered. For the first try, take a piece of scrap and mark a few spots to cut your fret slots and give it a try. See how square you are and how deep the slots are. Tap in a fret and bevel it. Check your measurements and see if you are hitting your dimensions and if your fret edge is smooth. If anything is not right, figure out why before you scar a nice neck or fretboard. Or if that sounds too tedious, just go for it!
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