Official Luthiers Forum!

Ok, so I order 4 RW fingerboards. When they arrived, they turned out to be rough sawn. All sides. They are parallel top/bottom and just over 1/4" thick. What do I do next? Do I send these thru the planner (or plane them on the jointer)? Do I just surface sand them? What is my next steps of prep before slotting them? Eventually I will do a 12" radius to them. The last time I slotted my own boards was a long time ago and the boards were already S4 sanded.

Will the rosewood dull my knives?

Thanks,
Joe

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Joe

I would send them back. Fretboards should start out closer to 3/8", or at minimum 5/16", and that's when they are surfaced on both faces. Typically, most builders (or at least most that I know) go for a finished thickness in the middle of 1/4".
No need to tell us who sold them to you...as some folks wouldn't mind them that thin, but not me.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
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Joe…my preference is a belt sander provided the platen is long enough to accommodate the fingerboard from end to end. I use a 60 grit belt to level it fast and to minimize heat buildup. Some double stick tape on a flat piece of wood is all that is needed for a jig.
(I don’t recommend this but I just hold the finger board and omit the jig)
I have used my planner using a solid sled underneath for support and scraps at both ends to compensate for planner snip. I have also done it with the jointer, but the sander works out best for me and is much faster when all is said and done.

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Rich S

"The inconvenience of poor quality will linger long after the thrill of a bargain has been forgotten"

Thanks. I should have read the description better or asked more questions. My fault for being a homer-simpson. I will try a few of the methods mentioned above.

Thanks again.

Joe

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Joe

Rosewood planes nicely. I'd run it through to get a good smooth surface on each side. Then pick the nicer looking side for the top surface. I then add a shim under each underside edge, one side at a time with double sided tape. Run it through the planer again at the same thickness last used for the flat surfacing. Do each edge and gradually and slowly lower the cutters. You can get your "rough" radius this way, then finish it with a radiused sanding block. Then i cut the slots.
How do some of you others do it?

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

I get them rough sawn but thicker from the supplier. I run one side across the jointer with a special pusher I made. Then I run it through the thickness sander do do the other side and bring to just over 1/4" Then I true up one edge on the jointer and cut the other edge to proper width on the table saw. Slot with the Sylvan Wells table saw jig and LMI blade and template (first cut is the nut), cut to length, radius with a router jig, and taper with the Wells table saw jig. They wind up 1/4" in the middle.
Terry

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