Official Luthiers Forum!

Do any of you have more info on the process and jig used in creating the alignment pins for registering a fretboard and neck? The first few guitars I build with fretboard that Ken Cirep machined, and if I believe my Birkonium fretboards have had the same.

I'd like to be able to use the same pins on my necks and fingerboards I make in the shop as the positive placement of the fretboard is really nice when gluing with epoxy.

Michael Greenfield uses one at 25:29 in the documentary about Greenfield Guitars.

https://youtu.be/sAeXskZHC2o



Any info greatly appreciated.

I have used one like that for probably 13 years and it works well. I just cut a surrogate fretboard, installed centerline 1/4" dowel pins and placed two 1/8" drill bushings in the appropriate locations.

After drilling the holes in the neck I clamp the fretboard to the other side making sure the centerlines line up, the nut end is flush, and drill the fretboard holes with a stopped 1/8" drill.

I use 1/8" wooden dowel for the pins. It is best to glue them in with the fretboard in place and lined up properly to ensure they stay put during actual gluing. If I didn't do that they could shift a little with clamping the fretboard.

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Look up the luthier forum fretboard jig on YouTube.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is this the one James?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bfwUvSc6E4

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

That's the one! I can't tell you how much I wish I'd picked one up when they were developed.

The alignment holes are very convenient, I got to use those when I built my last acoustic using one of Andy Birko's neck/fretboard combos.

The alignment jig looks nice but there is a jig-less alternative that I think works just as well. I usually make my own fretboards/necks so I don't get the luxury of the 1/4" index holes. After the fretboard is slotted and tapered I clamp it into position dry then drill 1/16" index holes in the slots at the 1st and 10th frets; waxed 1/16" stainless steel pins hold the board in position for gluing. I pull the pins after the glue sets. I find it works just as good as the 1/4" indexing holes.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Colin and James, that's exactly what I was looking for.

Dual-use for the fret slotting template is great.

I've been working out a jig for this. Here are the things that I think are important:

1. Conceptually, the jig works best if you use both faces of the jig. When you are drilling the holes into the fingerboard, you drill down through one face of the jig, but when you use the jig to drill the matching holes in the neck, you drill down through the opposite face of the jig. You can use just one face if you are drilling the index holes at the center line, but I won't be able to do that, because my truss rod is in the way. Since my holes will be offset from the center line, I need to use both faces of the jig, as I just described, to keep the holes lined up precisely. Putting the index holes a small distance from the outer edge of the truss rod slot (maybe 1/8") makes sense to me. If you go too far out toward the edge, the depth of the index hole becomes a factor to worry about.

2. Since I will be using both faces of the jig, whatever bushing I use for the index holes need to sit flush with both faces of the jig. In other words, I have to use steel bushings that are no thicker than the jig.

3. The jig has to reference off of the nut position and the center line. If I want to make all fingerboards the same exact size, I can just line up the edges and not worry about the center line, but that feels unrealistic to me. Not all my necks will wind up the same size. But I can use the same jig for all fingerboards (within reason) if I reference off the nut position and the center line. This increases the importance of accurate markings for both of those references, on all three parts: the neck, the fingerboard, and the jig.

4. Making the index pins out of short stubs of 1/8" wooden dowels makes the most sense to me. 1/8" bushings are easy to get, as are 1/8" dowels. They are small enough to not take up a lot of room, and large enough to provide solid indexing.

I can post photos after I put this together, but these are my design considerations so far.

I made my own also out of clear acrylic. At least I think it's acrylic, it had been sitting around the shop for a while.
Mine does align on the truss rod groove with a scribe line to align for the nut on the neck blank.
For the fretboard I draw a line down the middle, drill 1/4" fixture holes at the ends which also aligns on my fretting templates.
My bushings sit up a bit and I didn't feel this was a problem as long as the holes were a snug fit to the hardened drill bushings.
I have added different holes by the neck joint to allow for different scale lengths. The holes by the nut remain constant.
I use an 1/8" drill also and make my mounting pins out of ebony.
I used to do everything on the mill but making a repeating fixture assures that everything mates up perfectly. There is also the benefit that one fixture replaces several.