Official Luthiers Forum!

Any sources here for fret slotting? Sponsors first, of course. If not, then any "outsiders"?
Thanks.
-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Saint Lutherie does I'm sure, as does John Watkins.

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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.
Only badly."

What is John's shop situation at present? I'd like to talk to him about some things, but don't want to
interrupt him setting up house.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Why are you requesting CNC slotting? Slots cut with a circular saw blade are just as good.

Can buy them slotted or cut them on table saw or get the stew mac rig. Why do they need to be CNC? Are you going with a custom wire or something? This one don't get at all.

Kevin John was here a few days ago and think is getting setup, but bet he wouldn't mind a call, email or pm from you.

Maybe I can slightly modify the question (I hope that is OK). I have some fingerboard blanks - do any sponsors slot/radius fingerboards provided by their customers (regardless of method, which i dont care about as long as done well )?

Thx!

Glenn

Barry,
Good to see you here! I can think of 3 reasons why people want CNC'd fretboards:
1. The want the slot to be cut with the same radius as the fretboard. This way the slot is curved with the radius of the fretboard, and there is no empty space under the fret tang in the middle of the fretboard.
2. Some people don't have the jigs setup for cutting multi scale boards. CNC makes it quick and painless.
3. Some like to have a faux fretboard binding built into the fretboard. This is basically a binding channel cut into the edge of the fretboard to inlay purfling.

Oh yea, forgot about reason #4, people are just lazy

J., forgot to mention that Greg German in the CO Luthiers has a CNC and he does his own fretboards. He may be able to do some for you. Contact him at germanguitars.com.

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

#2 isn't an issue for me, but I'd stick accuracy in there. #1 and #3 are the big reasons for CNC cut slots. I could make a jig to cut the same style of slots manually, but I don't know if the sales would justify the time to make the things.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Tracy thanks for that!

Glenn I have sent "special" BRW boards to John Watkins before because I wanted the faux binding treatment. I think that Bob does this too.

Kevin I have not heard anything lately about John's status - I suspect that he will let us know when he is in a position to entertain orders.

Thanks guys. I'll drop John a note. I just didn't want to bug him knowing that he's busy enough with other things right now. I'll also check out some of the other guys offering similar services.



There is no problem asking about CNC services and who to seek out for them. Table saw cuts are fine for fret slots and I had a great arbor saw that cut all 22 fret slots in on pass for almost 20 years....complete with six preset arbors for different scale lengths that could be quickly swapped out with no set up time necessary. It was copied directly off of the one that Jim D'Aquisto had in his shop.

I slotted almost 2000 fingerboards to my scale lengths before I sold it a couple of years ago and keep almost 500 tapered and radiused here in my shop. The spacers that I'd machined for all of the arbors held each blade on center to within .0003" of their intended locations.

The beauty of the CNC work is that nice faux binding deal that cannot be achieved on the table saw or by any other method. If you don't ask...you'll never learn....right? It's more accurate and cleaner than the results you can achieve with a saw...every time. You can bang our head against the wall working with the blind running table saw units with their sloppy notches and pins or just shop it out until you get set up with a rig that will serve you well in house.

I don't think looking for someone to CNC cut them is a matter of laziness at all, but one of practicality. If you can source the piece out to someone who is set up to do it...and do it accurately and at a reasonable price....why not source it out until you're ready to set a rig up in your own shop to get it done.

The question made perfect sense to me.


Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars