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When you guys put a purfling line inside the binding of a fingerboard, Do you do it the same as the body by routing a channel in the fingerboaord? and how about a side purfling on the fingerboard. I have some idea's about how I'm going to do it but thought I may be overlooking something that might be easier. TIA, John

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John, I've tried it both ways, and like neither.
What finally made more sense to me was to narrow the fretboard just enough and glue on 1/4" tall (tall as the fretboard, ya?) "purfling" strips inside the bindings. These get slotted, like the board, then the bindings get glued on.
If a line is wanted below the bindings, that is glued on to the bindings themselves and applied as a unit. I hope that makes sense. This is a fair amount of tedium, but it certainly does look nice. Steve Kinnaird38393.9870601852

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That's what I was gonna do with the sides but the purfling I want to use on the fingerboard top is only about .90" wide. I may be able to use 2 of them side by side on the side of the fingerboard. And yes I would like to have he purfling sloted. The finger board is already slotted but it would be easy to reslot just the purfling. Thanks for the help, JOhn

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I have a blade for my table saw whose kerf fits ivoroid perfectly. Once I taper the board(thanks Sylvan!), I'll set the fence to 1/16", and run the board once on each side. That gives me a clean channel, 1/16" from the outer edge, to inlay the ivoroid into. At the body's end, I make an ebony cap with the ivoroid added, and everything gets mitered. It's easier than I just described, as it is hard to describe. This is for an unbound, purfled fretboard.

If you want to bind the board after purfling, again, taper it, minus the width of the bindings. Then I set the same blade to just kiss my saw fence(use a sacraficial board to save the fence), set the blade to about 1/8" high, and again, run it once each side, then set the miter gauge, and run the end against the blade, too. Bingo, instant tiny dado cuts. Glue your bindings and pufling at the same time in the normal manner....

If you want to purfle the bottom, I use a flat cut table saw blade(your dado blade will do), and set its height to the thickness of the purflings. Get the fretboard all done up, bound, whatever, then run it along the fence again(the fence will be set right over the blade; again, use a sacraficial piece), so that the blade will cut a neat little dado channel for the pufling.

The table saw is your friend!

A router table can do the above, too, but not nearly as easily...

Thanks Mario, But I alrewady did it. Similar to what you said but using a router table. The purfling I wanted to use is only .90" tall and about .010 thick inside the binding. Tough to get such a small cut but it worked fine. I think I'll give the table saw a try on the side purfling though.
Thanks again, John

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John I have also used the binding cutter and bearings from the LMI kit in the router table. Fretboard mounted on a carrier board for the bearing to ride against. Of coarse the carrier board matches the finger board taper.

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Does anyone have pictures of this procedure? I would love to give it a try, but I am having trouble visualizing it.

Thanks!

Jeff

Excellent ideas, fellas. Thanks! And thanks, John, for bringing up this point.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

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Jeff, I believe what Mario is suggesting is a couple of things.
1st) For a non bound but purfled fingerboard, he cuts a channel down the side of his fingerboard with his table saw that the purfling will fit into, and you would have to have a blade that has the same kerf width as your purfling.
2nd) And in my case I want to put a purfling line down inside the binding but my purfling is not as tall as the fingerboard so I need to cut a shelf. I did this with a router but he suggested setting up the table saw fence so that the blade is partially covered by the fence and just the width and height of the purfling is exposed. Run the fingerboard along the fence and you have a channel.
I did mine with a router but is is basically the same thing

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You got it. Less chance of chipping out using the table saw, too...

You can cut the channel with a thinner kerfed blade, too. All you do is make a pass, then move the fence over a hair or three, and make a second pass. Repeat until the purfling fits...Mario38394.6759837963

Hey, thanks Everyone! Good information. Now, one last question.

I assume that when determing the nut width, 1.75 for instance, you include the total of the fingerboard, purfling and binding. Is this correct?

Thank you.

Jeff

Yes, width == all of it.