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drilling a hole in a fretboard
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Author:  BmoreTele [ Sat Aug 21, 2010 1:27 pm ]
Post subject:  drilling a hole in a fretboard
This is my first post and that may be obvious in my question.

I would like to drill a small hole in a fretboard without going all the way through the neck. I would like the bottom of the hole to be flat or at least parallel to the fretboard surface.

My thought is to place a hex nut in the hole to allow me to screw a mini capo on to one string. Multiple holes could be used to secure various single, double, triple string capos at various points on the neck.

I imagine you could do all this to the fretboard before attaching it to the neck, but can it be done to an existing neck with fretboard already in place?

Thanks for any help.
Author:  Darrel Friesen [ Sat Aug 21, 2010 10:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: drilling a hole in a fretboard
I've never seen Dan's Ernest. My take on this would be to use a forstner bit from the back of the fretboard which will leave a flat bottomed hole, then drill the hole through the fretboard to accomodate whatever machine screw you're using. Glue the nut into the back of the fretboard. This would be much stronger and less noticeable IMHO. Or you could use the tiny railroad spikes like banjo players use as long as you're not doing string bends :). If your fretboard is already glued on, this would obviously be a lot more work. Machine screw threaded inserts could also be a possibility if this is a completed guitar.
Author:  BmoreTele [ Sat Aug 21, 2010 10:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: drilling a hole in a fretboard
Thanks for the reply.

I'm finding that Forstner bits are a good theoretical solution, except that the smallest ones are 1/4". With a typical electric guitar neck being less that 1 3/4" wide, my plans for five hex nuts per fret will require staggering them.

Tricky, this designing thing.

The individual capos on the Fred Carlson harp guitar in my avatar are on a bass neck with much wider spacing and display a much higher level of skill and advance planning than mine.

http://www.beyondthetrees.com/NDphoto.html

I would like the flexibility to capo individual strings at a wide range over the fret board, but also have the ability to capo two or three of the inside strings at a particular fret.

If wishes were horses ...

I have two old electrics I don't play and it looks like they just volunteered for experimental surgery.
Author:  Bob Garrish [ Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: drilling a hole in a fretboard
Level the neck out carefully and drill the holes with a small end mill in a drill press. It needs to be in a press as they will cut sideways if you freehand them, but they'll leave clean flat-bottomed holes (really round ones, too!).

I don't think the holes need to be flat bottomed, though. Have you considered using round threaded inserts? The bore will align your insert much more reliably than the bottom of the hole, though it's still worth using a mill to get a round hole.
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