Official Luthiers Forum!

I had the same problem with my first......getting a good and clean square cut on the nut end of the ebony fingerboard. I always seem to have an imperfect cut line. I tried a Dozuki, a Dovetail, and a Radial arm. Each had their issues. This stuff is like steel.

What is the best way to cut this stuff??

Thanks

_________________
Guitars...One's too many...Twenty is not enough.

The thing I can count most on in my shop is my bench sander. It has a 6 inch wheel in the front. I use my engineer's squares to make sure the guage and the platform are perfectly square to the wheel.

So in my case, assuming the fingerboard hasn't been tapered yet, I would make sure the sides are square (or at least one is) and then I'd give it a little shot on the sander to square up the nut.

It ain't pretty, but it works perfectly for me.

Hope this helps.Alain Desforges39016.9123958333

_________________
I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

I have a blank from an LMI kit. I will try and square it up on my belt sander.

Thanks guys

_________________
Guitars...One's too many...Twenty is not enough.

I just use my fret saw against a straight edged guide.

Ron

_________________
OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

I'm struggling with the same area. My fretboard was pre slotted by LMI, so
I just put a small-kerf saw in the top slot and cut it. But, the kerf of the
saw wasn't exactly the same as the width of the slot, and so the bottom
of the slot had a very small ledge. I VERY carefully filed it to the rest of
the slot.

In your case, I've found that, if you set the file across the edge, and grip
the file in the middle of the board, and move back an forth not allowing
your hand to get to or past the outside edge of either side, you will at
least keep the edges of the fretboard from getting "rounded" or
"chamfered" by the inevitable variance in your back and forth filing
motion. (At least, I'm not that good!). With this technique, you can gently
apply pressure one side or the other to get the thing square. It's a slow
process... perhaps what you need... as it's much harder to go too far.

Then again, maybe this isn't helpful at all. I'm so new at this it's hard for
me to believe that I could actually help any of you guys.

Great forum, though. I love the friendliness.

Doug, do you have a cross cut sled for your table saw? If not they are pretty easy to make and come in really handy for many other tasks. Here's an example of one Table Saw Cross Cut Sled

I use a fine tooth cross cut blade and haven't had any problems.

[QUOTE=old man] I just use my fret saw against a straight edged guide.

Ron[/QUOTE]

yup! works everytime!! you can even do it in a fret slotting jig.

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Cross cut sled and fretsaw blade on the table saw, very accurate.

[QUOTE=Serge Poirier] Cross cut sled and fretsaw blade on the table saw, very accurate.[/QUOTE]

Exactly, that's what I use, works great.

Yup! I slot on the tablesaw so I do it just like Serge. I cut the nut slot deeper than the rest, all most all the way through - it's then pretty easy to finish up wih fret saw.

-Mark

_________________
Pullman, WA

The more I know, the more I know I don't know.

trippguitars.com
OR
Find me on Facebook

Here are my results.......I have one of those Stew-Mac circular fret blades. I put it on my table saw and cut the fretboard. I did this in about 5 passes, back and forth, as I think this is less stressful on the blade than one full 5/16 inch cut through ebony.

I then held a square up to the fretboard and held it up to a light to check for squareness. I was off slightly.

I then put the fretboard on a board to get it up off the table and favored the high side with a sanding plan. I did this with very short stroked being careful to not round over anything.

The result were perfect. Which is still a little below my standards...

Thank you all very much.....as you can see I used little bits of your advise to get a superior results. This was one of my stumbling blocks....not anymore.

Thanks

_________________
Guitars...One's too many...Twenty is not enough.

[QUOTE=Cameron Reddy]

Then again, maybe this isn't helpful at all. I'm so new at this it's hard for
me to believe that I could actually help any of you guys.

Great forum, though. I love the friendliness.[/QUOTE]

Cameron - Don't worry. I'm getting to the age where, when I learn something or have someone tell me, I've forgotten it in 6 months anyway unless I do it every day. I can always be helped. And then you coould come back in 6 months and help me again with the same thing!   

_________________
Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Congrats Doug!