Official Luthiers Forum!

How deep should the fret slots be, more or less?

If I use a table saw and make a jig, what blade would be good? I have an 80 something tooth blade, but don't know if that will be good enough.

Hi John, I use the Fret Slotting blade that Stewmac sells with a .023 kerf, Shane at High Mountain Tonewoods has them too.


Depth of cut, it needs to be deeper than your fret tang out at the edges, were the board this thinner due to the radius, so keep that in mind.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

your finish blade is in all probability far to wide for fret slotting. as lance mentions, several of our sponsors. eg s-m, lmi, as well as shane at high mountain tonewood, sell appropriate blades.

one way to determine the depth of cut needed is to prebend a bit of fret to the fb radius, cut it to the length of the widest fret, and measure from a surface to the bead underside. this will give an absolute minimum depth without any allowance for sanding, etc. it is always best to test fit on scrap of the same width and radius to ensure the fit is ok.

Unless you have a radical arch, I find that 3/32" works fine. You may have to do a bit of filling on the edges after the frets are in if you have an unbound fingerboard.
Black shellac stick works great for filling Ebony.