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- Location
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Time to get off my duff on making Cigar Box Guitars for Christmas gifts. I recalled the slot cutting jig used in this bass build by Dave Black and thought my Corian scraps could be put to good use. Here's my version:
A few counter top scraps:
Some Helicoil threaded inserts and 10 x 24 machine bolts with washers and lock washers. Slots allow for lateral adjust-ability:
Rounding a few corners and shortening sides to allow clamping room, if needed. The fret saw rides on the top of the jig, which is sized to cut the slots 1/32" deeper than the flange of the fret wire. I hope that's deep enough. If not, I can add shim stock under the template to deepen the cut.
Squaring up the side that will be fixed in place:
The small pin that will index to the fretting template:
Some double sided tape on the bottom of the fret board to hold it on the template:
Voila! We have a fret board. A test run on a 1.5" wide fret board (using scraps of Brazilian Koa left over from a flooring job...I left the finish on to see if it would work). The StuMac template is on the bench with double sided tape on it to hold the wood blank. I discovered that is not enough tape because I could feel the blank move:
The stack of fret board blanks. Various lengths 3" wide planed to .27" thick. I should be able to get a few guitars out of this.
A few counter top scraps:
Some Helicoil threaded inserts and 10 x 24 machine bolts with washers and lock washers. Slots allow for lateral adjust-ability:
Rounding a few corners and shortening sides to allow clamping room, if needed. The fret saw rides on the top of the jig, which is sized to cut the slots 1/32" deeper than the flange of the fret wire. I hope that's deep enough. If not, I can add shim stock under the template to deepen the cut.
Squaring up the side that will be fixed in place:
The small pin that will index to the fretting template:
Some double sided tape on the bottom of the fret board to hold it on the template:
Voila! We have a fret board. A test run on a 1.5" wide fret board (using scraps of Brazilian Koa left over from a flooring job...I left the finish on to see if it would work). The StuMac template is on the bench with double sided tape on it to hold the wood blank. I discovered that is not enough tape because I could feel the blank move:
The stack of fret board blanks. Various lengths 3" wide planed to .27" thick. I should be able to get a few guitars out of this.