Building DC Guitars - Episode 13 | Marking out and cutting fret slots

In this episode I demonstrate how I mark out and cut fret slots by hand on a fretboard that has been radiused and glued on to the neck of the guitar. I am publishing episodes in this series at least weekly, please subscribe for future episodes.
Website - www.adfinlayson...
Tools
.5mm mechanical pencil | amzn.to/2LNgn0H
Incra protractor | rover.ebay.com...
Crimson protractor | crimsonguitars...
4 in 1 fret rule | crimsonguitars...
Crimson razor saw | crimsonguitars...
Fret saw | rover.ebay.com...

[@Jinnuksuk]

It's rather a daunting thought/task being a perfectionist. I sawed off and planed my fretboard width leaving about 2.5mm headroom on either side because I'm going to be making inlays that go over the edge and I want to be sure that when I'm shaving it all off down to final width, everything (neck, fretboard, inlays) will be flush flat after gluing. My issue is that I live in the middle of nowhere and I have to make do with scraps and $5 tools having their imperfections in mind (there's a delivery team along the way that is destroying packages and my last orders were absolutely demolished... I spent a month sanding, hammering, flattening my $400 jack plane and the crazy glue was smashed empty upon arrival). Also I have precut preradiused stainless steel jumbo fretwires with the end tangs cut and I plan to try to cut the fret slots inside the fretboard instead of sawing the entire width to hide the fret slots. So far I've found NO human being in the youtube world who cuts fret slots inside the width of the fretboard. I haven't cut the fretboard length to size yet and so far I have a couple of practice cuts on the excess lengths using a fret saw (one entire width and one inside the width) and I'm struggling to find a way to keep em right.

[@ADFinlayson]

That's because it's hard to do without cnc, binding is the easiest way to go if you want the tangs hidden. SS frets with binding can be a bastard to install neatly though.

[@Jinnuksuk]

@@ADFinlayson I did think about binding the edges with the excess but I'm trying to eliminate as much glue as I can and also that would defeat the purpose of edge over inlay design I have in mind. I suppose I will find a way in time... I've been enjoying watching a lot of clever DIY tools and workarounds and most people take learning, thinking and problem solving for granted. It's been a good journey, really. I honestly never thought I'd ever get into wood working but now I'm a proud owner of three hand planes, a spoke shave, a plunge router, dremel set and fretting tools.

[@poshdan1988]

I attempted to cut fret slots by hand earlier. I have a crimson fretsaw/scale template. It didn’t go to plan, I’m going to fill them in with ebony dust and superglue and start again. Any tips for a clumsy idiot? Tempted to just pick up a slotting jig as I’ll hopefully be doing these quite often

[@ADFinlayson]

I had to do that for a couple of slots on my first build, at least ebony is quite forgiving

[@FranzSzymanski]

What kind of tolerance do you have for fret slot distances?

[@ADFinlayson]

I don’t these days, I use a tablesaw and template

[@Leonard.J.Mills.]

I would like to send you some Rosewood fretboard samples. Would you be interested?

[@ADFinlayson]

Sure, send me a PM

[@Leonard.J.Mills.]

@@ADFinlayson please excuse my ignorance. How do you send a private message (PM)

[@ADFinlayson]

@@Leonard.J.Mills. Good question, you can send me a message on facebook facebook.com/adfinlayson/

[@DavidImrie]

@9:25 *eyeballs those big slabs of wood over your shoulder

[@ADFinlayson]

That is 2 walnut billets to be resawn for carve tops and a one-piece figured walnut body for an up-coming tele build

[@riccardomoni3598]

Ma per favore...🤣