How To Build An Acoustic Guitar Episode 28 (Cutting The Fret Slots!)

[@matthewjaymz]

That double sided tape technique alone earned a subscribe. Thank you!

[@karelenhenkie666]

For the people getting into this, a canule works perfectly fine as lubricant. Just run your sawteeth over it gently before every cut. Last really long and and also works great on the bottom of a handplane.

[@alexandriashannon7438]

I have a radial arm saw with the table saw blade, its setup for that and nothing else. I may only use it once or twice a year however, its totally worth it. The best shop investment I ever made.

[@mcmoizie]

Nice video - new shop looks great. Good health to enjoy it!

[@PaulK813]

Every time you dropped the saw into those bearings, it killed me a little. Just so you know, that flattens the set of your saw teeth and chews up your bearings a tiny bit each time. I would highly recommend inserting the saw from the front instead. Love the series!

[@torind2000]

should build a thing to capture that wood dust for future drop fills!

[@joshuapaulsen7414]

Happy to see you guys are still alive. And...great episode as well. Don't go MIA for that long again, or calls will be made by your supporters.

[@TommyAlanRaines]

Been waiting for a new vid on this and having it land on my birthday- Awesome! Keep Orange Crushing It!

[@waynejohnson4819]

Thanks for more great instructions. I radius my fretboards to 16 inches and then use the fret slotting jig again to deepen the fret slots to create enough depth for fitting the frets. Do you radius your fretboard?

[@MrJules39]

I used to be subscribed to you but for some reason I no longer am. I haven't unsubscribed myself, so not sure if KZbin somehow did it. I also noticed channels in my subscription list that I've never heard of or subscribed to. Just thought I'd let you know in case it could affect your numbers. Oh, and I've "re"subscribed to you now!

[@JoshRoxton]

No ways. I thought to my self, hmmm, I wonder when they will put up the next vid for this build. Checked in and boom. Amped!

[@colin2648]

Love to see what you guys are up to! Thank you, please keep posting!

[@dunhamchris]

Awesome - keep the videos coming - great stuff

[@bluesfool1]

I just ordered one of these, and I’m really excited to see it in action. My question is how much extra depth do you set to account for the radius fretboard? Like a 16 “ radius….??

[@kapstersmusic]

Hey, is that a Stratocaster shaped object hanging in the foreground? When will those be available?

[@rauschguitars]

I have a guide like that from a different manufacturer. It may seem like an expensive purchase, but it's worth it in terms of speed and accuracy. If you're planning on building more than one guitar (and let's face it, you will want to build more after the first one), I think it's well worth the investment. Now if only someone could come up with a multi-scale version...

[@CMRWoodworks]

I’ve had the same thought! I’m planning a fan fret guitar and was thinking it’d be awesome if there were a version for that. I’ll be laying them out and cutting freehand. I saw someone on KZbin use on of these jigs for a fan fret. They just angled the fretboard enough to line up with the saw for each fret, so no template, but I guess at least the saw stays 90 degrees.

[@rauschguitars]

@@CMRWoodworks You may have seen that in my last video. In hindsight it wasn't worth it. It took way too long to line everything up, and since you need to partially disassemble the guide, it's difficult to get the saw to follow the line. I did my next multiscale freehand which was much faster and worked out just as well, if not better.

[@CMRWoodworks]

Oh yeah, it must have been your video. I’ve only seen it done once so it’s gotta be. Well, it was a good idea. Thanks for the feedback on how it worked. I’ll stick with freehand!

[@CastlebayNet_Music]

@@CMRWoodworks I used my sliding table fret saw miter box to cut two scales into the edges of a couple of aluminum flat bars, 1/2" x 1/8". I used 25-1/2" and 27". I clamped these to the edges of the fingerboard as saw guides. One beauty of this system is that you can put your "zero" fret anyplace just by sliding the bars. I used the tenth fret. Another time I think I would go for the seventh fret.

[@LilyJaneH]

I haven’t bought one of these yet. My scale is far too low to justify the price. The way I get around not having one of these is by buying my fretboards from LMI. You can get them to customize fretboards for you. They will cut fret spot slots and do simple radii on fretboards for not too much money. They do custom scale lengths and any number of frets, too The big reason I haven’t bought a jig yet is because I haven’t built any instruments with the same scale length yet, so I don’t exactly know which scale length template to get. I’m just working on ukuleles at the moment.

[@DriftwoodGuitars]

I did the same thing for years. The markup isn’t bad for the service and the end result is the same as if you did it yourself. Wish I’d have mentioned that in the video.

[@okayguitarplayer]

How does radiusing work with that jig when the saw wants to cut straight across?

[@evertthebassist]

Hey everyone. Would like your opinion. I am currently storing my 12 string acoustic in the case with a humidifier etc. I really would like to hang it on my wall with my electrics and basses, because i play it quite often an then i need to take it out of the case... my question, will it be bad for the guitar if I store it on the wall instead?

[@CastlebayNet_Music]

What's your indoor humidity season by season. A guitar can take more humidity better than it can take drying out. In New England, where I live, the indoor air in the winter gets bone-dry. I would not hang an acoustic on a wall here. If your guitar was built under normal humidity (can we assume that Taylor, Martin, et. al. have humidity under control in their factories?) then you might be safe hanging an acoustic on the wall if you live in a place that is more humid. As the guitar takes up moisture the soundboard will swell somewhat which, for one thing, will affect your setup but probably won't do any damage. If the guitar dries out the soundboard can develop cracks because as the wood shrinks the edges are locked by the sides. It has been unseasonably warm and damp here this fall. I just planed out a harp soundboard last night and hung it in my drying closet, which is heated by a lightbulb. When I put it in it measured 43-1/4". Less than twenty-four hours later it is 42-1/2". A guitar is only 14"-16" wide but the same percentage of shrinking would still be over 1/4" across the lower bout.

[@dalgguitars]

1:44 He said tang. He He.

[@CastlebayNet_Music]

Hey Chris, you might be interested in this video, at least the first 4 or 5 minutes. It's a DIY fret cutting miter box with a sliding table that (theoretically) allows you do dial in the frets to 0.001". kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6qxfZqjoraVrbM The beauty of this jig is that you can do any string length, not just the standard scales.

[@andrewbloom1768]

When is the next Q&A??

[@AlanElias350]

Masking tape is cheap. But that number 20 stewmac glue is the price of a roll of double sided tape

[@IainHC1]

25.4 is actually 1 inch.

[@fractalaudio4956]

Welcome to DriftMac Guitars

[@scaira60]

That fret cutting setup is more like $500 But Its worth the investment if you are going to build slot of guitars.

[@smokerx893]

3001 year old guitar. *fixed*

[@juliachild9377]

That fret-slotting miter box is absolute garbage for the price. It's a pain to get it properly setup, the adjustment mechanisms are cheap plastic, and there's a lot of play on their bass template. It's definitely in the top 5 ridiculously overpriced items that StewMac sells. You're better off making your own or just freehand cutting them. Their Japanese saw is pretty crap too.

[@DriftwoodGuitars]

I couldn’t disagree more. I’ve had several iterations of this jig through the years, and they always give me clean and super accurate cuts, with very little issues at all. Not discounting your experience, but I just haven’t had the same experience.

[@Overit5000]

I did most of my guitars this way and let me say EVERYONE, BUY THE TABLE SAW BLADE 😂