Measuring, Marking and Cutting Fret Slots - THE EASY WAY!

[@meadish]

I'd humbly take off my hat if I had one; your tips are extremely valuable to me as a cash-strapped beginner builder without any experienced luthiers around to ask in person. Thank you!

[@KingBespokeCreations]

@@meadish very glad I could help 👍

[@james9789]

You've packed an amazing amount of useful information into just 6 minutes thanks v much.

[@KingBespokeCreations]

It’s what I ride myself on. Common sense to the core!

[@adairguitars]

I always forget about using a marking knife, until I see people using them in videos. Great tips!

[@unktopia]

I'm glad I found someone telling me to radius the fretboard first instead of doing it flat like I had been reading. The this thing I couldn't understand about doing it while flat is how to calculate the distance I'd need to make sure the depth is deep enough after radiusing. As in if you cut to the correct depth and then radius the closer to the edge you get the shallower the depth is now going to be.

[@KingBespokeCreations]

Absolutely. And if you do cut deep enough for the radius, then the centre will be deeper than it needs to be 👍

[@plainnpretty]

I’m a woodcarver I’m carving a 40” Viking ship now .I never built a guitar couldn’t play one if I could build one. But you have got me to thinking.I really like you and your videos . Thanks for sharing

[@KingBespokeCreations]

Thanks! I can’t play guitar either!! 😂

[@plainnpretty]

Lol

[@mountris7can]

God bless you Sir,you've been very helpful to me with your video, while I'm having my early experience of two years in making baglamas and mandolins.👏👌

[@TheGlaude09]

For fret slots, I'm using a small Japanese dozuki saw, with a length of 150mm and a 0.5mm kerf, it works like a charm. The brand is Shogun. It costs much less than a luthier's fret slotting saw and has other applications too.

[@KingBespokeCreations]

That’s cool to know, thanks 👍

[@james9789]

@@TheGlaude09 I use a similar Japanese saw they are excellent.How do you gauge your depth for the frets with this saw?

[@TheGlaude09]

@@james9789 You can use some masking tape to mark the depth.

[@james9789]

@@TheGlaude09 That's good enough for me excellent thanks 👍.

[@meadish]

Do you have a link to your saw by any chance, or a model name or serial no? There seems to be different kerfs and not so easy to find the right one.

[@chadandrews98]

Thanks! Very helpful.

[@KingBespokeCreations]

My pleasure 👍

[@peachmelba1000]

Remember, even if you use a knife, fractions of millimeters accuracy is _impossible_ to actually hit. Don't sweat the fractions too much. Halves or fulls. The saw itself is half a millimeter wide anyway.

[@mandowarrior123]

Here's a tip for you generally- its common enough to hammer the splayed teeth on your saw especially on those japanese ones to remove or reduce the splay. I imagine the pull saw would work for this then the reason the western ones come splayed more is if you're inexperienced with them it is likely to bind so the splay reduces this. I'm pretty sure Paul Sellers taught me this many years ago for tenon saws, how to make the cheap ones cut well. If you're doing fine joinery you really benefit from no splay. I'd say one if the big advantages of japanese pull saws is you can press them on a flat and saw off dowels tenons etc flush, but that only works if your teeth are not splayed. Hope this helps! Oh- and no reason you can't just file a tool to the dimensions you want. Its no different to sharpening your chisel, again if you've removed the splay. Also we have thin pull saws in the west too for thin cuts, in between a tenon and a hacksaw. All japanese saws are pull cut so they vary between fine work and typical hand saw. I'm pretty sure their tenon saw equivalent are usually single edged- and they probably come flush cutting.

[@mandowarrior123]

Looked it up, a typical japanese dovetail pull saw is 0.3mm kerf with a 0.2mm blade.

[@KingBespokeCreations]

All good stuff 👍

[@vividcolourfilms1276]

Thank you, very useful tips and great video.

[@KingBespokeCreations]

My pleasure, thanks

[@barrychristian4050]

If you're brave and the saw is cheap enough (that it doesn't matter) you can reduce/flatten the curf of the saw by hammering the teeth on a hard surface. It becomes a flush cutting saw but if the blade is the right size then why not

[@KingBespokeCreations]

That is true, use the rag in can to keep it running smooth

[@ChrisFranklyn]

I used an actual fret saw on my first few guitars. The coping saw kind. With a narrow blade. It worked really well actually. Also - nice step in video quality Chris!

[@KingBespokeCreations]

Thanks bud. So weird getting into different software!

[@jamescopeland5358]

Good video

[@KingBespokeCreations]

Thanks 👍

[@rayrayokmusic]

Good one Chris. Makes me wonder if my fretting jig is a little too complicated. 😂

[@KingBespokeCreations]

Er…. Yep! 😂

[@thewoundedcrow7846]

Hi! Love your channel and appreciate the great content, learning a ton from you. My question is a 020 inch kerf dovetail saw should work fine for cutting frets yes? Thanks!!

[@KingBespokeCreations]

Hi, thanks for the comment 👍. Yes it should work, it’s the kerf size not the saw type that’s important. Try it on a scrap piece first to make sure.

[@brCharlieNagy]

great video, thanks. Is it hard to cut frets ...?

[@KingBespokeCreations]

@@brCharlieNagy no, most will cut with snips and file flat. Unless you go with stainless steel, which are a lot tougher.

[@rob-the-goose]

awesome tips video!! this helped so much!!

[@KingBespokeCreations]

My pleasure 👍

[@davi11994]

thanks!

[@KingBespokeCreations]

👍

[@2194steve]

Hi I can’t find the fretboard calculator on Apple? Can you help please.

[@KingBespokeCreations]

Looks like they’ve taken it off! I’m now terrified it disappears on my iPad over night! Still lots of web versions. I think stewmac have one

[@franckydookie]

Just building my first bass, i was thinking about making fret slots before the radius when its flat, making the radios, then cutting again the slots. Weird idea or not ?

[@KingBespokeCreations]

A lot of people would do that. Know lots of ways to do a task and settle on the one you like!

[@franckydookie]

@@KingBespokeCreations thanks for the answer man, just subbed, great content 😎

[@magicvideosforbook8357]

take a small block and a small clamp and put the ruler on it's side, way more accurate!!!

[@KingBespokeCreations]

Mmm, might try that. Thanks

[@marioduron4376]

Good job on the presentation and I like your joke. I'm from Oregon and it's good to say Cheers from Oregon country. Also I get a feeling that you may be more a part of America that was told. Vashon island was a British built colony originally and it is held secret. In my opinion Astoria must have been secretly founded by the British as well. There's a lot of secrets and I'm just getting the theme of the fibs. Just curious if there is any history told of British founding towns in the Pacific Northwest? I got the idea that the British have the secrets of StoneHenge and that is necessary knowledge in raising the pyramid complex. Eventually I foresee the British running the government, simply because they had engineered the underground tunnels. And they must have some secrets of how the industrial dynamic is ranked. Though I don't really expect the British to understand the heritage of America. For one problem is the fear that Europeans have of American Indians. Any way I got a feeling that you're connected to the Astoria Column. There's actually no explanation as to the creation of the Astoria Column. I have my own theory which would sound crazy. But it could be that there will be a reclaim laid from a higher power. Britain from the future perhaps. Anyway thanks for the tips in the video. And they will be all I need for now. I have a few guitar and bass projects going now. And I'm ready to get into building electric uprights pretty soon. Cheers!

[@KingBespokeCreations]

Glad I could help 👍

[@GodzillaGoesGaga]

How do people cut fret slots that don’t go to the edges of the board ? The ones where the tangs are (undecut) slightly shorter than the fret tops ?

[@KingBespokeCreations]

You put a binding strip along the edge after the fret slots have been cut.

[@GodzillaGoesGaga]

@@KingBespokeCreations Thanks for the response. Binding is not the answer I was looking for as that’s not a blind fret slot. That’s a bound fretboard. I have found the answer and FYI, it’s either CNC Milled or laser cut.

[@KingBespokeCreations]

@@GodzillaGoesGaga like cheating really then! 🤣👏

[@GodzillaGoesGaga]

@@KingBespokeCreations It depends if you are willing to move with the times or you want to whittle your lute out of old spruce felled with an axe whilst sitting around a campfire I guess!! Get the mead out !! 😉🍺👍

[@user-ze7sj4qy6q]

formula for everybody measuring fret lengths by hand, when ur measuring a fret, its distance from the nut = the scale - (the scale / 2 ^ (which number fret it is / 12)). so for the second fret on a 22" scale guitar, its distance from the nut = 22 - (22 / 2^(2/12)). and for u microtonal freaks out there like me, which is why i figured out the formula, u can substitute 12 for ur preferred division of the octave. so 24 to double your frets and access the half sharp/flats. but 31edo is beautiful, albiet probably cramped. something smaller like 7edo could be sick just to see whatsup with it. idk u all probably have ur preferred tets i dont have to tell you whatsup if you read this far.

[@HenryCabotHenhouse3]

First go to a table, app, rule, etc. Yeah, I don't have any of that, I want to know how the old masters did it from scratch. How does one find the first fret? One can use the tangent method from there, but how to find that first cut with an unknown scale length? Do tell...

[@davidodle782]

What scale did you use

[@KingBespokeCreations]

It’s a 16” scale

[@davidodle782]

Was that with the specific measurements?

[@KingBespokeCreations]

@@davidodle782 I used 406.4mm on my app that no longer appears to be available! Lots of websites will calculate any scale length you fancy though. 👍

[@rockeyjohnson2751]

I am still having a hard time understanding why I can't use just a normal saw to cut the fret slots and curve it myself can someone help explain this to me.

[@KingBespokeCreations]

A normal saw is just too thick. The slot that it would cut would the frets falling out.

[@ilyasnamozov2914]

OK some lifehack for poor guitar builders like me: if you cant afford a 0.54 saw, buy a cheap 1 mm saw and flatten its teeth with pliers so it will be about 0.6-0.7, which is acceptable for fretting.