Shop Built Fingerboard Radius Jig

[@keetlarsson970]

Thanks for the information. You helped give me the idea to use my Bridgeport mill and a couple of homemade 16' radius rotating saddles for a jig.

[@johnford7847]

As always, informative and useful information. Thanks, Kevin.

[@sambow4u]

Absolutely Brilliant ! I do wish you would do a in depth vid. on Slotting The fret board ! The measurements , The depth , the whole smear from a blank piece of wood to a finished fret board ! The Body is the main instrument , But if that fret board isn't precise , the whole thing is Junk , Intonation is Key to that Guitar singing !

[@thepragmaticluthier]

Thank you for your suggestion. There are so many videos on that very subject that I have given it little thought, but you have motivated my to try and put my particular spin on that subject.

[@wilsonguitars156]

thanks again for your help on the topic....so many ways to do this but you have got it wired!

[@dalgguitars]

I built something in a similar vein to do a "compound" radius on fret boards with a router. I was really unhappy with the finish left by the router. I use David Fletcher's suggestion in his great videos about his Stratocaster build. He tapes down the fretboard on his table saw and then attaches guide boards so the radius block stays strait. This system is cheap/simple and almost failproof. This is only a hobby for me so I don't build lots and lots of guitars, so I can't comment on batching out a bunch of parts. I would recommend any hobby builders to watch David Fletcher's videos about a simple Strat build. It's how I got my start years ago and all his techniques still stand. As a Pragmatic Luthier I'm sure you would support David's process. Thanks again for your videos. They are always fun and informative. Keep making saw dust and beautiful guitars!!

[@mxfxdlg]

Great info. Great teacher. Thank you, very much. New subscriber.

[@thepragmaticluthier]

Thank you. I appreciate your compliment very much.

[@sammarcum4931]

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and practical techniques with us. I recently bought a router bit for my router table that is supposed to help me with my finger boards but I had my doubts that it would provide a completely satisfactory result. You have given me food for thought in how I should proceed in finishing my finger boards.

[@thepragmaticluthier]

Your description of your router bit causes me to suspect that you bought a "Yonico" brand bit for forming half the radius per pass. There are no router bits that can do that accurately because there is likely to be runout, vibration and tearing, to say nothing of the fact that feeding the fingerboard through the router table evenly and at the correct orientation is very difficult.

[@tedrowland7800]

I am a huge fan. I have some of the radius sanding blocks , (wood from the luthier shop), and was looking at your taper jig for sanding which is just awesome. It will be awhile before I get around to this because I'm working on other jigs and I'm somehow swamped with guitar repairs as well. When I finally get there I will email a few pics. (Remember I'm brand new).

[@MrDaveKC]

Very cool and interesting jig. I'm currently about finished with the tools to glue the back and top together based on what you set up, so hopefully soon I'll be gluing a back and front together for my first guitar from (mostly) scratch.

[@walterrider9600]

thank you

[@Kevin.odonnell]

That’s a mighty purty jig! I liked the delrin looking bushing and the spring loaded part. What about a core box bit router or mill? QQ because this is a good opportunity to break off into a skill builder section, how did you get the curves in the first place, then make them match each other, then be coplanar, then fit the top rail to the bottom? What is the lubricant between them or is it wood on wood?

[@thepragmaticluthier]

It was quite a chore, but I used a plywood base and set up a router on a trammel on that, all blocked up to accommodate 3/4" material, that is, the router is a little over 3/4" above the plywood surface. Carefully drafted center lines and perpendiculars allowed for placement of the work pieces (trunnions) which were already roughed out on a bandsaw. The mating parts were done the same way, but were carefully positioned on the same inner radius cut by the router bit. Not question about it; it takes vary careful, precise layout, but it's just a matter of measuring in 100th's of an inch. The initial curves were easily laid out with a trammel beam. The system is wood to wood, no lubrication. No far, it's been good for around twenty years..

[@Kevin.odonnell]

@@thepragmaticluthier nice! I had a feeling a router was involved. So you don’t even have wax on the trunions? What about onions on the trunions? Lol

[@mariondorsett]

I'm curious, even though your cut length is 22", could radius most of the fingerboard for a bass, and then rotate the fingerboard 180 degrees and finish the other end? I'm enjoying your videos, keep them coming. And by all means, please monitize them. The ads play regardless, so you may as well get paid for your work. I find that concept very pragmatic :D

[@thepragmaticluthier]

I suppose you could rotate a fingerboard blank as you suggest. My platen would need to be longer to accomplish that and unless one can exactly register the center line in both directions, results could be less than desirable. As for monetizing my videos, for a whole raft of reasons, that won't happen, but thanks for the encouragement .

[@mariondorsett]

@@thepragmaticluthier ok, so if I understand correctly, the issue with rotating the fingerboard is that you could have a radius going in two different directions, if you flipped it around. So getting the centerline matched perfectly would be key. Thank you for the response.

[@PLINKER]

When you slot your fingerboard do you cut their depth for the slots at the same radius as you have the radius on the top so the tangs go in at the same depth across the radius top?

[@thepragmaticluthier]

After arching, the fingerboard is taped to a fretting template and suspended just above the surface of a fretting sled so that the undersurface is parallel to the surface of the sled. I bring the slotting up until it cuts a slot of appropriate depth at the edge of the board. The fret slot is flat on the bottom.