Official Luthiers Forum!

Like to thank JimO for this thread: http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10123&t=31478&start=25 , where he had a very simple, yet effective fingerboard radius jig - I HAD to pimp mine out though to save time and money on double-sided tape - I made mine with a build-in vacuum press - I gotta go, so here's some pics for now:






BTW - I timed myself and it took under 4 minutes to rout it out - used a 3/4" router bit and made about 6 passes - barely seeing any lines - will take under a minute to sand down now - WOOT WOOT!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Fantastic!
Thanks for Sharing

Very nice work. Like the vacuum press idea. I hate double stick tape anyway. Also like the wingnuts on the end plates. I was thinking about something like that.

Way to go!

Had enough of the sanding beam I take it?

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Ha! There you are Jim! Thanks for the inspiration - been looking at a few of these over the past 6 months or so, but liked yours the best - seemed simple enough and effective and now all I have to do is make some endplates for different radii. Did ya see the thumbscrews on the underside of the conduit? I used brass inserts in the wood and they lock it in place pretty good as well. On my test board, I did notice that it went a slight bit deeper than the other end of the board, so i figured I could just slip a thin piece of veneer under the endplate. The router marks are really really REALLY faint by using a Whiteside 3/4" bit and are hard to see with the naked eye, so I am imagining that when I get my aluminum sanding beam from StewMac, it will just take a few passes to fine tune - thanks again for posting pics of your contraption - you just added some more productive hours to my life! BTW - love the purpleheart skunk stripes on that neck!

Thanks, V

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Nice Virgil. You build really nice jigs!

Now when are you going build a work bench ?

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Jim Hansen

I got 2 of them so far - one is mainly for my inlay and little stuff and the other has my drill press/bandsaw - was thinking of a 3rd!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

That is an interesting jig, I would never have thought of doing it that way. I have been contemplating a fretboard radius jib for a while, but was planning to make some sort of swing arm for my belt sander, I like the vacum press idea and I might have to steal it for my eventual jib

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

Thanks Shad - After running a couple of test pieces I noticed it went approx. 1/32" or so deeper on one side. Solution: Slipped some veneer strips under the radius board on one end and problem solved!

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Nice jig!

For the end pieces, make a single thick radius template and then slice it in half on the bandsaw.

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

Hmmmm, I cut a board in half, laid them side by side and routed out the half circle together - I don't have a good enough bandsaw for that

_________________
"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar