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I have nice piece of ebony and need to make my first fretboard. It scares me.
I browsed the web for a printable template (scale is 648mm) but can't seem to find any.

I have fine saw, some squares and clamps and about to buy a nice plane.

Is a template needed? I figure al I need to do is measure, draw and cut really careful.

Fretboard making time in 9-10 hours.

All tips are welcome.

I made my own templates using aluminum flatstock and the Stew Mac fret calculator. But you do not need a template, you can simply lay out the board and cut the slots.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

I made a slot cutting box for doing this, using a piece of bamboo for the base and 4 pieces for the front and back, two for either side of the saw blade. Made sure everything was nice and square, then added a couple strips of UHMW as depth stops for the spine of my fret slotting saw to stop on. Line up your marks with the blade slots, shim the board in tight and go to town.

Hi Bart,
I use a stewmac fret scale.
I made an upside down miter box and size my fretboard blank to match.
I glue my fretboard blank to my roughed out neck and then cut the slots, radius and taper the board.
Not a traditional method, but works well for my limited skills.
The little hole on the box lets me align the slot with my fret mark.
Dan

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Found out my saw is too tick for frets. They fall out. I tried this before cutting the actual slots. Which I thought was the smart thing to do.

Planing the fretboard blank smooth enough to start working went really well.

You will need a saw with a 0.6mm cut width for most frets.

thanks,

do you mean max 0.6mm or is a is 0.4mm cut width ok?

To be honest bart I am a complete noob at this whole thing. The fretwire I have for my first build is 0.6 mm across the section that goes into the board, the fret jig and saw I bought states that the blades (which look just like a jnr hacksaw blade) are specially sourced and produce a cut width of 0.6 mm. Theres a couple of pics and all the info on my jig in "1st build" thread under this one if your interested.

What I can say from an engineering background is that if the fret slots are too narrow each fret you knock in will be pushing the fretboard apart and could cause a trussrod type pressure back on the neck. A 0.5mm slot in all positions over 24 frets would be trying to push the fingerboard apart by 2.4mm total and could cause you an issue. I hope someone with more knowledge and experience can chime in here to confirm this but it is basic common sense really.

first thing I did was create a perfectly square edge down one side of the fretboard blank. Using a set square on this edge you can mark each individual fret position. Remember to mark a centre line on the board also, makes it easier to locate on the neck etc.

Hope some of this helps, b.

FWIW - I build guitars with a bunch of different scale lengths (from mandolin up to 27") and have found it much easier to just order my fretboards pre slotted from LMI. I learned a long time ago that getting just one fret off by a tiny bit will ruin the board (or the instrument if you go ahead and use it like I did). I do radius the boards myself and have sanding blocks in 12, 16 and 20 inch radius (as well as flat of course)

If you are looking for a cheapo saw, a Zona 350 has a 0.022 " kerf and works good and will last for about three boards. I got them on the inner web for $7.00 each.

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I just made a fret slot jig. Set it up to use with my LMI fret template. I used to use a square along with a fret saw to cut slots. This is a lot easier. The nail in the side is for the jig.

Nice setup!

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I made a similar box and my own templates. Is that a pull saw? If not, I suggest turning the saw around so that pushing the saw into the material pushes the blank into the side where the pin is.

http://www.guitarplansunlimited.com/In%20the%20shop%20pages/Miter%20Box.html

Never thought about that. No it's my handy dandy LMI fret saw. I've since added a hold down to hold the fretboard in place. Works a lot better. I'll have to check on the direction of the saw. Thanks!

The fear of screwing up is the beginning of knowledge.

Ok....I knicked that from the Bible.

The point is....fear of messing up generally precedes a thoughtful plan. The more time you spend thinking about this prior to cutting anything, the better off you'll be. Whatever you do, keep notes on what you do. Valuable knowledge won't necessarily stay in your brain. It will really help to document technical breakthroughs you made.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Get a couple pieces of maple or thin boards from the hardware store and practice on that. Once you feel comfortable with that you can start on your ebony.

I did several practice boards, it was fun as I didn't have to worry about screwing up.

If you can get your scale length in mm, it's pretty easy to do it by eye (and exacto knife mark) with a .5 mm ruler. Assuming you measure each fret position from the nut so that you don't have any compound error.

Cutting them just using a square is quite doable. Making a miter box would probably take longer than cutting all the slots with a square, but you could breeze through the whole board pretty quickly and use it for future boards.

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Pat

Ditto, Pat. That's how I did my first couple of boards.

BTW, checked my LMI fret saw and it cuts on the pull. So I'm good to go.