Skinning the cat dep't.: joining tops, sides

[peter havriluk]

Dave, I noticed that your fretboard was fully fretted before passing through the shooting board to clean up the fret ends...I assume that you've keyed the fretboard to the neck beforehand. Can you please summarize the workflow? I'm guessing that the fretboard was aligned, a couple of holes were drilled under a pair of fret wires, pins installed in the neck and the frets installed. I'm coming up on that task and I like the idea of installing all the frets and trimming them all before mating the fretboard to the neck, but I don't want to create a problem for myself.

Thanks!

[Ray Ussery]

Dave, I noticed that your fretboard was fully fretted before passing through the shooting board to clean up the fret ends...I assume that you've keyed the fretboard to the neck beforehand. Can you please summarize the workflow? I'm guessing that the fretboard was aligned, a couple of holes were drilled under a pair of fret wires, pins installed in the neck and the frets installed. I'm coming up on that task and I like the idea of installing all the frets and trimming them all before mating the fretboard to the neck, but I don't want to create a problem for myself.

Thanks!

Yes, I'd like to know also! Thanks Dave! :>)

[Dave Bagwill]

I cut a brad in half, drill the proper size hole to accommodate the brad, at either end of the fb, and glue in the brad 1/2 with CA. Then I press the fb and brads onto the neck, just enough that the brads make a mark, then drill a little hole in those spots as well. Then when I'm ready to glue, I just press the fb and brads into the holes on the neck; this locates the fb perfectly and also, since the brads are left in, keeps the fb from slipping around while gluing.
Is that clear at all?

[peter havriluk]

Dave, clear as can be. Just what I thought would be the case, but I figured I might as well ask and make sure I wasn't forgetting something. For a beginner like me, plodding along, it makes sense to finish the fretboard before installation as opposed to nearly finishing the fretboard and leaving a matchup task for later. One of those things that an experienced person wouldn't worry about and a beginner would need to stop and figure out a new routine for the last pair of frets.

Thanks for answering.

[Ray Ussery]

Thanks from me too Dave!
Ray

[Dave Bagwill]

What the heck - took a few pix of the fb locating procedure I use.

Snip off the point end of a couple of brads - , maybe 1/4" or so. Not critical
Drill a two holes in the neck - I put one up around the nut, and one down around 12th fret - one on either side of the truss rod slot. I use a little pin vise from the hobby shop so I can set the depth of the drill and not go through too far!
Then I glue in the brad points, pointy side up
Press the fb , in the position you want it, lightly onto the brad points, just enough to leave a little hole.
Drill the 2 holes in the fb
Place it on the neck to ensure that's where you want it.

Proceed accordingly, which for me is, take a nap...

[Gary Cox]

Dave.....Sorry for coming in to the discussion so late! Would it be possible to drill through two of the fret board (FB) slots into the neck prior to installing the frets. It seems that would be more accurate than pressing the FB to the neck and making marks?