Acoustic Guitar Construction

any recommended guide, just dots on the flat and little ones on the side, do i need a particular drill bit that will create a flatter hole for the dots to sit in? I assume i want to do this before installing the frets but after gluing the FB to the neck and shaping the neck/ uniting the edges with the fretboard?

thanks all.

There ae certainly many different approaches to this process. Yes the finger-board should be complete before assembly to the neck. Just take time to do a good layout, use a center punch to mark those locations. Some like to drill a starter hole with a small bit -- that way if it wanders a little it can be filled, remarked and re-drilled. For the full size holes, brad point drills are nice but sometimes difficult to find. Jobber or woodworkers bits work fine too just make sure they are sharp. A stop collar is must if you don't have a drill press. Check your depth on a piece of scrap and you're good to go.

thanks KEn, very helpful. Sounds like i need a sharp new drill bit and collar.

I like to use Forstner bits or HSS brad point bits as I think the holes are cleaner and flatter than the jobbers. The jobbers seem to me to leave a triangular bottom. Also, the forstner and brad points have a point that I use to center punch before I start to drill.

The order I do it in is:

1. Install fret markers
2. radius board
3. Install frets
4. Glue up FB to neck
5. Install side dots

Yeah the brads point and Fortners are nice if you can find the right size and afford them -- actully I never use them. For years I had Martin process most of my standard fingerboards (they will no longer sell me Ebony, cities issues I guess?)- the bottoms of the holes are "V" shaped, I use and recommend CA to attach the dots (same as Martin) and found that the extra depth to be a non-issue -- And like Martin I radius the FB prior to drilling. Found that for me its better to set the depth to the FB contour rather than taking a chance of sanding off the prime surface of the pearl/Abalone. -- See like I said, there are different approaches.

great, thanks guys, you're very kind. So I am aiming for the perfect depth for the dot to be installed without then needing to be levelled? I can probably get use of a drill press as i imagine it makes the process much easier.

looks like the little dots are a shade under 1/4" so that's the size bit i need or do I need a very snug fit like 6mm.

Ken- do you know off the top of your head the bit size for the tiny side markers?