Do you carve the neck before installing frets?

axisus

Having looked at a couple of places, they both installed the frets after carving the neck. I was thinking originally that I would put the frets in first. I've found hammering them in slightly problematic in the past, and to that end I got a fret press bit to use in my Pillar drill. Having done a test it seems to work well, but I would think that it would work better with the neck still as a flat based bit of wood rather than shaped.

Thoughts?

WezV

I do it after it's carved.  The neck can move after glueing on the fretboard or releasing tensions during carving so I want all that out the way before I do the final fretboard levelling.

you need to make sure the neck is supported.  A neck rest works well for the majority.  The flat heel can just be done on any flat base, obviously the transition is the tricky bit once the neck is carved but as long as the neck is well supported either side of the transition it works fine.

Gibson do it before the fretboard is even glued on, bringing a carved neck and fretted/bound board together at the end

I also use a drill press.  It's vitally important you fully support the table.  Pile wood between the base and the table so it doesn't snap off from the downward pressure.  And watch out for the drill working loose from the main shaft after 15 years of doing it this way.  I picked up my bench drill from the top to move it a little over a week ago.  The shaft came out dropping the cast iron base on my big toe.  Still limping now.

octatonic

Agee 100% with above. ^^^

axisus

WezV said:

I do it after it's carved.  The neck can move after glueing on the fretboard or releasing tensions during carving so I want all that out the way before I do the final fretboard levelling.

Wisdom as always. It's kind of obvious now you have said it! Many thanks!

WezV

There are other ways.  If you want to do a Gibson style with nibs you pretty much have no choice but to do it all in a different order.

Danielsguitars

I built my last fretboard up on the neck and bind after for a gibbo style with nibs
I'd rather do it glued on a neck these days

I also carved first too same reason as wez said

lysander

Do you guys cut the slots before or after radiusing the fretboard ? 

WezV

Normally before for me, but it doesn't make too much difference.

octatonic

lysander said:

Do you guys cut the slots before or after radiusing the fretboard ? 

Both really.

I mark the frets with a laser cutter after squaring up the fingerboard, and I cut the slots to approximately the right depth.
When you radius the board you start to lose the line at the edges so I keep a fret slotting jig next tot the radius jig next to the radiusing jig.

After the radiusing is done I then I tend to go over them one final time with a hand saw to make sure the frets will go in properly.

I don't know of a way of doing it where I can just make one cut and then not worry about it- you'd likely need CNC to do that.
Fender basically have a machine that has 22 saw blades that makes the cuts in one motion but that is done on an industrial scale. 
I can't think of a cost effective way of doing that where you won't have to go over it again.

Sporky

After for me, 'cos the router bit I use for fret slots is just the right length so the board has to be machined first.

axisus

lysander said:

Do you guys cut the slots before or after radiusing the fretboard ? 

Before for me. I stick an accurate paper copy of the fret lines onto the fretboard then cut directly over them using a square block clamped on as a guide. Wouldn't work with radius.

lysander

Thanks for the answers, 'both' is what I suspected as well. I've cut fret slots on a radiused fretboard before with no initial kerf and no jig and found it pretty difficult. 
I will be buying or building a jig for next time.

axisus

I did the frets after the neck carve. Worked fine

Corvus

Fret slots done first, then after radiussing go over them with a saw with a guide attached that's set to the tang depth.

WezV

axisus said:

lysander said:

Do you guys cut the slots before or after radiusing the fretboard ? 

Before for me. I stick an accurate paper copy of the fret lines onto the fretboard then cut directly over them using a square block clamped on as a guide. Wouldn't work with radius.

There are a couple of risks worth pointing out for anyone attempting that on a home printer.  Paper will change size with humidity changes, and not all printers can be trusted to print accurate dimensions.   Sticking paper on with glue is a quick way to change the dimensions.

octatonic

WezV said:

axisus said:

lysander said:

Do you guys cut the slots before or after radiusing the fretboard ? 

Before for me. I stick an accurate paper copy of the fret lines onto the fretboard then cut directly over them using a square block clamped on as a guide. Wouldn't work with radius.

There are a couple of risks worth pointing out for anyone attempting that on a home printer.  Paper will change size with humidity changes, and not all printers can be trusted to print accurate dimensions.   Sticking paper on with glue is a quick way to change the dimensions.

Agree- I wouldn't do this.

Before I used a laser cutter I just had a circular saw jig that had acrylic templates cut for specific scale lengths- I just lined it up the fingerboard with the acrylic temples and used that to cut.

Before that I just calculated the distances for each fret from the nut and a pencil to mark the fret location on the centre line and then a right angled ruler to draw the line by hand.

WezV

not saying i wouldn't do it, in fact i will be on the fanned fret and was just about to post about that.  But i wont trust the paper alone

whatever you do, without a slotting template its a measure thrice situation

axisus

I should add that I am using a £20000 plotter that can print with extreme accuracy and I have a 1.2m wide role of double sided tape. Measurements stay accurate. Pretty cool printing out your entire guitar plan on one sheet!

Perk of running a graphics dept.

octatonic

axisus said:

I should add that I am using a £20000 plotter that can print with extreme accuracy and I have a 1.2m wide role of double sided tape. Measurements stay accurate. Pretty cool printing out your entire guitar plan on one sheet!

Perk of running a graphics dept.

Oh, yes that is a bit different.

(Can I borrow it???? )

WezV

axisus said:

I should add that I am using a £20000 plotter that can print with extreme accuracy and I have a 1.2m wide role of double sided tape. Measurements stay accurate. Pretty cool printing out your entire guitar plan on one sheet!

Perk of running a graphics dept.

i assumed you had access to something a bit better than the average home printer