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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.
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Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
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I'd rather do it glued on a neck these days
I also carved first too same reason as wez said
(formerly customkits)
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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.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
I will be buying or building a jig for next time.
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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.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
whatever you do, without a slotting template its a measure thrice situation
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Perk of running a graphics dept.
(Can I borrow it???? )
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Instagram