Fretboard shaping jig

Moderators: kiwigeo, Jeremy D

Post Reply
User avatar
martintaylor
Blackwood
Posts: 288
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:17 am
Contact:

Fretboard shaping jig

Post by martintaylor » Sun Dec 02, 2012 6:51 pm

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum but look forward to reading and contributing when I can. I thought I'd show you my fingerboard shaping jig. It isn't my original idea but it saves heaps of time when shaping Mulga wood or Gidgee Fretboards. The whole process from flat blank to finished fretboard takes about 15 minutes where it used to take at least an hour of hand sanding.
Attachments
fretboard.jpg
The Mulga wood polishes to such a smooth finish.
fretboard.jpg (70.69 KiB) Viewed 20690 times
IMG_1981.jpg
The jig is mainly just from scraps around the workshop plus about $15 spent at Bunnings.
IMG_1981.jpg (80.54 KiB) Viewed 20690 times

User avatar
Nick
Blackwood
Posts: 3641
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:20 am
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
Contact:

Re: Fretboard shaping jig

Post by Nick » Mon Dec 03, 2012 5:52 am

Very nice simple but effective jig there Martin, thanks for sharing & welcome to the forum.
That fingerboard is very shiny too! :wink:
"Jesus Loves You."
Nice to hear in church but not in a Mexican prison.

weslewis
Kauri
Posts: 38
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 1:43 pm

Re: Fretboard shaping jig

Post by weslewis » Sun Dec 23, 2012 10:49 am

I have never seen a combination router / polisher bit???!!!!!!! :dru

what kind of bit are you using, I have similar jig based off of Todd Stocks design on the OLF, and use a mortise bit which if done smoothly and evenly works great....

User avatar
martintaylor
Blackwood
Posts: 288
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:17 am
Contact:

Re: Fretboard shaping jig

Post by martintaylor » Sun Dec 23, 2012 2:13 pm

Hi Wes, I finished the fretboard off with a sanding beam. For the router I use a 19mm wide, carbide tipped straight bit that gets a very fine finish so the sanding is only cleaning up. So far the bit is holding up against the Mulga wood. I haven't tried a gidgee fretboard yet but am keen to try one. I have found that slow and steady works better.

User avatar
P Bill
Blackwood
Posts: 521
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2010 8:31 am
Location: Cedar Vale, Qld Australia

Re: Fretboard shaping jig

Post by P Bill » Tue Jan 08, 2013 3:47 pm

I like it. It's the most straightforward one of its type I've seen.
"Were you drying your nails or waving me good bye?" Tom Waits

Bill

squareneck
Gidgee
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:12 pm

Re: Fretboard shaping jig

Post by squareneck » Wed Jan 16, 2013 11:46 pm

Hi Martin , it's my first posting but keen to look into this a little further as I mostly do raised action instruments. Firstly do you have this set up for various radius or is it too awkward ? I do like the concept as it's cheap & relatively compact. How you came up with this required some thought I'm guessing. I'm giving it the tick to try & see what mess I can make and let you know.
8) Squareneck

User avatar
martintaylor
Blackwood
Posts: 288
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:17 am
Contact:

Re: Fretboard shaping jig

Post by martintaylor » Wed Jan 16, 2013 11:55 pm

Hi, I am just doing 12 inch radius at the moment but different radii would be easy. The radius is controlled by the base for the router so you would just need to make additional boxes with the appropriate radius. To get the 12 inch radius I just did the old pencil attached to a piece of string and a nail trick on the floor of my shed and traced straight onto a scrap of plywood. Once I had it cut out I used a flush trim router bit to make a duplicate piece. The whole jig only took about 2 hours to build. Good luck with yours!

vandenboom
Blackwood
Posts: 414
Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 2:27 pm
Location: Melbourne (Ringwood), Australia

Re: Fretboard shaping jig

Post by vandenboom » Wed Jan 10, 2024 12:10 pm

A very old thread but I love its simplicity.
2 questions.
Are you still using it?
When tracing a curve onto the rails, I figure you need to allow for the small distance from the bottom of the curved rail to the top of the fretboard. So if that distance is 1/2", then to achieve a 12" fb radius, the radius on the rail would need to be 12.5".
Pedantic and unlikely to be noticeable, but does that sound right?
Thnx. Frank

User avatar
WJ Guitars
Blackwood
Posts: 372
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2017 4:28 pm
Location: Sutherland NSW
Contact:

Re: Fretboard shaping jig

Post by WJ Guitars » Fri Jan 12, 2024 3:22 pm

This fretboard jig looks great and these type of jigs are very good.

In 2023, I posted another method using a special shaped router bit set up on my router table. "Radius the Fretboard using the Router Table". It also works very well and is quick once you have set it up. A number of various radius router bits are available. See photos below

Wayne
Page 1.jpg
Page 2.jpg

vandenboom
Blackwood
Posts: 414
Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 2:27 pm
Location: Melbourne (Ringwood), Australia

Re: Fretboard shaping jig

Post by vandenboom » Fri Jan 12, 2024 5:50 pm

Thnx Wayne - I did see your post when I was sifting through the jigs posts.
I hadn't seen those bits before.
I just love making clever jigs.....Cheers. Frank

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests