Fretboards, continued

I have an expensive fret saw from Knew concepts that I really want to like. It has an excentric cam lock to tighten the blade, but it has started to act strangely. So I use this one more now, like many of my tools it’s something I found at a flea market. It is actually more versatile because of its large cutting depth. In this pic I use it to cut away some overhang from the top and back. 

Then I cut it flush with an old Mora knife. Almost anything to avoid using a router and a flush cutting bit like real builders do. 



I slotted the fretboards for the soprano and the reso (also a soprano, natch) and tapered them to the exact dimensions. Careful measuring and delicate cutting. 



Well, sort of delicate anyway. If I need to hog away larger amounts of material I will reach for a larger tool. 



Then I sneak up on the line with a sharp hand plane, this time my Record number 7. 



This is how they look with the ends sort of shaped but before position markers and frets. 



I press the frets in before glueing the boards on, using my own version of a much more expensive fret press. 



I let two of the position markers stick out through the fretboard. The markers are pieces of styrene rod so it’s easy to use it as dowels that prevent slipping. 

And I started working on the bridge too. It’s also ipe, or lapacho as we learned in the last post.