Fretting / fretboarding

The new clamping setup (even further improved by chucking it in a vise) was so successful and quick this time I missed the Kodak moment when the frets sunk in. But I rapped the ends down into the slots first, leaving the wire in a shallow arch over the board. This is ebony and not really a team player so with only one end in the slot the wire wanted to roll over. And I've heard that this approach forces the barbs sideways, thus securing the fret better.

Then I filed the ends off and turned to the next stage, sanding the edges. And this is a first (about bloody well time innit): I clamped the board against a piece of maple so it stayed straight. After fretting there's a backbow leading to uneven sanding results - typically the ends get more in contact with the abrasive and the edges get a curve. But never again.

I take the fretboard down to a red hair's width less than the neck. Then I can sneak up with a scraper to the neck and get a perfect fit along the edge.

Last pic, clamping with surgical tubing. And a few clamps. Wrapping minmizes slipping but I put some brads in the neck as well. Two staples from a staple gun, nip off the middle parts and you have four points to press your fretboard onto.

New screws - glueing back with upgraded solera

I assembled the long screws with wingnuts and the extra long nuts and put them on the carriage bolts holding the supports.

Then I stared blankly at the whole setup for a while. Until I remembered some thin basswood pieces that was left over from the inserts for the solera, how fitting! I cut slots and tried them on.

The last pic shows the back being held down. I added some gobars between the strips, I'll fix a caul for the entire edge at some point. But for now, I'm really happy with this.

Neck carved, sides shaped

I put in the kerfed lining strips this morning and tonight I shaped the contour of the sides in the radius dish.

Then I carved the neck. I cut a groove in it the other day and epoxied in a carbon fibre rod as reinforcement so I can make it pretty thin.

So I carved away. And guess what I found? A bloody worm hole! But I've got my sales pitch sorted: "why would I use wood that's so bad not even the worms would eat it?"