HI Guys ! Here's a great way to build a beautiful, and extremely accurate fretboard.I used this method, on My home built S-10 , and to rework,a an old D-10 Sho-Bud. I posted this elsewhere,on the forum, but here goes, again. Go to Steward MacDonald's website (
WWW.stewmac.com and order a sheet of 5ply plastic pick guard material . Black, white,black, white, black. It's 12 inches by 20 110 thousands thick, Cost $13.90 plus shipping, and is enough to make 3 fretboards. while on there site, You can Tell them what the scale length of your instrument is, and the number of frets, you need, and they will give you the exact distances, from the nut , to each fret , in thousands. (free service) Also , there is no accumulation of error, this way. Cut your fretboard, to size, and fasten to a milling machine table, Now, don't forget, the first fret, must be figured, from the center if the nut rollers, and not from the end of the fret board. Now, using a 1/16 end mill , machine, just through the top black layer, producing a beautiful white fret line. After all the frets, are milled. change to a 1/4 inch end mill and again, plunging just through the black layer, machine in your fret marker positions. One dot at the 3rd, 5th.,7th.,9th., 15th.,17th. 19th.and 21, and 3 dots, across at the 12t.. and 24th. Then a drop of colored paint, in some of the dots, will make the various positions, standout.
Francis (pickgetter)
