The final result. Of course it will require much more sanding before finish.

 

 

 

 

As always, thanks for looking at and commenting on my thread.

Here are the video links for each process.

Fretboard     

 

 

 

Neck carve

 

 

See you next time!

Very tedious work with no margin or error. Well done. Enjoying following along. Quite interesting.

I stayed up late watching that.  Was worth it.

7 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Very tedious work with no margin or error. Well done. Enjoying following along. Quite interesting.

 

6 hours ago, Gunny said:

I stayed up late watching that.  Was worth it.

Dave and Gunny, thanks, gentlemen. Much appreciated.

My apologies that it has been so very long since I updated this thread. I have gotten a lot done since then on this bnuild, so I will try to update you as best I can.

The next step was gluing the fretboard to the neck.

So we spread some glue wityh the greatest glue spreader ever invented.

 

 

 

Position the fretboard on the neck....

 

 

...using tape to help keep it in position.

 

I use a clamping caul consisting of a piece of wood in the size and shape of the fretboard....

 

 

...with thin strips of wood on the outsude edges.

 

 

I do this primarily because it puts pressure on the edges of the board where it meets the edges of the neck. Don't want any gaps, and don't want glue squeeze out in the truss rod slot.

Then it's just a matter of clamping 'er down, making sure there is no slippage or shifting.

 

 

 

After the glue dried I took a file and sandpaper and smoothed out the transitions between the fretboard and the neck, then it was time to install side marker dots.

This is done using calipers for layout and an awl to mark drilling location for the holes.

 

 

Then the locations are drilled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Side dot markers consist of 2mm black plastic rod.

First a bit of CA

 

 

Then we shove the rod into the hole

 

 

 

 

 

And clip them off with flush cut nippers.

 

Rinse and repeat down the line.

Afterward we need to layout the locations of the fret position markers.

I start by marking a centerline, determined with the aforementioned calipers used at each end to find that center.

 

 

Then I mark the positions where each marker will go, so there are no mistakes.

 

 

 

I use  machinist rule to mark an X on the fretboard at the boundries of the corners of the fret slot positions for that particular fret

 

 

 

 

Mark each position with an awl

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then drill them out.

 

 

Then repeat the process used for the side dot install.

 

 

 

 

And trimmed with a chisel

 

 

I used 2mm white rod to match the size of the side dot markers I did in black.

The wood for this fretboard is African Blackwood. It is gorgeous, and basically jet black. I did not want large markers. I went for understated and hopefully graceful. We will see with the finished guitar if I hit that "mark".

The next order of business is to radius the fretboard.

I use a makeshift jig which consists of double stick tape to hold the fretboard down to a flat surface, and using screws to mount straight edges on either side that follow the taper of the board, keeping the radius block centered on the board as I run it back and forth.

 

 

 

Radius block is aluminum with a 16" radius on one side and a 12" on the other. I chose the 16". 60 grit Klingspor is the grit of choice for this operation.

 

Once the radius is achieved I run it thru a series of higher and higher grits. This is the result.