This is what happens after chating with Dane!

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Dane said something to me about cleaning up and reorganizing the shop when a tool breaks down, and you have to wait on parts. So... look at what I did. LOL!

EB

OH, Thanks Dane!!! For the idea of doing things in the shop!

[dnic]

Hey Eddie LMI has those fret slot blades as well. I did set my sliding saw up with a small slotting blade. I had to remove the guard and it's impossible to get back on now. I had to build up the table to get the blade close enough to the board. But it worked great once I got it set up. It's in one of my videos somewhere.

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Apr 15, 2023 21:55:37 GMT -6 dnic said:

Hey Eddie LMI has those fret slot blades as well. I did set my sliding saw up with a small slotting blade. I had to remove the guard and it's impossible to get back on now. I had to build up the table to get the blade close enough to the board. But it worked great once I got it set up. It's in one of my videos somewhere.

Dane, could you post a link to the blade? I looked there once before and could not find it. Maybe they were out of them?

 Yes, I figured that I would have to build up the platform of the saw. I'll look again on LMI to see if I can find it.

 I figured that once the saw is set up, that is all it will ever be. A saw for cutting fret slots. I have a lot of woods around the shop that I would like to make into fretboards. I will probably take and use parts or part of the jig that I have from Stew Mac for cutting fret slots, and put it onto the saw for the slot location pin. I'll see how I can modify things.

 Thanks for the tip.

EB

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Dane, I found them on LMI. They have what I found on another website for around $14.00 a blade. LMI blades are the ones you have to have the stiffeners on the blade to make it cut true. By the time I buy them on LMI for their system, it would be a lot more expensive than Stew Mac. But in saying that, if I had to buy a replacement blade, for the LMI system it would be cheaper down the road. But then I have to ask myself how many more fret boards will I need to make? Hum, maybe I'll go back to buying precut boards. That may the way I should go. I only have possibly two more guitars I want to make. If I even do both. I'll have to do some thinking on this.

 There are still some guitars that I started that I need to finish up on and two that I need to redo. The redos, are ones that I don't like the way they came out finish wise.

 EB

[dnic]

You know Eddie unless you are needing to cut more than a handful of fretboards a year the hand saw with the template you have is the way to go. The only real advantage to the saw blade is speed. So it makes sense in a production shop. If you have lots of cash sure it's convenient so go for it. The only down fall with buying pre-slotted boards is if you want to make an unusual scale length and you can still do that with the hand saw. I only went for the tiny blade set up because it was very cheap.

I got my slotting blade at McCaster Carr. They are made for a gang saw where you stack them all up to a certain scale length and cut the entire board in one pass. And I'm sure there other manufacturing uses for them. But it would probably be some sort of gang saw situation.

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Apr 16, 2023 8:51:26 GMT -6 dnic said:

You know Eddie unless you are needing to cut more than a handful of fretboards a year the hand saw with the template you have is the way to go. The only real advantage to the saw blade is speed. So it makes sense in a production shop. If you have lots of cash sure it's convenient so go for it. The only down fall with buying pre-slotted boards is if you want to make an unusual scale length and you can still do that with the hand saw. I only went for the tiny blade set up because it was very cheap.

I got my slotting blade at McCaster Carr. They are made for a gang saw where you stack them all up to a certain scale length and cut the entire board in one pass. And I'm sure there other manufacturing uses for them. But it would probably be some sort of gang saw situation.

I was looking for an easier way to cut the slots. I am getting to where I can't use my hands and arms for cutting and for sanding. This is why I have pretty much stopped carving the necks using my spoke shave.

 I use my electric sanders now for most of that. I still do some filing with the wood rasps. But that is about it.

If I knew for sure that I was going to stay with making guitars, at this stage in life, I would bite the bullet and get a CNC and let it do all the hard work. I was watching someone this morning using his for making fret boards and cutting the fret slots. I thought hum... But my wife would kill me if I did something like that. You know, buy a CNC. LOL!

 It is getting harder and harder to get my head wrapped around at how much things are costing these days. I look at the Stew Mac blades and all I can see is a small little blade at 176 dollars. Just seems over the top.

 Still going to think on this for a long while. It's not like I have to have it now. Hey, did you know the band saw blade on my band saw is the same thickness as the fret saw? I wish my band saw was big enough, so I could cut the slots on it. LOL!

 I did find some blades on Amazon. I found the same blades that LMI sells and even Stew Mac for a little cheaper than in thier online stores have them.

 EB

[dnic]

Well wait a minute. Your bandsaw blade cuts a .023 slot? Problem solved. Fretboard in the rough only needs to be bigger than 2 3/16". Fix a stop so it will on cut so deep and you're golden. Just don't tapper the board until after slots.