Official Luthiers Forum!

Anybody ever try a sliding miter saw for cutting fret slots? I was going to make a sled for my table saw when I looked up at my miter saw and thought why not? If you pull the saw into the cut it would be down cutting and might help on tearout. Any thoughts anyone?

I don't know. My miter saw is pretty tight but it's not tight enough to cut fret slots accurately.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Even the best sliding miter saws can not be relied upon to cut a constant depth, even though they would probably cut straight enough.

It is far too easy to alter the depth with almost imperceptible pressure, there are just too many tolerances involved.

Better by far to make the tablesaw jig IMO.

There is a builder using a slider to cut fret slots. He replaced the movable blade guard with a stationary Corian one that set the depth of cut for the fret slot. The nicest part of this setup is he can cut the slots after the fingerboard is radiused, in fact I believe it's the last step before finishing. There is a cradle that holds the neck in place and a fret slotting template attached to the bottom. He is an electric builder so no neck heel to contend with. I'll look around and see if I can find the pictures, I have no idea who the builder is.

If I were to build one I would utilize the Hitachi C8FB 8" saw. That is one of the most accurate sliding saws I have ever used and with the lower torque from the smaller blade and motor they remain in adjustment for a long time.

Steve

Not power or a miter saw but I'm working on a copy of Pete Howlett's copy of the Bridge City Toolworks Joint Master Pro saw. My version has the blade mounted to a plate which is mounted to the arbor of my tablesaw and I have sliding tables riding on an elevated platform. I can control blade height and angle.

http://www.youtube.com/PeteHowlett#p/u/5/nOW_pP3b8iI
http://www.youtube.com/PeteHowlett#p/u/4/m44jBZeS1QM

I used a Delta sliding miter saw on a recent fretboard. On My saw, I can lock the depth of cut. It was very accurate and quite fast. I used the Stewmac blade. If you're not sure about your saw, try it on a scrap fretboard of birch or some other such wood. I did a practice run like that just to get the hang of it My fretboard was still rectangular when I cut the slots, so the tiny bit of tearout at the end of the cut was trimmed away when I planed the fretboard taper..

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Under Compensated Nut!

sheldon dingwall is the builder that uses the sliding miter with his own depth stop. brilliant basses, he makes. equally brilliant tooling in his shop. very clever.
but, as has been stated, there is no heal on the neck of an electric bass. the heal of an acoustic would be quite an obstacle to work around on a sliding miter set up.