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I was wondering... on an ebony fingerboard, let's say I botched it because one or more slot is slightly off, what if I were to glue veneer strips into all the slots, level them flush, and turn the fretboard over and slot as usual, if it's not been radiused yet? I am thinking the blackness of the ebony is going to make it impossible to tell and if any did show through, it would be covered by a fret slot...

This is a practice board, but I was just thinking it's better to not waste wood right?

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
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I think I would glue in a little strip of veneer or CA and sanding dust... but I don't think I would flip it over... Maybe it would be Ok...

My philosophy on fingerboards so far.... Fret positions are one of the few totally critical dimensions on an instrument... A few thousandths of an inch off and the notes won't play right.... so I buy them pre-slotted for my scale length...

I know a lot of people cut their own - but I just don't have a way to ensure the dimensions are dead on...

Thanks

Well, the idea is the bad slots are hidden under the guitar and wouldn't be visible.

I do understand about buying pre-slotted board, but the problem is, that means I have to buy all fingerboards from the US and pay very high shipping cost, in addition to possible taxes.

I just need to find ways of creating a repeatable way of positioning the board so that the cuts are accurate every time, like those acrylic template that LMI and stewmac sells... I am just thinking of making my own rather than paying very high prices for them...

I tried using an existing guitar as a guide but I think it's easy to be off since it's not easy to see where the slots were, since they are covered by the fret. I always thought about buying a pre-slotted fretboard to use as a guide...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I find it amazing what I can hide in ebony as I develop my inlay skills. I think your idea will work.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Oh and I forgot to say this: This is Macassar Ebony... not sure how easy is it to hide things in that...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Happened to me recently. The double-sided tape that was holding my FB on my fretting jig (table saw) moved. Then, after putting some new tape, I realize that my jig don't allow me to replace the FB exactly where it was... and the board was half slotted.

I filled the slots with black veneer, tightly inserted then CA. Nice and clean job. The color is a bit different because my veneer wasn't ebony. Maybe ebony dust would be better. But, anyways, unless you were REALLY offset, the future fretwire will cover it.

Personnally, I chose to flip it over, just to make sure.

Good luck!
Francis

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

you could flip it over, cut new slots off set from old and bind the board with ebony there by hiding all old slots.
L.

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

I prefer to call it the "stress relieved fret board"

Might not be too bad a deal, the fret board would not have much ability to torque, twist or pull the neck.

L.

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

I too thought of Link's idea of flip and offset cuts then bind. J would also fill the initial slots so you don't have 14 locations for glue to squeeze into versus the wood to neck blank.

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+1 - that's what I'd do - the errors would be totally invisble. The CA and ebony dust trick would fill in the fret gaps if you weren't comfortable with fretslots on the inside of the glue joint.