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im planning out a fret slotting sled to use on my table saw and it is fairly straight forward, but i have a couple questions, if you will. im using the LMI blade and stiffeners, which when installed will give a maximum depth of cut of .250", more than enough. i would like for the blade to stick up through the sled creating a zero clearance of sorts to minimize tear out. how deep do you cut your fret slots? with only .250" depth of cut, it doesnt leave much meat with the blade raised between the sled and the stiffeners, which are .125" thick each. should i just cut the slot that the blade and stiffeners raise through the full width and do away with the zero clearance? i noticed in the jigs section that this is what sylvan wells does. is there any issue with tear out in this situation? i guess you are still going to radius the board after the slots are cut and maybe this would clean up any tear out. what do you guys do?

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sweat the small stuff.

Yeah you will be fine. I use a 15 year old completely beat up saw blade with no stiffeners and no zero clearance. Works like a charm! Any tearout (there really is no tearout though)happens on the waste part of the board. I dont use any special sled either, just a miter gauge with a piece of mdf bolted to it, this allows you to use a zero clearance setup, but i dont find it neccesary.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Heath, I wanted zero clearance on my sled as well (dedicated to cutting fret slots only) so what I did was run the blade up into the sled base (I used 1/2" BB for the base), then I flipped it upside down and using a 1/2" router bit and setting up a fence, I routed a slot so that there was only 1/4" of base thickness where the blade runs. This way the stiffeners clear the base and I get the zero clearance on the top side.

If this isn't clear enough, I'll shot a picture of the sled later tonight.

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jordan, thanks for your input. it doesnt get much more simple than what you have going on. i always feel a bit silly trying to make some elaborate set up, then some guy like you comes along with a miter gauge, some MDF, and a couple of dentist chairs. way to keep it real bro.

rod, your explanation is crystal clear and i think ill do something similar with a dado blade.

thanks again guys for sharing your methods. it cracks me up sometimes the differences in personalities and methodology. always more than one way...

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sweat the small stuff.

Heath -
There is no issue with tearout. Cut away. You answered your own question when you said that you will radius the fretboard later. If there was tearout (and there is not) you will sand it away when you radius. Go for it!

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Sylvan
http://www.wellsguitars.com

cool. thanks for answering the question first hand, sylvan. also, thanks for all of the stuff you have contributed to guitar builders in general. ill be stealing a few of your tricks to radius the fretboard as well.

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sweat the small stuff.