Official Luthiers Forum!

1) Tapering:
I used to purchase my fingerboards from CNC Guitar Parts. They were slotted, radiused and tapered the way I wanted them. They no longer sell them this way. So, now I purchase my fingerboards radiused and slotted from LMI - but they are not tapered.

Is there an easy trick to tapering them? Do you make a special jig for your table saw to facilitate cutting the angle from a rectangular piece of wood? Do you use some other tool? I understand all the measuring, etc. Please, no lectures on the social and moral benefits of cutting my own slots and doing my own radiusing. I just want to know how you cut the taper in your fingerboards.

2) Dying:
Ebony just ain't what it used to be - and I've only been at this for 2 years. I dyed a fingerboard recently and then did some maple inlay and then bound the board with curly maple. I had to sand the maple inlay and binding flush to the fingerboard - and when I did - I removed all my dye. That was a waste of effort! What should I have done differently?

3) Binding the Fingerboard
Just got done watching John Mayes' DVD on how he binds his fingerboars - and I noticed that he butt joins his binding corners - which is much easier than what I just tried as far as mitering mine. The end of my fingerboard has a reverse curve of the top of my headstock - so I'm dealing with multiple issues. Just curious how you do yours.

4) Binding the headstock
While we're talking binding - how do you bind your headstocks? I guess I want to know:
a) What tool(s) do you use to cut the "step" for the binding? Should I use my binding router bit and bearings?
b) How tall are your bindings in comparison to your fingerboard binding
c) Are your headstock bindings thinner than your body and fingerboard binding?

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Here's how I taper mine. I have to measure to get the board positioned right, but I use a bunch of different widths and tapers.


I'm still searching for the answer to your dye question.

I use butt joints on FB binding.


I suppose miters would be necessary with more than one purfling line.

I use a stew mac binding jig with my foredom tool to cut binding ledges on headstocks.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Paul: Re: Question 3
I have bound finger boards using just butt joints and if using black binding(ebony) works out very nice for me. Also I've bound boards only on the sides and nothing on the end and if binding ebony with ebony is just about invisible.If you want to get fancier you may have to practice your miter joints.
Re: Question 4
On my last 3 guitars I've put ebony over lay with white and black veneer underneath then after the headstock shape is finalized used a 45 degree router bit to put a bevel on the edge of the headstock,took the depth of cut almost to the bottem of the black veneer. Gives a sort of bound look to the headstock. Thanks to Ervin S. for that one.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Tapering:

I would take a flat board, profile it to your fingerboard taper (e.g., 1.75" nut, 2.25" bridge pin spacing), and put some De-sta-co hold-down clamps on top. Then you just have to rough cut the fretboard on the table/band saw, center and clamp your fretboard to the tapering jig, and use a flush cut bit on the router table. Voila...perfect taper every time

That way you only have to measure once (when you make the jig).

I find this particularly helpful when the fretboard is already radiused (I hate measuring on the radiused surface).

Christian

1) Regardless of the moral and social benefits to doing your own slotting and radiusing, you will notice the boost to your virtue when you do your own tapering. I've tried various methods, all of which work and none of which seemed to me to be "da kine." It's just cutting wood in a line--go for it. You can adjust the result on a sander or jointer.

2) the mistake here was using maple fretboard inlay. I don't like maple binding on the board either--it gets grungy--but you can scrape it after dyeing.

3) Butting a single layer binding is entirely appropriate. Do the end first and lap the sides over it. I think side bound only looks like cutting corners.

4) laminate trimmer and binding cutting bit. Careful how you approach the upper corners, so you don't lift a chip there; approach from the sides or climb cut all around.. Do the purfling step first. Bind before you glue the board on. Same binding thickness as fretboard, so they will look aligned, despite being broken by the nut. Height to align with the fretboard binding on the side. The classy way to do this is with side purflings that run continuously under the nut, by means of using a fretboard stop. Benedetto's book describes this, although it isn't really clear about it. But in any case, the bottoms of the fretboard binding, nut, and headstock binding all align.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I've always used the tapering method described by Sylvan Wells on his website. Very stylish. I think there is a one time $20 fee to access all his articles but it's worth it.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

There are no stupid luthier questions (or, they all are, depending on your point of view).
This is my taper jig.....
the "fence" is set to the 22nd fret width,
the upper tab (FIRST cut, slots UP) is set to nut width + [1/2 of(22nd - nut)]
the lower tab (SECOND cut, slots DOWN) is set to nut width

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Dave
Milton, ON

Does anyone do it the old fashioned way with a block plane anymore (Tapering the fingerboard) ? I did before I CNC'd a router template. To be honest, the ones I hand planed, look just as good as the routed fretboards.....Another perspective...
John

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John Nowicki

I was too hasty above re the height of the headstock binding. Many people do it with the bottom of the binding extending under the nut to meet the fretboard binding. If you don't use the fretboard stop, it's hard to get enough height for the binding without it passing under the nut.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

The tapering -- a piece of MDF with a nice straight edge works great as a router guide... A good sharp bearing bit will do the cutting real nice... Double-stick carpet tape makes it stay put.

Just lay out your dimensions on the bottom of the board, stick it down with the pencil line lined up on the edge of the MDF, and take a nice, clean cut.

You can use a plane to clean it up afterwards..

Thanks

John