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I have worked from a kit previously that had a fretboard ready slotted and cut to size.

I am about to make my first fretboard from a rosewood blank following Cumpiano's method in the book.

Is there anything I should look out for, any tips etc

My first bridge I have to cross is dealing with a neck blank that refuses to flatten out, it has a slight bow in it across the length of about 1.5mm, I am assuming planing it is not going to make the problem go away

J

Go slow. Measure twice. Cut once.

I just did my first using Cumpiano's method, and it came out fine, in the end. I did have to fill and recut a slot, thus the advice above.

As far as the neck blank that won't go flat, it seems to me that you should be able to plane it out. The trick is the shim the blank so that it doesn't flatten out when you plane it. You have to make sure you preserve the bow, as you work it. Again, go slow and check your progress often with a straight edge.

Thanks, I don't get the last bit about shimming. The book says use double sided tape to fix it ti the bench for planing. I have not tried it but I think this will take the bow out.

Are you saying the the bow is always present and therefore work with it?

John

That won't take the bow out. With tape you will be probably forcing the board flat.
First you need to get one side of the board flat. You can do that by either shimming underneath with veneer or by deliberately planing it concave (shorter Plane) or convex (longer plane taking off more towards the ends). Once you have that one side flat then the other side is easy.

Hi can you describe the shimming as I can't visualize it

What they are saying is to place shims under the board where it is not flush with your bench top, ie where the light shines through. So that when you plane the board you don't just push it flat. I would first plane off the ends on the concave side so that you have one flat side then flip it over and plane out the hump. I would also suggest that the hump side is the side you want to glue the fret board to.

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Great thanks I'll try it

Joh