fret help

[phil noel]

Hi folks. need help, im building a 3 string cbg, have got some thin fret wire for a mandolin . but wot the hell do i use to cut the correct size slots ,???? HELP  

[Harrison Withers]

well you could use a fret slot cutting saw from stew mac.  I use a irwin japanese pull saw

[phil noel]

cheers , ive tried a few practice runs , but it aint working .ive even picked up an old pull saw which is awesome , very thin ,but cant judge the depth . help .help .

[Harrison Withers]

you only need to get between 1/16 and 1/8 deep. Most wood is three pulls with my saw, some maple takes 4.

[Brian Parks]

Here's the jig I made.  It doesn't control depth but you could glue a stop on your saw to only go down so far..

[phil noel]

 thank you very much . was a great idea , will try that straight away.

                   cheers Phil.

[phil noel]

Thanks everyone, all very helpfull.

[Wade]

glue or attach a strip of hardwood to the blade to act as a stop. You can feel when the wood "bottoms out"

one other detail that I have learned is that you should clean your fret slots out before fretting

 

wade

phil noel said:

cheers , ive tried a few practice runs , but it aint working .ive even picked up an old pull saw which is awesome , very thin ,but cant judge the depth . help .help .

[phil noel]

cheers , all good stuff ...

[Hal Somervill]

Hi Phil,

The fret saw from Stew Mac is a great tool and well worth the money. Comes with a depth stop. Your depth setting should be the same depth as the "t" on the fret wire. One hint that really helped me install the frets is to start the fret in the slot and then cover it with a small piece of hardwood. Tap the piece of hardwood to seat the fret. That way, it seats the whole fret at the same time rather than tapping directly on the fret on one end and by the time you get to the other end, the first end is popping back up. Seating it all at once is much easier. Hope this helps.

[phil noel]

cheers will try that ..