Source for fret saw?

[Quickstep192]

Having struck out in finding a fretboard in the scale I need, so I find myself in the market for a slotting saw.

Does anyone know a source for a reasonably priced slotting saw or table saw blade for a guy who might slot a board once every three years os so?

[difalkner]

This is probably more than you want to spend but when I bought mine it wasn't nearly this expensive - https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tool...nese-fret-saw/

It's a good saw, fwiw.

[nikpearson]

The best I’ve used because it cuts quickly and very cleanly. The optional depth gauge is helpful to ensure even slot depth.

You can buy (much) cheaper fret saws but often they cut rather slowly.

[Quickstep192]

I have the StewMac regular fret saw and it wears me out. I’ve only used it to saw one board and it binds like nuts.

I’d like to try the dozuki, but I am put off by the price, especially since the former saw didn’t work out well.

I know StewMac is a specialty store and I get a lot of stuff there, but lately, their prices seem a little over the top.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

I have the StewMac regular fret saw and it wears me out. I’ve only used it to saw one board and it binds like nuts.

I’d like to try the dozuki, but I am put off by the price, especially since the former saw didn’t work out well.

I know StewMac is a specialty store and I get a lot of stuff there, but lately, their prices seem a little over the top.

I purchased the StuMac saw many years ago and had my first horrid experience with hand cutting fret slots. I learned afterward that they shipped a batch of saws that were improperly made. Too late to call them, as I had already thrown the saw away in disgust and set up my first power slotting saw.

[Quickstep192]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

I purchased the StuMac saw many years ago and had my first horrid experience with hand cutting frets. I learned afterward that they shipped a batch of saws that were improperly made. Too late to call therm, as I had already thrown the saw away in disgust and set up my first power slotting saw.

Perhaps my saw was among that batch. May be time to test StewMac’s return policy…

[redir]

I just got the SM one linked above and it's by far the best one I've used. Super fast cutting action. It is a pull saw though so it's a bit different if not used to it.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by redir

I just got the SM one linked above and it's by far the best one I've used. Super fast cutting action. It is a pull saw though so it's a bit different if not used to it.

Yikes!

My power slotting saw wasn't much more than that one and it's cut literally thousands of slots.

After my first use of a hand slotting saw I decided if I couldn't find a much quicker and easier way to slot boards then my luthiery career would come to an abrupt end.

[redir]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Yikes!

My power slotting saw wasn't much more than that one and it's cut literally thousands of slots.

After my first use of a hand slotting saw I decided if I couldn't find a much quicker and easier way to slot boards then my luthiery career would come to an abrupt end.

Well that's a production line set up for sure. I use a hand fret saw for weird custom scale lengths, in repair work where you have to replace an FB it's not uncommon to fit an FB scale to everything but I digress..., otherwise I use the fret slot saw for deepening existing slots or if using customized FB wood.

I decided years ago it's much more economical for me to buy pre-slotted FB's rather then cut them myself.

[Fathand]

I find Lee Valley to have the best price on a quality fret saw. Seems the same as SM or previously LMI.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop...6#nav__primary

If you download the Luthier Lab app you can print off any fretboard template you like. Tape or glue to your board and cut the slots.

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Yikes!

My power slotting saw wasn't much more than that one and it's cut literally thousands of slots.

After my first use of a hand slotting saw I decided if I couldn't find a much quicker and easier way to slot boards then my luthiery career would come to an abrupt end.

Is that a full size Mitre Saw or something smaller. I've acquired some slitting blades and looking for something to run them on.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Fathand

Is that a full size Mitre Saw or something smaller. I've acquired some slitting blades and looking for something to run them on.

The sliding miter saw shown is "full size", normally referred to as a "compact" saw and comes with a 7-1/4" blade. It was purchased at Lowe's when I saw them on sale for $90.

There's a post here on AGF describing it in detail if you need more information.

I have a friend that does a fair amount of slotting and he swings by and borrows it fairly regularly, so it gets double use that way. The slotting blades were from McMaster-Carr and were $7 each when I put this one together. Things have gone up in price since then, but saws do vary in price and often go on sale.

It's compact and stores easily until one of us has a new project!

[redir]

Rudy do you have to mark out all the fret spacings first or do you have some sort of template that works with that saw?

Very nice little setup and not to expensive too, I like it.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by redir

Rudy do you have to mark out all the fret spacings first or do you have some sort of template that works with that saw?

Very nice little setup and not to expensive too, I like it.

I do a variety of different types of fretted instruments, so each time I need a new scale made I print out a master by using the wFret program and then use that master to transfer measurements to the face of a cheap aluminum "yardstick" that I sand the regular measurements off of. I scribe the layout across the face to make permanent dedicated scale rules and mark therm for reference. I would make up a dedicated indexing jig if I only did one scale, but I don't.

It takes only a few minutes to transfer measurements to an unmarked fret board.

I then hold the layout lines of the newly marked board to the tiny slot on the rear fence where the blade goes through and cut each slot.

It's less than 5 minutes to do the layout and cut the fret slots.

[conecaster]

Having setup my slotting decades ago there was no off the shelf tool to buy.

I made my own blade, using a plywood skill saw blade. Its been a long time so I am trying to remember how the arbor was modified. I had a friend make a larger set of arbor plates to tru the blade on a bench top table saw I bought for very little money new. We pressed on the inner plate and trued it by grinding it while raising the arbor with the crank for blade height adjustment.

I mounted the 7 1/4 inch blade backwards and using a cut off wheel on a body grinder ground the outer edge of the blade down to the desired width. Today I would buy a diamond disc, not the ones at home depot but a course, fully coated, disc. It takes time to grind with a cut off wheel.

Using the tracks on the table saw surface I made a cross slide out of 3/4 ply wood. You mount cross pieces on topside of each end of the slide then cut a slot for the blade to protrude through the 3/4 ply, not the cross pieces. I likely did some creative aligning work to square the cross piece nearest you to the slot before I cut it. Probably squared the runners for the table saw tracks to one edge of the ply. I then glued a shim in the blade slot not deeper than the ground step on the slotting blade. I cut through the shim with my slotting blade. This keeps the blade aligned while slotting fret boards. It will not wonder.

For fret placement I used the multiplication method.

I have scales mounted to the cross member made out of .75 x ? inch aluminum stock. To calculate the spacing store the repeat factor .9438743 in memory in your calculator.


.any number

X memory = x memory = keeps giving you the next fret.

I have scales starting at 64 cm up to 66.5 cm

An OM scale is 64.5. No, Germans did not design a 25 11/32 scale.

I also have a 60 cm for my resonator model.

I used pins to align the scale bars to the cross member and made tapered pieces with a dowel to hold the fret board too while moving the dowel from hole to hole on the scale bar.

I made all of this up 40 years ago so my memory is a bit fuzzy. I had a cnc shop drill the holes in the scale bars.

This Is how we did things before stew Mac.

It cost very little at the time. It has worked beautifully for all these years. I have made 100s of guitars with the blade. They just burn through ebony . its pretty much par for the course.

If you are cnc capable you could use a fine bit and rout slots. I did that with a Dremel tool a very long tine ago. I used a dental bit.