Category Archives: fretboard

Electric Guitar Repair: Setups, Frets, and Inspiration

2024
AL#152 p.6               
Evan Gluck   Larry Fitzgerald                                                                                       

▪ Gluck is a beloved repeat presenter at GAL Conventions. This time, he brought along veteran New York repair guy Larry Fitzgerald. In addition to demonstrating fret-leveling techniques, they tell war stories of maneuvering their businesses to survive the recent global pandemic. Mentions Matt Brewster, Sam Ash, John Suhr, Rudy Pensa, Mandolin Brothers, Dan Erlewine, John Patitucci, Flip Scipio, LeRoy Aiello.

Make a Fret Press or Two

2024
AL#152 p.56               
Steve Kennel                                                                                           

▪ The do-it-yourself mentality is at the root of the whole American Lutherie Boom. Kennel helps you mimic recent advances in commercially available tooling, but DIY it with that stuff they use for competition-level skateboard ramps.

Electronic String Action Gauge

2024
AL#151 p.64               
Geoff Needham                                                                                           

▪ A cheap mail-order gizmo for measuring tire tread wear; a pair of nippers; a scrap of plexi; a bottle of superglue. Put them all together and you’ve got a sweet tool like the cool kids use. Mentions Chris Alsop.

Denny’s Jigs, Part Two

2023
AL#150 p.32               
January Williams                                                                                           

▪ Author Williams bought the lutherie estate of the late Denny Stevens several years ago. He has taken an archeological approach to it, pondering over the nicely crafted gizmos he has discovered, and reporting them to us as he figures out the function of the various treasures.

Reducing Frequency Error in Electric Guitars

2023
AL#150 p.38               
Mark French   Devon Pessler   Alyssa Fernandez                                                                                   

▪ Ya talk about rabbit holes. Research into guitar intonation just gets deeper and deeper. This article homes in on individual string compensation at the nut, plus small adjustments to the position of the 1st and 2nd frets. Industrial strength data collection. Heed the eggheads.

Fret-Buzz Detector

2023
AL#150 p.54               
John Kruse                                                                                           

▪ Like you might have heard, it is possible to locate a buzzing fret on a guitar that uses metal strings by exploiting the fact that an electical connection would be made when the string briefly touched the fret. It can be hard to see a flickering light or see a response on a VOM. This little project is optimized to make that contact visible and audible.

An Easy Fretboard-Tapering Jig

2023
AL#149 p.62               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ This super-simple table saw jig is a strip of plywood with two alignment pins in drilled holes. Easy to make and to use.

It Worked for Me: Fretwire Roller and Guitar Hanger

2023
AL#149 p.71               
Steve Kennel                                                                                           

▪ Kennel is a sculptor. He sees a pile of scraps and misc hardware and builds a swanky-lookin’ fretwire roller. He’s on a roll. (Get it? Roll?) So he makes a guitar hanger that plugs into a workbench dog hole.

Letter to the Editor: Non-Sequential Fretting

2023
AL#148 p.9               
Roger Haggstrom                                                                                           

▪ Haggstrom was intrigued by Harry Fleishman’s assertion that necks will stay straighter if frets are not installed in an obvious, sequential order from one end to the other. Roger tried it out, and reports that it works.

Let’s Catch Up with Steve Klein

2023
AL#148 p.16               
Paul Schmidt   Steve Klein                                                                                       

▪ Steve Klein started his lutherie endeavors fifty-five years ago as a teenager in his parents’ house. Today he’s collaborating with Steve Kauffman on dazzlingly decorative acoustic guitars, and continuing to make innovative ergonomic solidbodies in his own shop. Mentions Fibonacci, Carl Margolis, Frank Pollaro, Leonardo DaVinci Steve Kauffman, Larry Robinson, Bob Hergert, Joe Walsh.

It Worked for Me: Fret Pressing Order

2022
AL#146 p.69               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ When you are pressing frets into an unmounted fretboard, it matters what order they go in, though that’s counter-intuitive.

Ironing Out a Warped Guitar Neck

2022
AL#147 p.52               
Michael Burton                                                                                           

▪ What do you do with a guitar that seems beyond repair? Repair it anyway. Why not? After decades of neglect and wildly improper storage, this sturdy Asian-built flattop had developed the mother of all neck warps. Burton ripped into it with clothes iron, heat blanket, router, and neck jig to replace the truss rod and fix earlier disastrous repair attempts. It turned out great.

An All-American 7-String Guitar

2022
AL#146 p.38               
Lee Herron                                                                                           

▪ Sometimes you get a customer who just wants you to run wild. Check out the design and build process of this 17.75-inch, 7-string, multiscale black-locust flattop guitar. Fun!

Small is Beautiful: the Piccolo Balalaika

2022
AL#145 p.42               
Sjaak Elmendorp                                                                                           

▪ Here’s the story of a big guy and his little balalaika. After rashly promising a friend that he would make a balalaika although he knew nothing about the distinctively triangular Russian instrument. We’ve all been there, right? Sjaak went on to explore and build the rare descant member of the family. Mentions balalaika player Jan Van der Hoogt.

Hand-Powered Radius Sanding Jig

2022
AL#145 p.38               
Roger Haggstrom                                                                                           

▪ Haggstromm uses a commercially-available radiused sanding block, a few scraps of wood, and a handful of parts from the hardware store to make this simple jig. It that lets him quickly and quietly produce a fretboard with the radius and the relief accurately sanded in.

“Restomodding” Wall-Hanger Guitars

2021
AL#144 p.6               
Roger Haggstrom                                                                                           

▪ A hundred and some years ago, Swedish folks sat around the house all of a dark winter and sang hymns together, accompanied by the strummings of cheap mass-produced guitars. Those days are gone, but a lot of the guitars are still hanging on the walls of old houses. Roger Häggström has made a business of restoring them to useful condition and modifying them to sound and play better than they ever could have. He restores and modifies. Restomods. Mentions the Levin guitar company.

Meet the Maker: Robert Anderson

2021
AL#144 p.36               
John Calkin   Robert Anderson                                                                                       

▪ Robert Anderson made banjos part-time for decades while he worked a respectable day job. But since he has “retired” into a full-time lutherie career, he is in demand for his beautifully carved, inlaid, and engraved instruments. We take a look into his converted tobacco barn and talk shop. Mentions Doug Unger, Stan Werbin, Kathy Anderson, Grateful Dead.

The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Six

2021
AL#144 p.44               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ In this concluding episode of the series, the neck is fretted and the frets are filed and polished. Threaded inserts are installed in the heel and the neck is attached. Finally, the bridge is glued on, the nut is set in position, and the guitar is strung and set up.

Review: Michael Bashkin Fretting Course from ObrienGuitars.com

2021
AL#144 p.66               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Online video lutherie instruction has come of age. Our reviewer John Calkin is a veteran luthier and a fan of lutherie videos from way back in the VHS days. He gives this course a strong reccomendation.

It Worked for Me: Mount Fret Erasers on a Handle

2021
AL#144 p.70               
Jason Hull                                                                                           

▪ Fret erasers are easier to use if you attach them to a handle, especially if you have carpal tunnel syndrome.

It Worked for Me: Sawdust in Fretboard Slots

2021
AL#144 p.71               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ You might decide to cram sawdust into those nice freshly-cut fret slots. Sounds weird? It’s so you can wax the board before fretting and not get wax into the slots.

It Worked for Me: Junk Plane Makes Sanding Beam Handle

2021
AL#143 p.69               
Aaron Cash                                                                                           

▪ Off-brand hand planes with the iron and cap missing are rightfully cheap in junk stores. They can be affixed with carpet tape onto things like radiused sanding beams to give you a better grip.

The Charles Fox Guitar-Building Method, Part Five

2021
AL#143 p.22               
Mark French   Charles Fox                                                                                       

▪ In this article the fretboard is slotted, crowned, and glued to the neck. The neck is then shaped.

The Terz Guitar

2021
AL#142 p.30               
James Buckland                                                                                           

▪ The terz guitar was a smaller Romantic-era guitar, which played in a higher range and was written in a different key. Knowing this history helps us understand several otherwise-puzzling old instruments.

New Frets in Old Nibs

2021
AL#142 p.38               
Ben Haskenhoff                                                                                           

▪ The author steps us through a full refret of a solidbody guitar with a bound fretboard where the new frets nestle right back into the binding. Save the nibs!

The Seven-Year Itch

2020
AL#141 p.41               
Erik Wolters                                                                                           

▪ Wolters started his first instrument-making project later in life than some. But with an excellent mentor and years of patient determination, he completed a doozy of a first guitar. Dreams can come true. At least lutherie dreams.

Questions: Floating Fretboard Extension

2020
AL#139 p.69               
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ When you use a bolt-on neck for a flattop guitar, can you just not glue down the part of the fretboard that lies on the soundboard?

Making Notched Straightedges

2020
AL#140 p.58               
Bob Gleason                                                                                           

▪ Straightedges that are notched to fit over frets have become popular tools for judging the straightness of fretboards, and for projecting the surface of the board for setting neck angles. You can make your own, with the advantage that you can use any fret scale. Here’s how.

Less Than a Thousand Guitar Repair Tips

2020
AL#139 p.42               
Erick Coleman   Evan Gluck                                                                                       

▪ Erick and Evan (the two Es) are back with more helpful hints for the guitar repair shop. Some of the things they show are nicely developed professional tools, like for leveling frets while the guitar is still under string tension. Then there’s a diagnostic tool that is just a stick, a guitar string, and a salvaged tuning machine. If you think that’s gronk, how about the tool that Evan calls “my string.” It’s just a string. Not even a guitar string. Mentions gluing frets, DeoxIT, WD40, tri-Flow, slotting bridge pins, regluing bridges, fret nipper, notching fret tang, Matt Brewster, fret leveler bar, StewMac, Stewart-MacDonald, bridge removal, shark skin, fret rocker, fret leveler. From their workshop at the 2017 GAL Convention.

Meet the Maker: Arie van Spronssen

2020
AL#139 p.38               
Sjaak Elmendorp                                                                                           

▪ Holland had a lutherie boom in the 1970s, too. Arie started out as a carpenter, but moved into lutherie after an injury. Today he makes steel string guitars and a variety of other instruments. Mentions Roger Siminoff, Irving Sloane, Arthur Overholzer, Cees van Loon, Vox Humana, preparing cow bone, humidity control.

Resurrection and Modification of an Inexpensive Old Factory Guitar

2019
AL#138 p.48               
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Sometimes when a vintage instrument is being restored, you want to leave a few of the dings and a lttle of the funk, just for authentic flavor. Sometimes you want to leave the big dings and all the funk, and end up with something that is very tasty to a certain sophisticated palate. Mottola takes a century-old beater and ends up with a sweet-playing silk purse disguised as a sow’s ear. Mentions B&J, Buegeleisen and Jacobson, Oscar Schmidt, and Stella. Instrument is ladder-braced.

Joshia’s Twisted Neck

2019
AL#137 p.26               
Tim Olsen   Joshia de-Jonge                                                                                       

▪ Here’s Joshia’s method of building an elevated neck with a sophisticated geometry to let the bridge height be constant across its width while the low strings have the necessary clearance over the frets. It is inspired by the work of Eric Sahlin.

Dovetailed Neck Reset

2019
AL#137 p.44               
Todd Mylet                                                                                           

▪ As a repairman in a busy guitar shop, Todd Mylet has a lot of Martin-style neck resets under his belt. There is a lot involved in doing it right. Todd presents a detailed account of his well-considered and time-tested method.

Questions: Quarter-Step Fretting

2019
AL#137 p.69               
James Buckland                                                                                           

▪ What’s the best way to calculate the extra freets for a quarter-step fretting scheme? And how accurately do they need to be placed?

Letter to the Editor: Just Intonation Fret Layout

2019
AL#136 p.3               
John O’Sullivan                                                                                           

▪ Guitars don’t always have twelve equally-spaced frets per octave. They almost always do, but not always. Here’s another take on the possibilities, ccalled Eagle 53, which attempts to come closer to the beautiful dream of just intonation.

Measuring Scale Length of Fretted Instruments

2019
AL#136 p.48               
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ What’s the scale length? Isn’t it just twice the distance from the nut to the 12th fret? Yeah, kinda, but there can be a lot of complicating factors when working on old instruments. Like maybe the nut position was compensated, or just cut wrong. Or maybe the 12th fret was a little off. The fret positions might have been calculated using the old rule of 18. Here’s how to find out what’s really going on.

Delrin Frets

2019
AL#136 p.52               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Many years ago, innovative classical guitar maker Richard Schneider made instruments with frets made of rod stock set in wide saw kerfs. Fleishman updates the idea by having round-bottomed slots cut by CNC and laying in Delrin rod.

Setting a Violin Neck Like a Professional

2018
AL#135 p.4               
Charles Rufino                                                                                           

▪ Here’s a close look at the process of setting a violin neck. No innovative tools or new miracle adhesives here; just good old-fashioned methodical, careful work with traditional toos and designs. From his workshop at the 2017 GAL Convention.

A DRO Fret Slotter

2018
AL#135 p.58               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ Want a robot lutherie apprentice? It is here today and it is cheap. But it doesn’t look like something from the Jetsons. It looks like this; a digital readout connected to a lead screw. With a friendly whirr, it will move the saw guide right up to the next fret position for you. But get your own dang coffee.

It Worked for Me: Tiny Chisel from X-acto Blade

2018
AL#135 p.64               
Stephen Mangold                                                                                           

▪ Make a tiny chisle from an X-acto blade. It will be 0.020 inches wide, good for getting into fret slots.

It Worked for Me: String Clips for Neck Work

2018
AL#134 p.66               
Lee Herron                                                                                           

▪ Quickly make a set of spreaders that will keep slackened strings out of your way and off the lacquer while you file a set of frets.

Warmoth Guitar Products in the 21st Century

2018
AL#134 p.16               
Tim Olsen                                                                                           

▪ Ken Warmoth is one of the pioneers of the Strat-compatible guitar parts scene, starting small in the 1970s and working up to the sophisticated operation he runs today. He’s a born engineer, constantly refining and rethinking each operation for better accuracy and efficiency. Of course these days that involves CNC machines, and he’s got them. But you may be surprised to see which operations use them and which don’t. Our last visit with Ken was in 1991, so there is some catching up to do.

Restoration of a Guitar by Thomas Duran made in Seville 1684

2018
AL#133 p.34               
D.-and-F. Sinier-de-Ridder                                                                                           

▪ So you need to restore a guitar that is a third of a millienium old. Of course it was originally a Baroque guitar. A couple hundred years ago somebody chopped it into a Romantic-era 6-string guitar. No prob, you’ll just find a similar authentic instrument for a guide. Except there aren’t any. Spain was packed with them 300 years ago, but now not a single one is known to exist in original condition. Nonetheless, a full and successful restoration is made.

Tiny Files for Fret Work

2017
AL#131 p.65               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Harry loves to learn, and then to teach. Although he has been leveling frets for half a century, he’s always rethinking it and keeping his eyes open for better ways to do it. Here he shows us his latest tools and tips for doing more by doing less.

An Adjustable Compensating Guitar Nut Design

2017
AL#131 p.66               
Paul Eliasson   Orn Eliasson                                                                                       

▪ Relax. The clunky Frankenstein of a nut in this photo is not the design to which the article title refers. The Eliasson design is sleek and compact.

Letter to the Editor: Guitar Compensation Experiment at 2017 Convention

2017
AL#132 p.3               
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Mottola collected some data about string length compensation at the 2017 GAL Convention. He promises to publish soon.

Classical Guitar Setup

2017
AL#132 p.18               
Kevin Aram                                                                                           

▪ Kevin Aram has long been one of the very top classical guitar makers in the United Kingdom. Here he takes us through his process of setting the action on a classical guitar and making sure the frets are shipshape and Bristol fashion.

A Better Approximation to the Rule of 18

2017
AL#132 p.62               
Mark French                                                                                           

▪ We think the old boys found the 1st fret position by dividing the string length by 18. Then they divided that by 18 to get the 2nd fret. Sounds like a job for that nerdy apprentice kid. But 18 is just an approximation of the “right” number; that is, the 12th fret won’t be right in the middle of the string. If you want to do it by hand, here’s some thoughts and numbers about what would be a better approximation, and how much better it would be.

Electric Bass Neck Rods

2017
AL#131 p.14               
David King                                                                                           

▪ That great big long thin neck of an electric bass is the ultimate test case for a truss rod. When renowned custom bass maker David King became dissatisfied with the performance of the rod he was using, he took a deep dive on the whole question of how rods work. Spoiler: Leo Fender was right. Mentions Michael Gurian and William Cumpiano.

Compression Neck Rod Installation

2017
AL#131 p.18               
David King                                                                                           

▪ If you are one of those spoiled-rotten kids who has always just dropped an under-over truss rod into a straight slot, you might want to see how a real old-school single curved compression rod is done.

Techniques for Guitar Repair Efficiency

2017
AL#130 p.28               
Erick Coleman   Evan Gluck   Eron Harding                                                                                   

▪ Erick, Evan, and Eron called this workshop “Making Bread with Bread-and-Butter Repairs.” Their emphasis was on tools and techniques to help you get a lot of the usual repair jobs done in a short time and at a high level of quality. from their 2014 GAL Convention workshop.

Was the Rule of 18 Good Enough?

2017
AL#130 p.52               
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Did ancient folk know what they were doing? Or did they just have the bad luck to be born too soon? This article can’t settle that question definitively, but it does give some new and helpful information for luthiers. Graphs compare the pitch accuracy of fret scales calculated by the 12th-root-of-2 method vs the Rule-of-18 method. Appropriate string length compensation is considered.

Offset Soundholes and Sound Wedges

2017
AL#130 p.22               
David Freeman                                                                                           

▪ Freeman has made a number of guitars with varying combinations of off-center soundholes, graduated body depth, rolled-over edges, and adjustable side ports. He gives us his thoughts on how these design factors interact and how they advance his quest for a more erognomic steel string guitar.

Reviews: O’Brien’s Fret Work

2016
AL#128 p.68               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Graham McDonald has written books about mandolin-family instrument construction as well as speaking at GAL Conventions and writing for AL. Now he has written a book about mandolin history, and long-time GAL member GD Armstrong likes it. John Calkin gives a good review to a recent addition to Robbie O’Brien’s large and deep online lutherie instruction catalog. This one focuses on Kent Carlos Everett’s fret work techniques.

Meet the Maker: Dave Collins

2017
AL#129 p.38               
Steve Denvir   Dave Collins                                                                                       

▪ Dave Collins is a rising star on the guitar repair scene. Take a look at a couple of nice jigs he has developed; one for slotting saddles, one for regluing broken headstocks. Interestingly, he is in the same Ann Arbor third-storey shop previously tenanted by Herb David. Dave counts Dan Erlewine and Bryan Galloup among his mentors.

Google Calculator and the Guitar’s Magic Number

2008
AL#96 p.62               
William Leirer                                                                                           

▪ Did you know that the Google search engine has a calculator? This piece is a math lover’s dream. There’s lot of formulae. The goal is to lay out a fret pattern for any scale length, then find the perfect intonation point for it. You’ll need a pretty good guitar tuner to take advantage of the process. All you math challenged luthiers out there, just say “Duh. . . .”

Intonation in the Real World

2007
AL#92 p.26               read this article
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ The author begins with a lengthy introduction to explain why guitars can’t play exactly in tune in every key, all the way to the point where music theory clashes with physics. It’s pretty deep but it’s fun. The cure for wayward guitars is to find what music a guitarist plays the most, and then adjust the action and intonation at both the nut and the saddle to find the most satisfactory compromise for that player. This is the thinking luthier’s approach to intonation correction. With 4 charts and a drawing.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Partial Refrets

2007
AL#90 p.58               
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Sometimes only a few frets need to be replaced. Here’s how and why to do it and an idea of how to charge for it. Another lesson from Instrument Repair 101. With 11 photos.

Optimizing Playing Surface Geometry

2007
AL#89 p.56               
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Most repair people know that on a fretboard with a tight radius the upper frets have to be milled flatter than the first frets if the player wants to bend strings without “fret-out.” Most just file several times until the get the results they are after. What they are really doing is trying to turn the playing surface into a conical section. Mottola’s method is more precise. Consider it the thinking man’s way to dress frets for the most optimum action. With 7 figures, 6 photos, and a chart.

Low-Tech Prototyping Jigs and Methods

2007
AL#89 p.6      ALA1 p.10         
Tim Shaw                                                                                           

▪ Shaw has worked for large guitar companies for decades. Currently with Fender, he runs an independent shop that makes prototype instruments for all the factories that fall under the Fender banner. He also does repairs on discontinued models where the factory equipment has been dismantled. Accomplishing one-off projects or small runs of parts is no different for a big company than for an independent luthier, they just have the luxury of big-budget equipment. Shaw’s methods of jigging up for parts manufacture incorporating speed and safety can be used by many one-off shops to hustle production and instrument development. Good stuff from one of the aces in the business. With 34 photos.

Meet the Maker: David King

2006
AL#85 p.20               
Jonathon Peterson   David King                                                                                       

▪ King is a perfectionist who even machines his own bridges. The finish he uses is a catalyzed polyurethane. He uses some interesting equipment to arch his fingerboards and install his frets. After reading this you may not be eager to set up next to him at an instrument show. With 15 photos.

Gibson used Three Different 24¾” Scale Lengths

2006
AL#85 p.56      ALA1 p.44         
Dan Erlewine   Tim Shaw   Don MacRostie                                                                                   

▪ Every repair person who’s seen generations of Gibson guitars knows that the 24 3/4 inch scale ain’t necessarily so. If you measure from the nut to the 12th fret you get several magic numbers, and you deal with it. But here’s the low-down on why they may have changed and why the number has stayed the same. With 4 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Product Review: Stewart-MacDonald Fret Scale Rules

2006
AL#85 p.59               
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman is at his humorous best here, hunting the past for how frets used to be laid out, why they were often wrong, and why the new Stew-Mac rules are tools worth having. Did you know there are at least three ways to calculate fret spacing? Did you know they vary in their results? Can musicians hear the difference? With 1 photo and a chart.

2003 Manuel Reyes Flamenco Guitar

2005
AL#84 p.33   BRB7 p.410            
Tom Blackshear                                                                                           

▪ One page of notes plus a 2-page spread of GAL full-size plan #53 of a Reyes flamenco guitar.

Resurrecting the Family Banjo

2005
AL#84 p.50   BRB7 p.412            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Resurrection isn’t so much about true restoration as in making a dilapidated instrument function again in a manner that the owner can afford. Time-saving procedures are permitted that a restorationist wouldn’t dream of, but preserving the instrument as much as possible is still the goal. With 12 photos.

Questions: Canting Bass Side of Fretboard

2005
AL#83 p.58   BRB7 p.453            
Eugene Clark   David Hurd   Jeffrey-R. Elliott                                                                                   

▪ Canting the bass side of the fretboard on classical guitars and resulting saddle and string compensation.

Product Review: Stew-Mac Measuring Tools

2004
AL#80 p.52   BRB7 p.507            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Toolman Harry examines three new measuring devices from Stew-Mac and finds them all to be accurately made and useful. The tools are the Fret Rocker (for finding high frets), the String Action Gauge (for measuring string height), and the String Spacing Tool (for laying out nuts and perhaps saddles). With 3 photos and a diagram.

Eight Concerns of Highly Successful Guitar Makers

2004
AL#79 p.6   BRB7 p.206            
R.E. Brune                                                                                           

▪ In a sense Brune is laying down the law for successful classical guitar making. Much of it will be useful to any builder, and all of it is interesting because Brune is an interesting man who has his thoughts together. Not to mention that he’s a heck of a luthier with a deep background in the history of his craft. With 30 photos and 8 diagrams. Mentions Santos Hernandez, Marcelo Barbaro, Ignacio Fleta, Hermann Hauser, Sr.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.

It Worked for Me: Over-Radiused Edges

2004
AL#79 p.64   BRB7 p.494            
William-G. Snavely                                                                                           

▪ Using rectangular-section steel tubing rather than radiused sanding blocks to shape a fretboard which tends to over-radius the edges.

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part Three

2004
AL#77 p.38   BRB7 p.416            
Peggy Stuart   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ The epic continues! In this segment the neck is assembled, the body is closed up and bound, and the fingerboard is bound and fretted. All this is accomplished under the able tutelage of Don MacRostie at the American School of Lutherie. With 67 photos. Parts 1 and 2 were in the two previous issues of American Lutherie.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Hands-On Archtop Mandolin Making, Part Four

2004
AL#78 p.28   BRB7 p.416            
Peggy Stuart   Don MacRostie                                                                                       

▪ Ms. Stuart’s epic continues with the making of the headstock cap, shaping of the neck, installing the neck and fingerboard, as well as setting up and stringing the finished (but in-the-white) instrument. The first three parts were in the three previous issues of AL. Don MacRostie taught Stuart’s class at the American School of Lutherie. With 74 photos, most of the step-by-step process.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Making Templates for Stew-Mac’s Fret-Slotting Miter Box

2004
AL#78 p.62   BRB7 p.172            
Robert Deacon                                                                                           

▪ Using templates to slot a fingerboard is the way to go, whether you use a miter box or a table saw. The author doesn’t mention it, but his templates should work as well for table saw people as for the miter box folks. Of course, this is for making templates for scale lengths not offered by the manufacturer of the templates. With 2 photos and 3 diagrams.

Cutting a Fanned-Fret Fingerboard

2003
AL#76 p.41   BRB7 p.137            
Mike Doolin                                                                                           

▪ Fanned-Fret fingerboards use those wacky, slanted frets you’ve probably seen on some “California” guitars. So how does one cut those slots accurately? Doolin has worked out a method—make the ‘board its own miter box. Pretty cool. With 5 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Fingerboard Radius Gauges

2003
AL#75 p.62   BRB7 p.106            
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ Cool beans! Radius gauges you can cut out of the magazine and use on your instruments. Jeez, I mean gauges that you can Xerox, then cut out and mount on a backer board and use on your instruments. What was I thinking?

Van Eps Fretboard Slotting Jig

2003
AL#74 p.46   BRB7 p.72            
Jim DeCava                                                                                           

▪ A look at an old solution to a much older problem—how to accurately slot a fingerboard to receive the frets. Contains some interesting history of the Liberty Banjo Company. With 4 photos.

Dot Marker Position Gauges

2002
AL#72 p.44   BRB6 p.436            
R.M. Mottola                                                                                           

▪ The author has devised a set of layout gauges for positioning the side markers and fretboard dots of his guitars, easily assuring himself that all dots will be nicely and quickly centered. A set of gauges for various scale lengths is included for photocopying.

Meet the Maker: Ralph Novak

2002
AL#70 p.4   BRB6 p.350            
John Calkin   Ralph Novak                                                                                       

▪ Novak has been on the guitar scene since the late ’60s, specializing in the creation and repair of electric instruments, though his expertise doesn’t end there. His best-known invention is probably the Novax fanned fret system, though his work with multi-string guitars deserves note. Mentions Charles LoBue. With 17 photos.

Slotting Fretboards

2002
AL#70 p.48   BRB6 p.344            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Using templates and a tablesaw to slot fingerboards in minutes, and how to make your own templates. With 7 photos and 5 fret scales for off-beat scale lengths.

Conical Fretboard Radiusing Jig

2001
AL#66 p.28               read this article
Mike Nealon                                                                                           

▪ The author offers plans for a jig that uses a router to shape the surface of a conical fretboard. With 11 photos and 5 diagrams.

It Worked for Me: Worn Fingerboards

2001
AL#66 p.64   BRB6 p.458            
Keith Davis                                                                                           

▪ Making fills in worn fingerboards using fitted wood chips; an ebony fingerboard with ebony fills, a rosewood fingerboard with rosewood fills, etc.

Product Reviews: Frets.com CD

2000
AL#62 p.54   BRB6 p.470            
Fred Carlson                                                                                           

▪ Carlson examines Frank Ford’s “Frets.Com, A Luthier’s Notebook”, an ongoing CD-ROM project taken from Ford’s website and finds that it offers more information than one reviewer can deal with. The reviewer also looks at the Fret Tang Expander and the Fret Tang Compressor, 2 tools invented by Ford, and finds them a good addition to his tool kit. With 4 photos.

Product Reviews: Stew-Mac Neck Jig

2000
AL#61 p.52   BRB6 p.468            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ Good grades are given to the Stew-Mac neck jig, a fretting aid. The fret nippers intended for jumbo fret wire is greeted with mixed emotions. The Allen mandolin tailpiece is found to offer grace and dignity to any mando with a bridge high enough to allow its use.

Refret With David Santo

1999
AL#60 p.39   BRB5 p.432            
Todd Novak                                                                                           

▪ Clear text and 19 photos explain how to do a fret job the old fashioned way—no fancy-shmansy new jiggery or expensive tools. Fret jobs have been done this way since the advent of barbed fret wire, and it’s good to be reminded that self-reliance and skill can still get the job done.

Product Reviews: Moto-Tool Bases; Neck-Making Tools: JAWS

1999
AL#60 p.44   BRB5 p.436            
Fred Carlson                                                                                           

▪ Hi-Tone instrument cases are reviewed and not found wanting, “a contender for the handsomest case out there, and very solidly built.”

Kasha Collaboration, Part 2

1999
AL#59 p.22   BRB5 p.332            
Jonathon Peterson   George Majkowski   Boaz Elkayam                                                                                   

▪ George Majkowski and Boaz Elkayam complete their work on 10 Kasha guitars to honor the memory of Richard Schneider and to keep his work alive. The hand tools involved, the strange method of fretting, and the cool vacuum clamps, as well as the design philosophy behind the guitars, make this a pair of articles not to be missed. The Old World meets the future here and they blend very nicely. With 58 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

A New Look at the Chromatic Dulcimer

1999
AL#59 p.36   BRB5 p.390            
Merv Rowley                                                                                           

▪ Rowley may have been the first to use metal rod for frets rather than fret wire, a technique often attributed to Richard Schneider. He has built dulcimers for many years and has been something of an innovator. Here he examines the chromatic, rather than the diatonic dulcimer, and decides that perhaps it’s time has come and how to make it most acceptable to those who already play the conventionally fretted instrument. With a photo and two charts.

Kasha Collaboration, Part 1

1999
AL#58 p.20   BRB5 p.332            
Jonathon Peterson   George Majkowski   Boaz Elkayam                                                                                   

▪ Boaz Elkayam and George Majkowski extend the work of Michael Kasha and Richard Schneider in a project that entails the construction of 10 guitars. A wide variety of building techniques involving hand and power tools, as well as vacuum clamping, is necessary to make these complicated instruments. An unlikely pairing of craftsmen contributes to our understanding of one of the most controversial instrument designers of our times, and the memory of a respected luthier and teacher. With 26 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

The Chainsaw Lutherie of Tom Ribbecke, Part One: The Neck

1998
AL#56 p.36   BRB5 p.262            
Jay Hargreaves                                                                                           

▪ Ribbecke is a renowned maker of archtop guitars. He also opens his shop periodically to small classes that wish to learn his formula for successful and graceful guitars. Hargreaves attended one such week-long session and brought back the straight skinny for American Lutherie readers. Part 1 details the construction of a laminated maple neck and associated details. Part 2 follows in AL#57. With 29 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Questions: Soundboard/Neck Relationship

1998
AL#55 p.60   BRB5 p.208            
Tom Blackshear                                                                                           

▪ The relationship of the soundboard to the neck on classical and flamenco guitars.

Product Reviews: Wood Thickness Indicator, Nut Files, Fret Slot Cleaning Tool

1998
AL#54 p.58   BRB5 p.444            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman tries out a tool for puncturing archtop plates to establish depth of cut, likes it, but finds that the standard size tool is for violin makers and guitar makers must special order; the nut files of a lifetime come into his shop; a good tool that Everyman can afford turns out to be nice fret slot cleaning tool.

Semihemispherical Fret Ends

1998
AL#53 p.48   BRB5 p.192            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Who but Harry could design frets that look like half a hot-dog sliced lengthwise? Seriously, though, Fleishman’s method of shaping and installing frets should mark the end of player discomfort and fret end hang-up.Not to mention that his frets look seriously cool. With 1 photo and 4 drawings.

Scale Length and Tone

1997
AL#51 p.6   BRB5 p.86            
Ralph Novak                                                                                           

▪ Scale length is seldom used as a design criterion to achieve a given tone, but Novak shows that a given set of strings behaves differently according to the scale length it is stretched over. There are reasons to change other than player comfort. Impress your friends with your knowledge of the evil clang tone. With 6 graphs and 2 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

It Worked for Me: Dulcimer Fret Installation

1997
AL#51 p.52   BRB5 p.491            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ A portable fret to solve the installation problem of the infamous 6 and a half fret of a dulcimer.

Product Reviews: Fret Tang Pliers, Bridge-Slotting Jig

1997
AL#50 p.54   BRB5 p.438            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman examines two tools used for changing the width of fret tangs and a Dremel tool jig for routing bridge slots after the bridge is glued to the guitar. He likes them all. With 3 photos.

Violin Q & A: Raised Bridges/Fitting New Pegs/Loose Bass Bar/Fingerboard Tan Streaks/Russian String Setup

1997
AL#50 p.56   BRB5 p.458            
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ This time the GAL’s fiddle guru talks about bridge shoes, fitting pegs, detecting a loose bass bar, streaky ebony, and “Russian” string setups.

Passport to Spain

1997
AL#49 p.10   BRB4 p.4            
Woodley White                                                                                           

▪ Baarslag journeys to the American School of Lutherie to teach a week-long class about building classical guitars. White attended, and gives a full report. With 37 photos.

Product Reviews: Moto-Tool Bases; Neck-Making Tools: JAWS

1997
AL#49 p.54   BRB5 p.436            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman examines two retrofit bases for the Dremel mini-router, and likes them both for different reasons. He also test drives a set of micro-chisels and JAWS, a hand-powered fretting press, and recommends them. With 5 photos.

How Frank Frets

1997
AL#50 p.4   BRB5 p.60            
Frank Ford                                                                                           

▪ Ford has been a preeminent repairman for years, but has recently emerged as a fine teacher of repair topics. Everyone’s refretting tricks are a little different. Even if you have a handle on the general principle you may find that Frank Ford has something to offer you. With 29 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.

Classic Guitar Intonation

1996
AL#47 p.34   BRB4 p.368            
Greg Byers                                                                                           

▪ Finding perfect intonation through deep math and jiggling the string length at both ends. For some luthiers the quest for perfection knows no bounds. The rest of us are just jealous.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Product Reviews: More Stew-Mac Tools

1995
AL#44 p.52   BRB4 p.434            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ This time the GAL’s Toolman tests a Stewart-MacDonald diamond coated fret file, and the Hacklinger gauge for measuring the thickness of instrument tops and backs. He likes the file enough to recommend it. He likes the gauge, too, but its high price puts him off.

Calculating Fret Intervals with Spreadsheet Software

1995
AL#43 p.46               
Wayne Kelly                                                                                           

▪ If you have access to a PC (and you obviously do) you can use this article to set up your own fret slotting system. Not about how to cut slots, but where to cut them.

Product Reviews: Stew-Mac Tools

1995
AL#43 p.48   BRB4 p.432            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman examines and enjoys two tools from Stewart-MacDonald, the Bridge Saddle Routing Jig and the Adjustable Fret Slotting Saw.

Review: Electric Guitar Setups by Hideo Kamimoto

1995
AL#43 p.60   BRB4 p.466            
John Calkin                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer finds that this should be a useful book for any but the most experienced repairman.

Fretboard Materials: A Semiscientific Survey

1994
AL#40 p.40   BRB4 p.112            
C.F. Casey                                                                                           

▪ Casey devised his own methods of testing fingerboard woods for strength and abrasion resistance. His results will probably surprise you.

At the Workbench of the Twelfth Fret

1993
AL#36 p.52   BRB3 p.422            
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ Four repairmen offer a variety of tips about altering mechanical archtop bridges, adding more “pop” to fretless bass necks, soldering and shielding electrics, carbide bandsaw blades, abrasive cord, superglue, cutting saddle slots, double-stick tape, bending plastic binding, beveling pickguard stock, replacing bar frets with T-frets, and restoring headstocks to look old.

Another Look at Fretting

1993
AL#35 p.48   BRB3 p.368            
Ralph Novak                                                                                           

▪ Good fretwork is complicated, but practice makes it a staple in the repairman’s income. Novak offers advice garnered from twenty-odd years in the business.

Violin Q & A: Neck Thickness/Tightness/D String Reach/Tilt Of Fingerboard

1993
AL#35 p.52   BRB3 p.446            read this article
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ What are the proper dimensions and shape of the neck? What is a “tight” fiddle? What is fingerboard tilt? What does a player mean when he says he “can’t reach” the D string? Darnton answers all.

It’s a Kabosy

1993
AL#35 p.16   BRB3 p.386            read this article
Paul Hostetter                                                                                           

▪ The kabosy is a folk instrument from Madagascar. It comes in several body shapes, but always has a neck with the same layout of staggered frets, many of which don’t completely cross the fingerboard. It’s easy to build and fun to play once your eyes stop being baffled by the weird frets.

Product Reviews: Dan Erlewine’s Don’t Fret video

1993
AL#34 p.56   BRB3 p.439            read this article
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman examines a rash of Stew-Mac fretting tools and their fretting video. He gives the green light to the entire package after extensive testing.

Violin Setups, Part One

1993
AL#35 p.6   BRB3 p.352            read this article
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ To the uninitiated, violin setup seems to have way too many steps for the small number of moveable parts involved. Taken one step at a time, the mystery falls away. Darnton explains the tools and procedures he uses to get the most out of a violin. This segment includes fitting pegs, correcting problems with the nut, making a fingerboard, and fitting a soundpost. Part Two is printed in AL#37. With 30 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Applications of the Silicone Heating Blanket in Violin Making

1993
AL#34 p.18   BRB3 p.328            read this article
George Borun                                                                                           

▪ Not many people make the mental leap from violins to the space age easily. Borun did, and found the connection useful. His list of uses extends far beyond bending the ribs.

A New Look at Harp Guitars

1993
AL#34 p.24   BRB3 p.334   ALA6 p.30         
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ In AL#29 Peterson looked back at the harp guitar. This time he takes a forward look. A number of luthiers find fascination and a new potential in the big beast, and this is the best look at their results to date. With 28 photos and 8 detailed drawings. Also available is GAL full-scale Plan #34, the Klein solidbody electric harp guitar.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Brazilian Guitar Makers

1993
AL#33 p.12   BRB3 p.278            read this article
Roberto Gomes                                                                                           

▪ Gomes offers a list and short description of some current Brazilian builders.

Torres Guitar Restoration

1993
AL#33 p.14   BRB3 p.280            
R.E. Brune                                                                                           

▪ Brune describes a rare 11-string Torres guitar and the manner in which he restored it. With 11 photos and a half-page of drawings. Mentions Romanillos.

At the Workbench

1993
AL#33 p.36   BRB3 p.303            
Wes Brandt                                                                                           

▪ A well-known repairman delivers eight tips, including an alternate way to bend a Venetian cutaway, tool tips, and a way to bend sides more accurately.

Violin Q & A: Fingerboard Flatness/Leaning Bridge/Hide Glue

1992
AL#32 p.64   BRB3 p.446            read this article
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ What should one expect from a purchased ebony fingerboard? Should a fiddle bridge lean back, and how far? Can you offer hints about using hide glue? Darnton’s wide experience rescues another page of readers.

Product Reviews: Waverly Fret Tang Nipper

1992
AL#31 p.60   BRB3 p.437            
Harry Fleishman                                                                                           

▪ Fleishman reviews the Waverly Fret Tang Nipper and finds that for the full-time builder it is an indispensable tool.

A Walk Through Gibson West with Ren Ferguson

1992
AL#32 p.11   BRB3 p.244            
Jonathon Peterson                                                                                           

▪ As a maker of fine acoustic instruments Gibson was reborn in Montana. The man in charge of creativity and efficiency leads the GAL team through his domain. With 17 photos.

In Search of the Perfect Cone

1992
AL#30 p.44   BRB3 p.204            read this article
Tim Earls                                                                                           

▪ Multiple radius fingerboards revisited. Also called conical fretboards. Earls strives to put the design process into the hands of Joe Guitar maker using “barnyard” geometry. Seems to work. The article also contains a description of the Warmoth multiradius fretboard, which has become sort of the industry leader.

Taking the Guitar Beyond Equal Temperament

1992
AL#30 p.46   BRB3 p.210            read this article
Don Musser                                                                                           

▪ Musser tries to get the guitar to play in tune with itself by laying out the frets for just intonation, rather than equal temperament. Interchangeable fretboards allow the changing of keys and tunings. Pretty interesting, and the new fret pattern looks very bewildering and cool. Based on the work of Mark Rankin.

Violin Q & A: Bridge Cutting/Fiddle Points/Overhanging Fingerboard/Epoxy Superglue Repair Uses

1991
AL#28 p.56   BRB3 p.446            read this article
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ Why are bridges always made of maple? Why do fiddles have points? How does one tune a fingerboard? Do epoxy or superglue have any accepted uses on the violin? Darnton furnishes answers.

Review: Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine

1991
AL#26 p.58   BRB3 p.463            read this article
Manny Bettencourt                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer finds that this book is an invaluable resource for the professional repairman and will let the amateur evaluate a potential repair and decide whether or not he has the skill to tackle it.

Inside Warmoth Guitar Products

1991
AL#26 p.26   BRB3 p.60            
Ken Warmoth                                                                                           

▪ Most in-the-know electric guitar folks consider Warmoth necks and bodies to be the best going. Here’s how they’re made. With 22 photos.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Hidden Reinforced Peghead Repair

1991
AL#25 p.50   BRB3 p.29            
Jim Merrill   Bill Colgan                                                                                       

▪ This repair involves removing part of the fingerboard and sinking support splines from the top of the instrument, rather than from the back.

A Low Cost Bass, Part 2

1991
AL#25 p.14   BRB2 p.430            
Frederick-C. Lyman-Jr.                                                                                           

▪ Lyman continues his crusade for a low-cost, high performance bass viol. Part 1 was printed in the previous issue.

Working with Koa

1990
AL#24 p.38   BRB2 p.460            
Bob Gleason                                                                                           

▪ A Hawaiian guitar maker passes on some of his tricks for the successful use of an indigenous wood. With 4 photos of his sidebending procedure.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Violin Q & A: Fingerboard Tearouts/Resharpen Peg Reamer/Tailpiece Saddle/Fingerboard Top/White Bridges

1990
AL#23 p.22   BRB2 p.486            
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ Topics include sharpening a peg reamer, dealing with fingerboard tearout, tailpiece setup, pitching the neck, and staining the bridges.

Guitar String Action

1990
AL#22 p.15   BRB2 p.389            
Don Teeter                                                                                           

▪ The guitar repair guru talks about setting up acoustic and electric guitars, installing truss rods in old instruments, superglues, saddle materials, and bridge designs.

Violin Q & A: First Fiddle Reading List

1990
AL#22 p.32   BRB2 p.486            
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ Darnton suggests the most basic reading list for those wishing to make their first violin.

Violin Q & A: Fiddle Fingerboard Contour

1990
AL#22 p.32   BRB2 p.488            
Michael Darnton                                                                                           

▪ Does a fiddle’s fingerboard need relief? Yes, and doing it right has an ellement of elegance that would not be obvious to a guitar maker.

The Multiple-Scale Fretboard

1990
AL#21 p.14   BRB2 p.364            
Ralph Novak                                                                                           

▪ Novak’s patented fretboard uses slanted frets that alter the scale length from string to string, growing longer toward the bass side. He lists a series of improvements over the normal fretboard.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Fret Crown Radius: A Cause of Pitch Error?

1988
AL#15 p.60   BRB2 p.106            
Steve Newberry                                                                                           

▪ Newberry proves mathematically that large frets do not cause an instrument to play out of tune (though they might easily help a guitarist to play out of tune. There’s a large theoretical difference).

At the Outer Limits of Solid Geometry: The “Twisted Neck” Guitar

1987
AL#12 p.60   BRB1 p.472            read this article
Leo Burrell                                                                                           

▪ Burrell’s patented guitars have a neck that actually twists 45° to keep the action uniformly low. They incorporate many other astonishing characteristics, too. Has anyone ever seen one of these guitars for sale?

Review: Violin Set-Ups and Adjustments by Dan Erlewine and Paul Newson

1987
AL#11 p.50   BRB1 p.502            read this article
George Manno                                                                                           

▪ The reviewer finds this video to be a wise investment, especially for one new to the craft.

Letter to the Editor: Random Tips and Thoughts

1987
AL#12 p.3   BRB1 p.459            
Ralph Novak                                                                                           

▪ Novak offers tips on fretwork, tool sharpening, fitting bridge pins, recycling clogged sandpaper, and admonishes us to get steel wool out of our shops.

Fret Slotting Jig & Formula

1987
AL#10 p.47   BRB1 p.401            
John Schofield                                                                                           

▪ Schofield offers a table saw slotting jig that is simple to use and as accurate as your own layout work can make it. The drawing is rough, but it’s enough. The formula is an alternative to the more common “rule of 18.”

Cussed and Discussed

1987
AL#9 p.20   BRB1 p.318            
Don Teeter                                                                                           

▪ How does an Oklahoma farm boy become a luthier? How does that same luthier become a writer and mentor to a generation of guitar repairmen? Teeter’s 1985 convention lecture tells all, then goes on to update his neck resetting procedure and his method of eliminating dead notes on the fretboard.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.

Fretboard Geometry: Multiradius Fretboard

1986
AL#8 p.49   BRB1 p.298            
Denny Rauen                                                                                           

▪ Rauen corrects an action problem by changing the fingerboard at a time when most repairmen were correcting the problem in the frets. He uses a multiradius fretboard which is also called a conical fretboard.

Cylinders Don’t Make It

1986
AL#8 p.49   BRB1 p.298            
Tim Olsen                                                                                           

▪ Editor Olsen figures that for the lowest string action a fingerboard must resemble a cone shape, rather than a cylinder. Find other related articles by searching for the term conical.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s fifty best articles published before 2010.

Letter to the Editor: Teeter Epoxy Refretting System

1986
AL#6 p.3   BRB1 p.149            
Dana Bourgeois                                                                                           

▪ Bourgeois comments about in inappropriateness of refretting many old Martin guitars with the “Teeter” epoxy method.

Roger Sadowsky: Man of “Action”

1986
AL#6 p.8   BRB1 p.204            
Roger Sadowsky                                                                                           

▪ Sadowsky’s convention lecture thoroughly describes his version the Don Teeter system of fretting with epoxy and oversize fret slots.

Fret Slot Template Bar

1986
AL#5 p.42   BRB1 p.188            
Richard Ennis                                                                                           

▪ Ennis describes how to cut fret slots on a table saw using notches in a fixed bar as depth stops to regulate the fret spacing.

Dulcimer Fretboards: My Way

1985
AL#4 p.46   BRB1 p.146            
Peg Willis                                                                                           

▪ Willis explains the construction of her unique hollow dulcimer fretboard, which has coved sides that blend into the soundboard.

Three Helpful Tools

1985
AL#2 p.54   BRB1 p.77            
Brian Mascarin                                                                                           

▪ They are: an archtop guitar brace jack, a modified 1/4″ phone plug to position an output jack, and a clear plastic square for scribing fret positions on a fretless bass.

Dulcimer Frets: My Way

1985
AL#1 p.40   BRB1 p.42            
Merv Rowley                                                                                           

▪ Rowley describes a method of setting nails into half-round slots in a dulcimer fretboard. The slots are made by passing the fretboard over a veining bit in a router table with a miter fence.

Blackboard Eraser Polisher

1984
DS#288   LW p.111            read this article
Michael Dresdner                                                                                           

▪ Dresdner steals yet another tool from another discipline, this time for polishing frets after they’ve been shaped with a file.

Truss Rod Repair on a Fender

1984
DS#293   LW p.114            
Dave Gentry                                                                                           

▪ Fender’s unorthodox method of installing a truss rod makes the replacement of the rod a strange undertaking. Gentry’s technique is clever, and far less invasive than removing the entire fingerboard. With 2 drawings.

Laminated Dulcimer Fretboard

1983
DS#241   BRB2 p.361            
C.F. Casey                                                                                           

▪ The laminated, hollow fretboard is one of the standard designs of the dulcimer industry. Casey’s is a bit nicer than most. With 6 drawings.

Doodlebug Pad Polishers

1980
DS#140   LW p.111            
Marvin Tench                                                                                           

▪ Yet another substitute for messy steel wool on your bench (not to mention your pickups). Doodlebug pads are a 3M scouring pad made of nylon. Polish your frets with impunity.

Frets and Fingerboard Care

1979
GALQ Vol.7#2 p.17   LW p.111            read this article
Randy Stockwell                                                                                           

▪ Once again finesse in refretting is used to match the shape of the fingerboard to the arc of the plucked strings. Stockwell’s method calls for experience rather than formulae, however. Compare this to the method on p.108.

Neck Relief

1979
DS#124   LW p.108            read this article
Phillip Mayes                                                                                           

▪ The arc of a plucked string can be calculated. Therefore, it stands to reason that that arc could be built into the neck relief, giving the lowest possible buzz-free action. Yup, but it’s tough to make such minute adjustments to a flexible stick like a guitar neck. Still, the concept is interesting, and on a graphite neck might be entirely practical. With 4 illustrations and a pair of charts.

Tuning the Guitar

1977
DS#45   BRB1 p.288            
Ian Noyce                                                                                           

▪ ‘Bet you thought you knew how to tune a guitar. Some are fussier than others, right? Noyce explains that fussiness, and by examining the fussiness it can in part be designed out of the guitar. On the other hand, part of the problem is psycho-fussiness, meaning that you have to tune to suit the peculiarities of human hearing. They say that horses have perfect pitch, so tuning up must be much less of a chore for them.

Fret Spacing Template

1976
DS#27   LT p.4            
Tom Peterson                                                                                           

▪ Lay out one fret scale accurately, then very quickly plot the fret positions for any larger scale length with no math or measuring tools.

Calculating Fret Scales

1974
DS#4   LW p.104            read this article
Bob Petrulis                                                                                           

▪ The author gives you the math to lay out the frets for any scale length and demonstrates how to use a computer spread sheet to do the same operation a lot faster. With a drawing and two charts.

This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.