MyTurningShop - Part 5

Guitar binding

When making acoustic guitars binding is much more important than on most electrics. These small strips of wood, abalone or other materials are used to hide the joints between the tops and sides. In addition they serve as an added level of strength in these joints.

On a solid body guitar binding really just adds to the aesthetics. In my case the “binding” was used as an inlay to achieve the ultimate design concept. I set out to make a custom guitar that looked like a “trademark” that my son had used on some artwork and schoolwork.

Cutting the rabbet for the binding in my case was primarily accomplished using a trimmer/router with a fence attached. However, as you can note in the picture below to continue the inlay into the body of the guitar, and up to the neck, I also used a dremel and a couple of chisels.

The yellow handled chisel had to be custom ground to a very narrow width to facilitate the narrow channels.

Once the rabbets and channels were cut it was a simple matter of adding a thin layer of glue and taping the binding in place until cured.

At this stage the guitar simply needed a little sanding and prep for finishing.

Cutting Fret Slots – Jigs n Fixtures

An earlier post noted the importance of defining the scale length of the guitar before you begin. Setting the bridge exactly in relation to the nut is one of the last steps in building the guitar. But for it all to work, correctly, your frets must also be positioned perfectly.

There are a number of sites that have electronic calculators that will provide your fret spacing based on your chosen scale length (I used www.Stewmac.com). However, Stewmac also has the choice of great fret ruler. Even for a single guitar, I opted to spend the $29.95 due to the critical need for proper spacing. In addition, I had purchased a custom inlayed fret board… I just could’nt handle the thought of screwing up the effort the craftsman put into the inlay!

With the Fret Scale Rule marking my frets was easy enough with a sharpened marking knife. Cutting them was the next step likely to result in catastrophic error. Whenever accuracy or consistent repeatable results are necessary the best method is alway standardization.

I build my own fret slot miter box. It is simply made with a piece of squared and true quality plywood to serve as the base. I attached the fret board, centered and parallel with the sides. Over this I place an easily built carriage/saw guide. Looking at the picture you can see the top of the saw guide is two layered pieces of plywood to provide an ample face against the saw. On both edges of the guide is mounted a side that fits squarely and flush with the sides of the base.

(Note the center line, and the scale rule to the right)

The carriage/saw guide is then positioned over each fret mark and clamped securely in place. Placing the fret saw against the face of the guide and holding it flush with my left hand, I slowly begin cutting.

To control the depth I used a piece of card stock. Placing a piece of fret wire against the edge I measured the depth of the tang and marked the card slot. I would then periodically insert the card stock into the fret slot being cut to ensure consistent and even depth.

Fret Puller

It’s only been in the last few years that I have begun to recognize the long-term cost of current expenses. That thought alone is worthy of its own blog post and deeper consideration, but in this context it leads to trying to save a few bucks while making my first guitar.

Guitars are not cheap to buy and even more expensive to make, unless you are planning on making many.

Regardless, inevitably you are likely to find yourself with the need to remove a fret. Either for the purpose of restoring an old guitar or like in my case due to inexperience installing frets. Of course, when the need arose for me, it was a Friday evening. With no guitar tool suppliers within driving distance to remove Frets, I had two choices… wait 5-7 days, spend another $28 + $8.50 in shipping from Stewmac (I figured they had enough of my money already!) or plan B.

Plan B – Buy a pair of 10″ Concreter’s Nippers at Lowe’s. They came with a double sided bevel. I ground down the outer face until the outer bevel was removed. Then I rounded the outer face to provide a smooth surface to leverage the frets once gripped. Cost – $15.98 and 5 minutes with the grinder.

Bending Fret Wire

Before installing fret wire it should be pre-formed to a radii that is smaller than your fret boards radius. I found trying to bend it by hand or using hand tools resulted in unwanted inconsistency. These frets were not installed smoothly and as a result required additional effort during the fret leveling and finishing stage. As with anything else you craft, proper preparation equals increased quality and better final results.

After several tries to bend wire by hand and with hand tools, I determined the only way to get consistency is by building a fret wire bending jig. My approach was functional though not all that ergonomic. In retrospect, it should have been mounting to a stationary base to be clamped on the workbench. You can see in the pictures below, I cut a dado in the edge of two pieces of wood and a tenon on both sides of the center. About an inch and half was cut from the center and glued to the outer blocks. The outer blocks and this short center piece were glued together for form the body of the jig.

Through the smaller center I drilled a hole for the adjustment bolt. A matching hole was also drilled deep into the other center block which will slide up and down as needed in the dados. As you can see below, I epoxied a nut in this hole.

I cut three wheels using a hole saw. The smaller wheels are 3/4″ while the larger is 1 1/8″. These were temporarily mounted on a bolt, put in the drill press and shaped much like you would use a lathe. The two smaller wheels had a slight cove cut in their outer edge. On the larger wheel I held a fine tooth hand saw to cut a groove for the fret tang. These wheels were then mounted on the jig. The smaller wheels are free to spin, while the larger wheel was epoxied to the bold head and had a window crank handle mounted to the shaft.

I began by placing the fret wire in the jig tightened just enough for traction on the cranked wheel. After running the wire through, I would tighten the bolt at the bottom just one to one and a half turns then run the wire back through again. I continued until the radius was smaller than the fret board I was using.

Installing Frets….

If you’ve never done this before…. practice first!

My research shows two fundamentay different methods of installing frets. You can either press them in or hammer them in.

Fret pressing equipment is probably out of the question for any one-time/first-time builders. However, it is something I will consider if/when I build additional guitars. My only experience is hammering frets in, so this is all I can speak to.

Again, if you’ve never done them before, practice. Use a scrap piece of wood and buy extra fret wire. Based on personal experience, this will alleviate frustration and improve the final quality of your guitar, reducing the need for fret leveling and dressing.

I found the keys to success being many light taps and a firm base under the neck. While vendors want to sell you a brass faced dead-blow hammer, I found that a smooth faced carpenters hammer works fine. If you are tapping and not “hammering”, I found no evidence of marks or indentations.

Ideally, your fret wire needs to be pre-formed to a radii that is smaller than the radius of your fret board. If so, the outer edge of the wire will sit in the fret slots while the center rises above the board.

Your first strikes should be on the outer edges to begin, and only begin seating the wire. Your first strikes should not result in the outer edge of the fret wire being fully seated! Once the wire is securely started you can begin lightly tapping the wire working from the outside to the center. Slowly work your way back and forth. As the center of the fret wire is lodged deeper in the fret board the outer edges will have a tendency to pop up some. If they come out completely, you are driving the center in too fast.

Starting at the edges, then working from the center out you should see the tang of the fret wire gradually sink into the slot as the wire slowly takes on the same radius of the fret board.

To make sure I had a secure base, I cut 15 inches from an old pair of jeans. I enlisted my wife to sew up one end, filling the sack with about 8lbs of fine playground sand. After sewing the other end, I had a sandbag that would easily support the neck of the guitar while easily forming to the shape necessary.

Guitar binding

Cutting Fret Slots – Jigs n Fixtures

Fret Puller

Bending Fret Wire

Installing Frets….

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