Stewart MacDonald 5348, Assembly Instructions Manual

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In this step it is helpful to have the neck held firmly either by
clamping the peghead to the edge of your workbench, or in
a vise . Use a caul to protect the peghead from clamp marks .
Position the fretboard on the neck, with the 14th fret at the
heel edge . Put the nut in place, to be sure you have room for
it to sit on the flat neck before it tapers off to the headstock .
Don’t glue it in yet—you might find it necessary to thin your
nut so it sits on the flat of the neck and still have the 14th
fret line up with the heel edge .
There are several ways to clamp the fretboard to the neck:
use the rubber bands included in the kit, use some screw
clamps and a caul, or you can use our #3109 Fingerboard
Band Clamps with or without a caul .
To clamp with the rubber band:
wrap the rubber band around
the full length, starting at
the nut line (pictured) .
M ak e sure the
first wrap goes
over the end
to keep it from
unraveling .
Attach the fingerboard to the neck
After the dry run, un-
wind the band and
apply Titebond glue .
Spread the glue evenly
on the neck, and posi-
tion the fretboard . It is
important to have the
14th fret right at the
edge of the heel of
the neck .
Reclamp, clean up
squeeze-out at the
nut area, and let dry
for at least 3 hours .
Final sand the neck: Remove the clamps from the previous
step . Secure the peghead to the workbench or in a vise .
Using a combination of micro file or finish rasp and sand-
paper, file the neck and fretboard sides flush . Clean up the
dried glue, but avoid touching the frets . Finish with 220-grit
sandpaper .
Level frets are important . Use a long straightedge to see
how level they are . Mark the tops of each fret with a marker
pen .
Lightly smooth the
frets with a smooth mill
file, a carborundum
stone, or a hard block
with 400-grit sand-
paper . A few gentle
strokes should be all it
takes . When the marks
are removed from each fret, they are all level . Check with a
straightedge to see that the frets are level, and use a hard-
wood block with 600-grit sandpaper to remove any filing
marks .
Level and polish the frets
If the frets have be-
come flattened, round
them again with a fret
crowning file . Finally,
smooth the frets with
1000-grit sandpaper
wrapped around two
fingers . The action of
your fingers over the
frets will round them a little while it burnishes and polishes
the tops . Roll over the fret ends to polish them and remove
any burrs .
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