Stewart MacDonald 5295, Руководство по сборке, Страница: 21 / 40

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The fretboard needs to be shaped to match the taper of the
neck . Here’s how to use the neck as a template for cutting
the fretboard:
Use a white pencil to mark a centerline down the slotted side
of the fretboard . Continue this line across the ends of the
fretboard . On the neck, mark a centerline at both the nut end
and the body end . At the body end, you can cover the truss
rod channel with tape to create a surface to mark on .
Lay the fretboard face-down onto the neck, aligning the nut
end with the break angle between the neck and peghead
(where the nut will later be located) . Line up the neck and
fretboard centerlines and clamp the two together (spring
clamps work well) . Now you can turn them over and trace
the edges of the neck onto the fretboard with your pencil .
Tracing onto the curved (slotted) side of the fretboard allows
you to cut the board on a bandsaw with the flat side down
on the saw table . The fretboard can also be cut with a coping
saw or a hand plane . Cut the sides along your pencil lines,
leaving the lines visible . With a plane or sanding block you
can remove saw marks and smooth the edges, removing
the pencil lines .
True the cut edges of the fretboard with a “shooting block”
using 80-grit sandpaper, followed by 120-grit . Clamp the
fretboard flat-side down onto a piece of wood about 1/4"
thick and as wide and long as the fretboard — this is a shim
to lift it off the work surface for sanding . Clamp the fretboard
so one side hangs over the edge of the shim, and sand it
with the shooting block .
KIT TIP: Shooting block
A shooting block is a long, square-edged sanding
block for creating smooth, straight surfaces . We
used a carpenter’s level and fastened the sandpaper
to it with double-stick tape
(pictured).
Making a fretboard
Trimming the fretboard
Mark the location of the pearl fret markers on the fretboard
using the centerline that you made earlier .
The largest marker will be inlaid at the 5th fret; middle-sized
markers will be inlaid at the 7th and 9th frets; smallest mark-
ers at the 12th, 15th, and 17th frets (two markers are inlaid
at the 7th and 12th frets) .
For single fret marker positions, make marks on the
centerline midway between the appropriate frets and
centerpunch them for drilling . For fret locations inlaid with
two markers, make a line at a right angle to the centerline,
midway between the frets, and then measure to each side
of center to make the centerpunch marks .
Use brad-point drill bits if possible, and always start the drill
in reverse to get the hole started on center . Try to drill the
exact 1/4" depth, or slightly deeper, to match the thickness of
the pearl . Excess pearl above the fretboard surface is harder
to level, and if the dot sinks below the surface it’s hard to
pull out before gluing .
Inlaying the fretboard
CAUTION:
Unless you clamp the work and use a stationary
drill press with a depth-stop, it’s easy to drill too deep, tear
out the wood, or drill completely through the fretboard by
mistake . Be careful, and practice on scrap!
To avoid excess squeeze-out, don’t use much glue . The
pearl dots are a tight fit, so you may need to press them
flush to the surface of the fretboard using a hard, flat object
as a caul (place wax paper between the fretboard and the
caul if you use superglue) . After you press the dots flush in
the center of the fretboard, they will be raised slightly at
the edges, since the fretboard is radiused . Use a smooth
mill file to level the dots, and then smooth the board from
end to end using a hardwood block wrapped with 220-grit
Fre-Cut (open-coat) sandpaper . Try not change the radius
of the fretboard, however .
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