Method for cleanly cutting back fretboard.

[Jeff Smith]

I am needing to adjust the front edge of a strat's nut slot to accommodate an LSR roller nut. How do I make the cuts parallel and clean--I know where to cut, I am just really hesitant. Please offer specific methods and tool descriptions. I was thinking of a jig or mitre box arraingement, but so far I haven't found a mitre box with the precision and capacity I am looking for. Thanks!











i'm just hesitant.

[Mike Kolb]

No apologies needed, sport.... we all have our moments. What's discernible is in the eye of the beholder, I'd suppose, but my point was to make two marks -very close together- and aim the cut for the longer of the two and then snug-up to the shorter one.

Truth be told, the last one I did was on my mill, which holds .001" all day. The accuracy, though, comes from preparing the setup and clamping it down like the devil. And it's real nice to be able to remove the neck for that work.

[Bob Webster]

Thanks for the room on this, Mike. Definitely, the mill is the way to go. Clamping is clearly the issue and makes most other machine methods pretty scary. At least with the mill, you can really control the feed rate and the direction of the cutter. Otherwise, it's like cleaning a cat's ears. You need six hands and a small straight jacket.

Cheers,
Bob

[Mike Kolb]

Funny you should mention cats... The missus is out of town for the weekend, so the care and feeding of fourteen (yes, 14) cats is squarely on my shoulders. Yikes. They all have 24/7 access to dry food, but the real fun comes at 6:30PM, when they all get an individual little bowl of canned food.

The politics comes into play at that point, when 'A' bumps 'B' from the bowl and so on down the line. Then there's the cleaning of 14 little bowls... all to repeat tomorrow night at 6:30... arrgghh. Get me to my shop.... quickly!

[Tom Krebs]

I would just scribe and use a small chisel and file. Safer than machines.

[Jeff Smith]

I don't like the idea of using a router--I'll be doing a saw/chisel adn file approach. Thanks for all the responses!

[thefishinmusician]

I"ve used a radius block clamped in the right spot to keep me at the right angle.