o.w. appleton - the original "inventor" of the les paul - FRETS.NET2024-03-29T10:37:22Zhttp://fretsnet.ning.com/forum/topics/o-w-appleton-the-original-inventor-of-the-les-paul?commentId=2177249%3AComment%3A177069&feed=yes&xn_auth=noWild seeing this old post pop…tag:fretsnet.ning.com,2018-03-10:2177249:Comment:1770692018-03-10T04:46:45.496ZMark Pollockhttp://fretsnet.ning.com/profile/MarkPollock
<p>Wild seeing this old post pop up again! Yeah, it's a nifty solution, and I admire the chutzpah in building it, and I especially like that the fret slots would be radiused like the board, but I'm not sure that I would want to use it without a lot of ancillary jigs to keep me far away. </p>
<p>Again, thanks for sharing, four years in the future! </p>
<p>Wild seeing this old post pop up again! Yeah, it's a nifty solution, and I admire the chutzpah in building it, and I especially like that the fret slots would be radiused like the board, but I'm not sure that I would want to use it without a lot of ancillary jigs to keep me far away. </p>
<p>Again, thanks for sharing, four years in the future! </p> Some really good thoughts her…tag:fretsnet.ning.com,2018-03-10:2177249:Comment:1772722018-03-10T01:07:16.562ZJamie F. Appletonhttp://fretsnet.ning.com/profile/JamieFAppleton
<p>Some really good thoughts here. I still have this saw. Instead of just copying an existing scale, I calculated the spacers for the scale we wanted to use. The fret boards were not wood, but black Plexiglas, to mount on aluminum necks. These were made about 1968. The necks were pushed through the saws by hand, and yes, disaster struck. It was powered by a 1/2" drill motor with the handle mounted in a hole in the base. the bearing support (on this end in the picture) was wood, and one…</p>
<p>Some really good thoughts here. I still have this saw. Instead of just copying an existing scale, I calculated the spacers for the scale we wanted to use. The fret boards were not wood, but black Plexiglas, to mount on aluminum necks. These were made about 1968. The necks were pushed through the saws by hand, and yes, disaster struck. It was powered by a 1/2" drill motor with the handle mounted in a hole in the base. the bearing support (on this end in the picture) was wood, and one day it broke. The saw swung around and climbed his hand and arm, then his shirt, but his tie wrapped around and stalled the motor before it got to his face. It did badly cut the back of his thumb, and other cuts. That's when he made that aluminum bearing holder (pictured).</p> The Levin company in Sweden h…tag:fretsnet.ning.com,2018-03-09:2177249:Comment:1772952018-03-09T20:10:37.623ZRoger Häggströmhttp://fretsnet.ning.com/profile/RogerHaeggstroem
<p>The Levin company in Sweden had a similar device with 21 <span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><span class="">circular</span></span> saws making slots in all the fretboards used on a variety of guitar models. 630 mm <span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><span class="">string length</span></span> was a Levin standard. In the early 1940 ies, all the fretboards had an error of about +-1 mm in the first four frets. All of them! Until someone…</p>
<p>The Levin company in Sweden had a similar device with 21 <span id="result_box" class="short_text" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><span class="">circular</span></span> saws making slots in all the fretboards used on a variety of guitar models. 630 mm <span id="result_box" class="short_text" xml:lang="en" lang="en"><span class="">string length</span></span> was a Levin standard. In the early 1940 ies, all the fretboards had an error of about +-1 mm in the first four frets. All of them! Until someone noticed it and tuned up the machine :-)</p> When I worked at OMI [Dobro]…tag:fretsnet.ning.com,2018-03-09:2177249:Comment:1772592018-03-09T19:58:42.162ZGreg Mirkenhttp://fretsnet.ning.com/profile/GregMirken
<p>When I worked at OMI [Dobro] in the early 70s we had a similar gangsaw that John D. must have cobbled together years before. There was a sled that held the fingerboard and slid across the spinning blades, as I recall. It had numbered metal spacers that went between each blade. One time after the blades came back from being sharpened, the doofus who reassembled it switched two of the spacers. After running a stack of boards, they brought them to me to fret. I looked at the mistake and said…</p>
<p>When I worked at OMI [Dobro] in the early 70s we had a similar gangsaw that John D. must have cobbled together years before. There was a sled that held the fingerboard and slid across the spinning blades, as I recall. It had numbered metal spacers that went between each blade. One time after the blades came back from being sharpened, the doofus who reassembled it switched two of the spacers. After running a stack of boards, they brought them to me to fret. I looked at the mistake and said "we can't use these." The reply was "Well, what if we just use them on squarenecks?" I held my ground and they had to trash them. At least they weren't Brazilian rosewood...</p>
<p></p> That fret saw is old, dirty,…tag:fretsnet.ning.com,2018-03-09:2177249:Comment:1770552018-03-09T16:58:49.213ZJamie F. Appletonhttp://fretsnet.ning.com/profile/JamieFAppleton
<p>That fret saw is old, dirty, rusty, and falling apart. I still have it.</p>
<p>The slanted frets weren't an accident. But they were difficult to make. It was an attempt to leave the bridge straight. Actually, it was much easier to just slant the bridge. As you said, it wasn't that great an invention.</p>
<p>That fret saw is old, dirty, rusty, and falling apart. I still have it.</p>
<p>The slanted frets weren't an accident. But they were difficult to make. It was an attempt to leave the bridge straight. Actually, it was much easier to just slant the bridge. As you said, it wasn't that great an invention.</p> Looking at the site, there se…tag:fretsnet.ning.com,2014-08-10:2177249:Comment:1357752014-08-10T03:46:39.932ZMark Pollockhttp://fretsnet.ning.com/profile/MarkPollock
<p>Looking at the site, there seem to be other missing pieces on that saw. </p>
<p></p>
<p>There is also a guitar with slanted frets, which seems more likely to be an accident (IMHO), perhaps it wasn't that great an invention. </p>
<p>Looking at the site, there seem to be other missing pieces on that saw. </p>
<p></p>
<p>There is also a guitar with slanted frets, which seems more likely to be an accident (IMHO), perhaps it wasn't that great an invention. </p> Thanks for posting.
http://ww…tag:fretsnet.ning.com,2014-08-10:2177249:Comment:1356612014-08-10T02:08:38.580ZThomas Jameshttp://fretsnet.ning.com/profile/ThomasJames
<p>Thanks for posting.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.owappleton.com/" target="_blank">http://www.owappleton.com/</a></p>
<p>I was wondering if that saw is missing some type of jig, or was inverted during use?</p>
<p>Thanks for posting.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.owappleton.com/" target="_blank">http://www.owappleton.com/</a></p>
<p>I was wondering if that saw is missing some type of jig, or was inverted during use?</p> If I spent the time to make s…tag:fretsnet.ning.com,2014-08-09:2177249:Comment:1356592014-08-09T22:31:00.969ZMark Pollockhttp://fretsnet.ning.com/profile/MarkPollock
<p>If I spent the time to make something like that, I would keep using it until I had hacked all my fingers off!</p>
<p>If I spent the time to make something like that, I would keep using it until I had hacked all my fingers off!</p> Yeah, I was looking at the sa…tag:fretsnet.ning.com,2014-08-09:2177249:Comment:1357702014-08-09T20:19:16.342ZNed Knepphttp://fretsnet.ning.com/profile/NedKnepp
<p>Yeah, I was looking at the saw and thinking that it could bring a new meaning to "grooves in my fingertips". </p>
<p>Yeah, I was looking at the saw and thinking that it could bring a new meaning to "grooves in my fingertips". </p> Don't discount the probabilit…tag:fretsnet.ning.com,2014-08-09:2177249:Comment:1358552014-08-09T18:16:02.463ZFrank Fordhttp://fretsnet.ning.com/profile/FrankFord
<p>Don't discount the probability that it's the leftover from a failed experiment - maybe it was never really used.</p>
<p>Don't discount the probability that it's the leftover from a failed experiment - maybe it was never really used.</p>