Guitar Fretboard Radius Jig
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ม.ค. 2022
- How to make your own guitar fretboard radius jig. Made with offcuts and a $12 skateboard from Kmart.
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Arran Adair
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Made to be informative and entertaining.
Filmed on an iPhone. - เพลง
I like the 1:45 note.
Many ignore that fact and make jigs with the sled of true radius and rout the fretboard obviously with smaller radius as they lower the bit below the sled. Lovely work
Cheers!
That seems to me to be exactly what is done here. His drawings are correct but then he matches to a 12" caul and gauge. I don't get it.
Yep, that was a mistake on my behalf. I didn’t want to hand sand the final radius, so I lightly used the 12 inch radius beam to remove the saw marks.
Now thats a really cool band saw attachment! and even cooler jig
The attachment was a bonus when I bought the saw. Thanks Brett!
This is the best example of this jig that I've seen so far. Thank you for providing me with this weekends project.
I’m glad that you have found the video useful. Good luck and enjoy!
Excellent Jig, Excellent Results!
I am very pleased with how it works. 👍
Great looking jig. Much more compact than the other jigs I've seen on here.
Thanks! My goal was to make it as small as I could, since I don’t have a lot of space.
Brilliant mate. Just brilliant.
Cheers! This one has been floating around my brain for a while. Wanted to make it the least complicated that I could.
Thanks for making the video, that’s a great jig, going to save me a lot of time and effort sanding with a radius block
You’re welcome. It has certainly saved me a lot of time!
This is the best idea I've ever seen , much better than the swinging pendulum ones thanks bud 😁😁🤘🤘🤘
Thanks! I’ve seen those types as well and my goal was to make something as small as possible.
Thank you for showing it so clearly. Will make one soon :)
Cool, have fun making one!
Very interesting build.
Nice jig man, simple is always best!
3 seconds in - that's genius!
Thanks! Borrowed the ideas from a lot of other jigs I’ve seen.
I've just made my own radius jig and it's very much inspired by yours. I had a system using small casters on the router base but swapped it out for your system with the bearings - much more elegant. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you’ve found it helpful! The bearings certainly make it very smooth. 👍
@@adairguitars a great addition. Thanks again.
Well done 👍
Cheers mate! 👍
Fantastic!
Thank you! Cheers!
Love it! 👍🏻
Thank you! Cheers!
I think you have inspired me rebuild a new radiusing jig, my old one is looking very amateur these days. Great video mate!
Thanks Jurgen, this one is working well so far!
Top shelf work yo
Thanks!
I may make my own. That is ingenious
It was pretty simple to do as well. Go for it! 👍
Very cool !
Thanks!
Good 👍
Muito bom, vou fazer um 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Excellent, enjoy!
Great!
Neat Jig.
Thanks Robert, it works well.
Nice jig ... another one that I need to build!! Btw, I'm just down the road from you in Bacchus Marsh
Thanks, it’s working well so far. Small world!
I'm in the process of building my first guitar and coming up to doing the neck and fretboard. I have already made myself a radius sanding block and was planning on using that in conjunction with a hand plane to do the fretboard radius, but I think I have a new project in the works now. I have a ton of plywood pieces and all the tools I need to make this, not to mention about 40 sets bearings I bought when fidget spinners were a thing...
Sounds exciting. I’ve used fidget spinners bearings as well - always good repurposing things. All the best with your build! 👍
great video
Thanks 👍
Except for th Philips screws - brilliant work.
Thanks, luckily they were ‘tone’ Phillips head screws. 😉
I tried to make one once it was a disaster...lol u like this design a lot! Much simpler than the one I was trying to make. Well done
Cheers! My goal was to make it as small and simple as possible.
@@adairguitars 7:40 What is this you are applying there?
Nice i have the same type of jig to avoid tear out on fretted slots use shallow passes straight up from the heel at the high E side aross at the nut end straight back down at the low E side to the heel then across the whole board it leaves tooling marks but they are easy cleaned up the biggest thing to avoid is being tempted to have the bit flush with the center of the board when making the 1st passes tear out will happen
Yes, definitely agree. Small passes from the edges first.
Very cool
Thanks!
@@adairguitars the video is very useful, nice to meet you, I'm geriel from lombok Indonesia😊
Nice to meet you too. 👍
Clever jig
Cheers!
Nice man. I have plans for something kind of similar to this. I like your design for sure. ✌️
Cheers, you still need to finalise with a sanding block, but the jig takes out all the guesswork (and time and effort). The goal of my design was to make it as small as possible. 👍
@@adairguitars I was trying to think of a way to have detachable acrylic radius sections that are secured to the sides with thumb screws so you need only take the 2 sides off and replace them with whatever radius you want. Accuracy is the key. Your jig is absolutely killer. The addition of the bearings are the ticket man. Awesome.
@@SweetTGuitars multiple radius options would be a good idea, especially if it’s quick and easy to change over. The bearings work well to keep it smooth and should hopefully avoid the mdf wearing away over time. Thanks Todd!
All hail the radius lord!.
👍👍
My horizon just widened somewhat
Very nice jig, I’m going to build one Thank you👍👍🎸🎹🎼👨🏻🦯👨🏻🦯
I would definitely recommend it!
Looks great. Next you'll be building a CNC. You certainly have the skills.
Thanks, that would be fun to do at some stage. I’ll have to hit you up for some tips if I do! 👍
@@adairguitars Sure. I'll show you my set up and software I use.
Infreakinggenius
Thanks!
So I made one today, not off plans but from just the general idea, and it seemed pretty promising. I am making a tighter radius for my type of fiddles. So more curved than a guitar but I may have made it too small because I destroyed my wood. Should have used a test piece because I ruined a nice piece of bocote…
Other than probably making it way too tight, my router sort of rocked sideways in a way that I wasn’t expecting. I’ll give it another shot but what a massive failure for my first attempt 😖
Great jig, great build. I love it!
A quick question on use - have you experimented with moving the router across the fretboard as well as up and down as in the video? If you have, have you found any noticeable difference in the outcome? Thanks
Thanks! What’s in the video is the first time I’ve used it, so haven’t tried across the fretboard yet. From watching other similar jigs there seems to be more tear out going across. At some stage I’ll give that a test as well as different types of router bits. I think if you went across the fretboard, you would need to finish going lengthways. There were a few chips around some of the fret slots, but this was a very hard wood and they were small enough to be covered when the frets were installed.
@@adairguitars that's great, thanks for the response. I've only just discovered your channel today and love your content. It would be great to see more with this jig if you get chance plus any other jigs you make. Keep up the great work!
Thanks, glad you’re enjoying my videos. I’ll be using this jig for all fretboards that I need to radius from now on, so it will definitely be seen again. Thanks for watching and commenting! 👍
Great work - if you built a 10 inch one, could you use that at the nut end and the 12 inch one at the dusty end, then blend between them for a compound radius?
Possibly, but I don’t think I’d trust myself to get a perfect blend. There are other styles of jigs that work for compound radiuses.
The only issue I've had with the various router jigs I've made for the fingerboard radius is the potential for tear out, especially routing the radius after slotting for frets. I prefer to radius after gluing on a flat fingerboard but I've had to remove a fingerboard or two after getting significant tear out on the edges.
This one did chip a bit around the fret slots, but should be covered by the frets themselves. I’ll have to try frets slots after radiusing as well. Good to hear other people’s experiences. 👍
@@adairguitars So why not cut the fret slots AFTER radiusing??
@@timhallas4275 I use a table saw for fret slotting, so I need a flat surface to cut the frets first.
Great vid. You've inspired me to give this a go.
Go for it!
This is a nice jig. But I saw the background light while you were checking with radius meter
Since I made the jig by hand it won’t be 100% precise, but if the radius is 11.5 inches for example, it won’t make any difference on the guitar.
Ah… now I see. Nice design.
Thanks Ray, just saw this comment now!
Good IDEA I am guessing you can shape back of neck as well
Not quite as the radius and shape will be different at each end of the neck. There are other jigs that do that however.
I'm going to keep coming back to this video until the sanding block purists start frothing with rage in the comments. (Ingenious contraption! Love it.)
I’m sure they’ll be too tired to rage after hours of sanding! (Addendum - nothing wrong with a sanding block! 😉)
Sanding blocks are great for finishing up, but for hogging off waste to get to the point where a sanding block is the right tool to use, this looks great. If you insist on doing it all with a sanding block, of course you'd suffer, and some people can't bear to see others escape suffering!
It left a really consistent radius along the length of the fretboard - just a little bit of fine sanding with a block to finish. Much easier!
I don’t understand why anyone would froth with rage? A radius is a radius. It’s a clear, objective fact once complete so… who would care how you get it? The ppl who use planes to arrive at their radius don’t froth about the radius block users… I don’t get it….
If you take the off cut from making the arched sled you can make a sled for making sanding blocks!
Great looking jig, do you happen to have 2D plans for it?
Thanks, no full 2d plans I’m afraid. Just my sketches in a few places. From memory I think some of the measurements were shown in the video.
I made it a little different, but maybe a little improvement to make sure it's really going straight you could make just a sled right, at first keep it in the front and then in the back just to make sure the jig can't wiggle around
Something like that sounds like it would work too. 👍
Great jig! I’m gonna build one! Thanks for sharing. Just one question… What is that little thing you use at 6:44?
It a understring radius guage
Glad you like it!
Brilliant jig. What router bit do you use?
Thanks! So far I’ve used a 1/4” straight cut bit.
Great clean work Arran
Don’t spose you would want to build me one 😂
Thanks Corey! When’s your birthday? 😂
@@adairguitars march 1😂
@@adairguitarsjust realised it’s past my birthday again and haven’t received 🤣
Radiused a jarrah fretboard for a bass and my gut is sore, definitely have to look into making one
Everything was perfect, but the part that the video failed miserably was to show what was the router bit to use
Any size will work, but a smaller bit will get a more defined curve. The one I used was 6mm and it didn’t need too much sanding afterwards.
This will be SO much faster in the long run.
Thank you!
I can't even find ANY radius sanding blocks in India. The ones available are through sellers who have 20% delivery rate lmao.
It certainly makes a big difference! 👍
Exellent... Do you have a plans??
Sorry, no plans. From memory in the video there is a sketch at one stage with some of the measurements.
There is a simpler way. Take a rope of a given length (including a dremel and a bit). Tight one end above a workbench to a rod (so the rope can move back and forward). Fix a hard wood piece below. Or fix the upper end of the rope, and move the piece of wood. Turn on the dremel and make a gutter. Then glue a sandpaper.
7:40 What is this he is applying there?
@@EbonyPope It hardens the wooden rails top I think to prevent caves to appear. I mean a superglue
Exactly right!
I’m making a version of this now. Going for a 48” radius. For other reasons….
Looking forward to seeing and hearing about it. 👍
Nice Jig. What router bit did you use with it?
It was a straight cut 6mm bit. 👍
@@adairguitars Thank you
So what do you do to compensate for the difference between the radius at the tip of the router bit vs the radius at base? If the base is 12”, and you lower your bit 1” below the base to reach the fretboard, you’re really routing an 11” radius. I cut my bases one inch larger radius for this reason.
Tip: I route my fretboards before I cut them to shape to avoid tearout in important places.
I like the ball bearing method. I may try that!
Mine is the same as yours then. Tip of the router is 12” and the base is just under 13”. The tearout so far has been minimal and hidden by the frets. I will try doing the radius before cutting to shape at some stage though. The ball bearings certainly keep it running smooth!
@@adairguitars your reply doesn't seem to add up considering at 6:35 the video shows the base/rails that the bearings ride on is clearly shown to be 12" radius. ??
@northtrader just checked my notes and the radius of the base is 12 3/4 inches. At that part of the video i used a 12 inch guide to show the radius as that was the closest size I had. You can see a bit of a light gap in the middle which is the difference between the two. The measurements probably aren’t 100% perfect, but it works well. Fine sanding is done in the fretboard with a radius block so any potential differences will be fixed then. 👍
If you look at the video you see that he made the rails 13
At the beginning of the video the plans say 13 and a bit more remember!
Amazing. How many hours total did this take?
Probably about half a day to make the jig. Routing the fretboard only takes a few minutes.
Very impressive Do you sale plans Thanks
Thank you! Unfortunately I don’t have plans sorry. Only the diagrams and measurements that are shown in part of the video.
Fretboard radius is every bit as important on an electric OR ACOUSTIC guitar, as nut width, scale length, etc. Sorry to yell about acoustic guitars, but a lot of acoustic guitar retailers don't even know the FB radius of the guitars they sell. This is especially true of boutique acoustic guitar sellers.
Anything to do with the fretboard is definitely super important on both electric and acoustic guitars.
Maybe I'm wrong, but those wheels seem to be press-fit into the jig using teflon tape as a shim. I wouldn't trust that at all. One or more of those wheels are going to pop out eventually and, at best, ruin a fretboard or take off a finger at worst. They should be secured or replaced with something else.
They’ve been superglued in now. That was for the test to make sure the principle worked. I certainly wouldn’t want them to fall out mid cut. 👍
Think I'm going to make this jig. Did you draw a radius of 13" to make the jig the router sits on? For a 12" radius?
Go for it. Yes, I think it was just over a 13” radius on the curve so the point of the router bit sits at 12”. Would depend on the type of router and how much adjustment it has. Also the thickness of the wood base etc.
Nice? Q: Where did you get the bandsaw radius jig?
Thanks, it was an optional extra that came with the bandsaw. Sherwood brand. 👍
Never did this kind of work. Just wondering, can you cut the fret slots after radiusing? May result in less tear out at the fret slots. Or was this a precut fret board?
You could do it that way however I use a table saw for fret slotting, so need a flat surface. The wood in this example (gidgee) is super hard and it was a cheap router bit, but even the tear out from this was covered by the frets.
@@adairguitars great info! Thank you
Can I ask what kind of bushing that is that you pressed into the wood that the bearings used as their axle? (5:45) Thanks!
The whole part with the bearing came from the skateboard wheel and i drilled the relevant sized hole in the timber. I used Teflon tape to make it tight for a test run and later superglued them in. If it didn’t have that axle part I would have used a bolt to go through the bearing and wood. Hope that helps!
@@adairguitars Oh I see. Makes sense. Thanks for responding! Killer jig!
why did you sand the 13 inch jig radius with a 12 inch sanding block? Does it have to be 13 or 12 after all?
Both the jig and the sanding block are 12 inches. The arc of the jig is just under 13 inches, so the tip of the router bit is at 12 inches. 👍
I need and want one. What are the dimensions on this, or I will buy the plans. This is awesome please let me know my name is Larry. Thank you.
I don’t have plans for sale sorry. I think the dimensions may have been written on the paper in the video from memory?
Your cutting edge looked to be about 2 inches below the level of the wheelbase. Did you make that 14 inch radius to compensate to arrive at 12 inch radius fretboard?
Yes, correct. The wheel base was about 13 1/2 inches from memory. 👍
@@adairguitars well done - looks great!
Thanks!
I wondered same thing especially when you ran the 12 radius gauge over the wooden surface- was thinking it should be a 14 gauge if targeting a 12 radius with cutter 2” below the curved 14 surface.
What size bit do you use ?
I’m pretty sure it’s a 6mm bit.
Hi! What kind of a router bit did you use? Thank you!
6mm straight cut bit. 👍
Thank you! Do you have any experience with grooving fingerboard for the frets! They recommend Tip Size: .023″ (0.6mm)
Length of Cut: .069″ (1.752mm)
Shank Diameter: 1/8″ (3.175mm)
Tool Length: 1-1/2″ (38mm)
Did you try it for Fret Slots!
Este metodo tiene una falla grave.
El "radio" final depende de la altura de la fresa, no de la plantilla.
En el caso del video, la fresa hace el corte a 10" u 11,5".
Hi, can I delete the neck profile in the same way?))
People have made jigs for that, but I haven’t made one however.
what if the fret board was on a skateboard so that the X and Y would be on bearings
I’ve thought about bearings for the base. Next upgrade possibly! 👍
At 1:45 you make a note that the sled runners sits higher than than the tip of the bit and therfore needs to be 13" (and a bit) to compensate... but later in the vid the sled runners are shown to be 12"... doesnt that mean then that you fingerboard will actually come out at an 11" radius?
Yes, there is a discrepancy which I realised afterwards. I used the 12 inch beam to lightly sand the runners to remove the bandsaw marks and get it smooth. I still use a sanding beam to finalise the radius but that only takes a few minutes with 180 grit paper. The final radius is realistically somewhere just under 12 inches.
Amazing... good to hear i wasnt going mad.
@@adairguitars
El radio de la madera debe ser mayor me imagino. Para que al bajar la punta de router llegue a tener las 12 pulgadas, pues al estar la punta del router más cerca del centro de la circunferencia el radio es menor.
Correct, the radius of the wood is close to 13”, so the tip of the router is at 12”. 👍
Me like very much me make too.
Excellent idea! 👍
@@adairguitars I'm serious the sled idea is so easy to build and adaptable. Already thinking of using the obverse of the 12" radius piece to make 12" fret sanding block.
There would be quite a few options including detachable parts for different radius lengths. Good luck! 👍
What happens if the fretboard is just plain flat / smooth? Thank you 🤓
I’m not sure what you mean, sorry!
@@adairguitars I am not a guitar maker & I don't play but I am toying with the idea of making one... The final piece of wood that is used for the fretboard is usually slightly arced (a 12" radius?). If the board is left flat (level) will that make a difference? Thank you 🤓
@@j.lietka9406 that makes sense now! It would still likely work, but you would have to have the bridge saddles and the nut flat as well, rather than radiused. I’m sure there are guitars out there that have flat fretboards. If it did work like that, the main difference would be how it feels to play.
@@adairguitars ok thank you 🤓 so the curved top of the fretboard is normal
Radiused fingerboard blanks only cost about $2 more than unradiused ones.
I’ve used pre made fretboards before, but generally use rough sawn timber for fretboards.
7:40 What is this he is applying there?
Super glue to harden the wood and make a smoother surface for the bearings. 👍
@@adairguitars I understand. I imagined that it would be super glue. But didn't it leave little bumps? Or is it low viscosity super glue? I really have to try that.
How wide is your jig it looks to be more than 12” think I’m going to make one for myself. I just don’t want to build it to wide
The ‘trolly’ part of the jig is 280mm wide if that’s the part you mean? The radius of the curve is just over 12” so the tip of the cutter is at 12”.
@@adairguitars nope I was looking for the width I’m probably gonna make a jig too and figured if I knew how wide yours was I’d just go with that instead of making to small or big. Thanks cheers
@@NA-xm7wj do you mean the base part that the neck is attached to? Happy to measure it to let you know.
@@adairguitars no the trolly part part is what I meant. I figure it was somewhere around the size I thought. Thanks again. Everything else I can figure out as I go. Thanks again
@@NA-xm7wj no worries, good luck! 👍
Why not just use radius sanding blocks? Simpler, much cheaper, and with the same - or better - results. The only reason I can think of for fashioning a radius jig is if you want to do compound radiuses.
I use radius blocks as well, but the jig means I only have to do the fine sanding which saves heaps of time. It’s mostly made from scraps I had so actually worked out cheaper than a sanding block anyway. 👍
@@adairguitars Ah, okay. Yes, sanding blocks aren’t for using in a hurry, that’s for sure.
Sanding blocks alone are not ideal for radiusing a board. Easy to make a mistake and sand the board uneven. They Don’t provide better results than a well made jig. The jig Can radius a board in about 5 mins, and then use a radius block to fine sand. My jig cost about $15 worth of materials when I made it. This style of jig doesn’t do compound radius either. There are other types for that. Main reason for my building the jig, I got real tired real fast if sanding a radius into a fretboard. It’s a pita.
This is definitely the easiest and most reliable method I have found so far. 👍
@@mgcnashville6615If you do not take care you would actually (unintentionally) make a random compound fretboard just using radiusblocks 😇
I'm glad i'm not paying for your caliper batteries 😅
They get a good workout!
It takes 10 minutes to radius a fretboard with a block and sandpaper. This is overkill even for luthier making 30 to 50 guitars per year.
I find that when I use a radius block for the full fretboard, I get inconsistencies across the length. This jig gets it consistent each time and then I only need find sanding.
@@adairguitars I don't disagree, but I would counter that I'd rather baby the fretboard into true than have a full depth of cut router mishap, rare though they may be.
Incidentally, I love the jig design. Not trying to shit on your process.
I follow my radius block with a true flat, 24" aluminum sanding beam to level out any waviness or dips on either end of the board.
That makes perfect sense what you’re saying, so all good. All part of trying different processes to see what works. A longer beam or radius block would certainly work well. 👍
Not much good for a compound radiused fingerboard then I suppose
No, it definitely wouldn’t work for that.
good video, but lose the music!
Not