need piece cut with a tablesaw and tapering jig

[jonnyfontaine]

hi, i need to cut a piece of ebony (a fretboard for a guitar) with a slight taper on both sides with a table saw... the cut is really important so it needs to be very exact, the ebony is slotted for the frets already so it has 22 small kerfs in it... i've been told that to avoid chipping or any tear out the saw blade has to be very well aligned and sharp... i know this is quite a bit to ask but if anyone can help me with this i would appreciate it so much... thanks for looking, jonny... p.s. i'm in raleigh thanks, again

[JohnW]

Jonny, Sounds like you bought a pre-slotted fingerboard but need to trim it to fit a neck. If it's close to being the correct shape it might be best to make an exact template of the neck width, attach your finger board, and bring it almost to size by scraping/sanding.

If you feel comfortable with the process you could skip the template and use the neck as a guide. Once the finger board is done and you glue it to the neck you'll have to finish sand it anyway just to get that smoooth transition...

Disclainmer...there are many many different ways to skin this cat and the best choice depends on the guitar design, the building process used and the person performing the task.

John W

[scsmith42]

If you have alignment marks on your wood, another option would be to use a Festool circular saw with the track. The finish and accuracy from mine is as good or better than what I get from my table saw.

Scott

[Nativespec]

I have the Festool saw and you are welcome to use it. I would consider using a bandsaw and finishing with hand tools as well. I would like to see your guitar work-I don't play but for some reason was considering building an acoustic-I need a new challange since I am close to finishing a Morris chair.

David

[ptt49er]

Jonny, HOW ARE YA? Long time no see...I hope you all are doing well! BTW, WE NEED PICS!! Hope that mahogany worked out for ya!

[sediener]

What about making a template out of the neck or using the neck as a template, double-stick-tape the template to the ebony and band saw the pattern followed by clean up with a pattern router bit? A table saw seems like the wrong tool to me...

- Steve

[jonnyfontaine]

thanks for all the advice... yeah i was thinking about cutting it with my router but the only problem is that the fretboard is already radiused so i'd have to jig it up so the router would stay flat on top of it, and it seems like that may be a harder task... the last one i did i got cut on a table saw and a simple tapering jig, i actually got that cut a woodcraft in raleigh, the old location... and that worked perfectly... there was slight chipping but the frets covered most of it... does anyone have any ideas on how to set up a router to sit perfectly flat on the 12" radius of the fretboard? and ptt49er that mahogany is perfect, thanks so much man, hope all is well with you... yeah i'll try to get some pictures up soon... jonny

[Nativespec]

I think I would use the router after a perfect cut. I would not attempt a large cut with the router. Bandsaw, then planer, scrapers sanding and then maybe a router would be my choice. I have seen too many pieces ruined with a router.

David

[Travis Porter]

I have a tablesaw that would probably cut it. You can bring it over to try if you like.