MIMF

I've not done this before, and it seems like it's taking a long time. There was no binding to deal with, top is glued with Titebond, and I've got 2 pallete knives going so that I can use one while the other is heating back up in a hot water bath. So far I've released the bass side upper bout and hav...

None of the wenge I've used has been oily in the least.

Eric: In order to cut across the board you'd have to create a jig with a point of origin (where the tapered edges of the board converged to a point) as a pivot point. In my case, that point (I believe) is something like 55" beyond the nut. You'd have essentially a big, horizontal pendulum. It c...

Thanks David.

I'm not convinced I did a great job of explaining it, but I gave it a shot.

Something I just noticed:

The drawing: setup 15.gif

The setup templates should still be in place in this drawing, as the nut stop cutting template has not been attached yet.

AFTER both sets of cutting templates are attached, THEN the setup templates can be removed.

Okay now for the last bit. Getting the correct radii for the cutting templates had me stumped for awhile. Initially I thought that if I could find the fb radii at the nut stop and bridge, I could just add 1" to that, like I had with the setup templates. That didn't work. What I finally realized...

Okay, now comes the best part, figuring out the cutting template radii. Bear in mind that a spreadsheet can be set up to do the grunt work that follows, which makes changing and updating scales, nut widths, fretboard radii, etc, all quick and easy. To determine the cutting template radii, you first ...

Here I want to take a moment to show how the cutting templates affect the positioning of the rails from string path to string path. Note that the spacers and the jig base are marked with center lines, and string path are also marked on the base. First in the center position: setup 18.gif Notice how ...

Now that the template is tacked to the bridge stop with spring clamps (and you have both hands free), use bar clamps to securely attach the template to the bridge stop. (Bar clamp attachment points are depicted with gold squares in the following drawings): setup 13.gif Remove the spring clamps: setu...

Now we need to take these components and do the initial setup. Clamp the setup templates (with a long bar clamp) to the platform: setup 08.gif Use two spring clamps to tack a spacer to the nut stop (the white square is supposed to represent the point of attachment for the spring clamps in the follow...

Next, you need 2 spacers, which hold the rails a fixed width apart. The critical dimensions below are the spacer width and the slot width. The undercuts (below the slots) just keep the spacers from running into the clamps that hold the cutting templates to the stops. They should be 0.5" thick: ...

This may be a good point to start over... The basic idea is: a router sits in a carriage and rides on two rails above the fretboard. The rails rest on arc templates with different radii, so as you move from string path to string path, the compound radius is cut. Here are the base components (all mad...

Here's another view from the end with some dimensions. Unfortunately the drawing shows a 9" radius, but that's the only difference between it and the photos. 02.gif And here's the carriage width. 03.gif And some spacer dimensions. 04.gif On the last few drawings I included the cell references f...

Jason: No, you don't cut crosswise. You can't because the spacers are clamped to the end stops. There IS a slight faceting of the board, but that can either be sanded out, or you can make an additional set of passes between string paths to fix that. I thought that maybe a drawing or two might help v...

Now you set the depth of the router bit, and align the spacers to the first string path. Clamp the spacers to the stops and cut the path. Move from path to path until they're all cut. photo(15).JPG Wow. Unfocused. Here's the outermost path, which starts out (at the nut end) at a pretty good tilt. ph...

Then I clamp it up for keeps and clamp the spacer to the stop (not shown). photo(10).JPG Same deal on the other end. Pull the cutting template up tight against the rails, clamp it to the stop, and clamp the spacer to the stop. photo(11).JPG Now everything is locked in place, so I can remove the setu...

Here's one of the spacers (on the nut end) aligned to the center line (pencil lines) and clamped to the fixed stop. photo(5).JPG At the bridge end I've just set the spacer in front of the stop. The rails get dropped into the slots in the spacers, and they rest on the setup arcs. photo(6).JPG Here ar...

I hesitate to post this, as I'm not sure how clear it's going to be, but here goes. The basic idea is: a router sits in a carriage and rides on two rails down the length of the board. The rails rest on arc templates with different radii, so as you move from string path to string path, the compound r...

I'd still love to see any pictures anyone might have.

Maybe posting pictures would be one way of generating interest? Feels kind of abstract otherwise.