Fretboard Shaping

[Gordon Bellerose]

I would like to find out which order you use in shaping your fretboard.
Do you radius the board before doing inlay?
Or, do you do the inlay, and radius the board later?

I'm thinking that doing the inlay first would be better, but don't want to sand through the inlay while shaping the fretboard.

[Dave Stewart]

I radius after inlay because IMO it's easier to inlay flat, but lots of people do the other. I've used .060 for large blocks & 12" radius successfully, but you could draw it out to assure yourself.

[Mark Swanson]

I do any inlaying after radiussing. It has not been difficult for me to "ride" the radius as I route the inlay cavities.

[Louie Atienza]

I usually inlay first, then shape the fretboard radius. I do make sure my inlays are of sufficient thickness to handle this. If not it may be best to do as Mark mentions.

[Gordon Bellerose]

Thanks for your replies. I haven't got the inlays in my hands yet, so I can't measure them. The ad said they were approx. .050 - .060 thick.
I'm expecting them in the mail any day now.
I'm using block inlays. I'm not too worried about the large blocks as they are narrower, but the smaller ones get wider as they go up the fretboard. That's why I'm asking the question.

Another concern I have is the flexibility of the pieces. Has anyone had any problems fitting the inlay pieces into an already radiused board?

[Nick Middleton]

Are you trying to bend the inlays to make them fit?

[Barry Daniels]

Shell does not bend.

[Bill Bell]

A 12" radius changes about 1mm (.040") over a 2" wide fretboard. Unless you plan to get very close to the edges of the fretboard you should be fine inlaying with the fretboard unradiused. That is of course as long as you don't drop the entire level of the fretboard too much when radiusing.

[Warren May]

Gordon, you are correct to worry about the block inlays. As you say, they increase in size as the taper of the neck increases. I have sanded almost through before so the shell can get very thin if you aren't very careful. Thick shell sizes help. I like split block inlays and, if you are cutting them yourself, they can take less material than a full block. I've routed these types after the fretboard was radiused by making a little angled jig to run the router base on out of plexiglass. The shell won't bend, of course, but using split block type designs seem easier to me in terms of not worrying about sand throughs. If you do sand through, you can replace it if you have matching shell.

[Gordon Bellerose]

Yes Warren that is exactly what I am worried about. I will simply have to wait until the material arrives, and take some careful measurements.
Sometimes mail can be terribly slow, especially when you're anxiously waiting for something.