Go with a table saw setup if you have a decent table saw. I started out with an LMI miter box setup and built 50 guitars with it. It was fine, but the table saw is so much easier and faster.

Josh

Arie. When you think about it cutting fret slots should be a very simple and straightforward process. Actually it is simple when you understand why and how it can go wrong. The usual solution is to throw a lot of complex tooling at it in the hope that it solves just a few tiny niggles. The problem with that solution is that it invariably results in other tiny problems that are a direct result of using the piece of complex tooling. Over the method that I use there is no doubt that it also slows down the whole process.
One of the complaints one hears about fret slotting by hand is of the saw binding in the cut, especially on wood such as Ebony. Their complaints are justified. The solution is so simple that you often wonder why they are still selling saws for fretting with such thick gauge steel. Use thinner gauge steel, increase the set on the saw and (as if by magic) the binding problem disappears. But of course it isn't magic, it's simply understanding the simple solution to a simple problem. It's also why the Japanese saw works so much better. The Veritas dovetail saw works extremely well too, except that it has a touch more set. It's not designed for cutting fret slots though. I simply put glue into the slot and the frets hold fine.

The solution is so simple that you often wonder why they are still selling saws for fretting with such thick gauge steel. Use thinner gauge steel, increase the set on the saw and (as if by magic) the binding problem disappears.

It's based on this:




Which is a homemade fret marker. The marks are actually thin slots cut with a zona saw. I have 4 fret scales on that particular rule. It just gets clamped to the fretboard blank and you locate a knife (I use an xacto) in a slot, put a small nick on the board. Do each fret position. Believe me, it's possible to do it blindfolded. That's the marking taken care of. It's very quick.
Rub White chalk on the board to highlight the marks.
Locate a knife in the first nick, push an engineers set square against the knife. Replace the knife with your saw and cut the slot. The square is used as a guide. Just make sure that the knife is held vertical. You can chamfer the set square so that the set on the saw is taken out of the equation. I don't bother but just tilt the square up by a mm or so. Each fret position is moved over by half the kerf width. That's fine as long as you don't start to work from the other end - i.e. all the frets get moved over.
It's a pretty simple method when using hand tools/saws. Maybe not quite as fast as a table saw but i don't own a table saw. Nor do I want to.

:shock: How on earth do you work up a sweat cutting 2 1/2" width Ebony to a depth of barely 2 mm's. That slotting system must be a lot harder than I thought!