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Which comes first...? Radiusing the fretboard or cutting the fret slots? It seems to me if you radius thirst, then when you cut the fret slots using a StewMac fretting saw with depth stop, your slot depth is even underneath the fret. The other way there would be a gap in the slot at the crown of the fretboard. Is that right? Opinions, suggestions? Thx!

i have slotted a radiused board before and found it was a diffucult and prone to error... i slot them first, then radius, then i go back and use an extra blade that has a wood depth-stop glued to it, and follow the radius

Wow. That makes sense. So, the first round of fret cuts are not to actual final fret depth but more of a guide kerf for the post radiusing fret slot cutting?

I cut the slots first (close to final depth), then taper the board, then radius the board, then recut the slots to final depth.

I cut the slots by hand using a square as a guide, so the slots have to be cut before the board is tapered.

As with many things, the sequence may depend to some degree on you construction technique.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

for me, yes. i learned everything on my own, without books so i don't know how it is supposed to be done. now i am starting to wonder myself...

Thanks, Rodger. As you may know by now, I have a well honed construction technique called "winging it/hoping and praying." I really appreciate all the experience and suggestions from folks here and at AGF. It makes the learning curve more manageable.

Your method seems sound to me and is like Rodgers. Perhaps there is a blind spot to this technique that someone will talk about, but I feel like it's a good approach. Thanks for sharing it.

That's pretty similiar to my methods, it works a lot better after refinement based on four or five guitars. I used to radius first, then cut slots, then taper. I realized that most of the work of sanding in the radius got cut off when I tapered the board, and recutting the slots is not that much work. If you use a jig & router to radius the fretboard, or cut the slots with a jig on the table saw, then the sequence might be quite different.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon