Fretboard radius

Whilst figuring out the plan of attack for removing the fretboard, I turn my mind to the fretboard radius. Sources on the net indicate that this guitar should have a 300mm radius fretboard, so I marked out a radius on some thin copper shim I have lying around here. It's quite easy to mark and cut, so it's ideal for quick and dirty templates. Offering up the 300mm gauge shows that it's nowhere near. Thankfully, Ben recommended a few standard fretboard radii, so I start making a few more templates. The 10" gauge fits almost perfectly, so I decide to go with that.

Wooden radius blocks are available reasonably cheaply in most luthier suppliers, but as I've got a machine shop at my disposal it seemed silly not to knock one up out if some scrap Ali plate. I figured 2 1/2" wide and 8" long should be perfect for my needs, so I set about working out how to machine the radius.

A few years ago I'd made a 6" diameter fly cutter for machining cylinder heads so would be perfect for this job. Logic said that if I angled the cutter the right amount I'd be able to machine the 10" radius I needed for the block. I'd love to be able to say that I did the calculations on the back of cigarette packets, but I cheated and found an old DOS program online that did all the work for me. Angling the cutter to 16.7 degrees would give me the radius I needed. Sure there'd be a slight error in the radius, but not enough to make a significant difference.

A few passes of the cutter and the dressing block was done. All I need to do now is attach some sandpaper with double sided tape.

With a few more tea breaks available before having to down tools for the weekend I decided to remake the temporary neck block. The one I made previously was OK for some jobs but wouldn't be any use when it came to tensioning the neck to remove the warp and bow. This new neck block is far more substantial and includes a couple of support blocks to take the strain off the mounting screws when it comes to bending the neck straight. Eventually this block will be bolted into place on the neck jig I intend to make in the near future.