View Full Version : scoopinf fret board
keymandoguy
May-10-2004, 6:16am
what is the proper procedure for scooping a fret board? do you remove the frets at the scoop site before sanding it down? how many frets shoud you do?
mandodude
May-10-2004, 6:51am
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Technique/Mandolin/DropTongue/droptongue.html
Yonkle
May-11-2004, 11:12am
I scooped my last two. Pull the frets with needle nose pliers. I covered my body with a towel not to scratch the top, then used a dremel with a sanding wheel on it and sanded down to the bottom of the fret slots, then used a file to shape it and finished with sand paper up to 400 grit. Leave 23 frets and pull the rest. The hardest part is shaping the slope from the 23rd fret area down to the scoop. All in all it's a easy operation. JD
jim simpson
May-11-2004, 7:53pm
I'm sorry Yonkle but I'm having a hard time with the image of you wrapped in a towel performing this operation!
Luthier
May-12-2004, 2:00am
DOH!!
(I spit my coffee all over the monitor, Jim)
Don
Everybody seems to forget to measure the depth of fret slots before proceeding. Some builders make them too deep to make it posssible to completely remove any traces of them. You'd want to use some fake frets in scooped extension in such a case. And to be sure measure the depth of each slot at least at three points.
Measure twice, cut once....
HoGo
John S
May-12-2004, 5:54am
Instead of fake frets I had real frets put back in. Actually I was fine with maple strips that are often used, but the repairman doing the work didn't think it really looked that good so he took them out and put frets back in the scooped section. Functional yet looks original unless you squint at it http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Mandopickr
May-12-2004, 8:10am
I just fill the slots with dye and epoxy...it worked for me
John Soper
May-16-2004, 7:08pm
Well, I thought I'd scoop the Florida of #1 a couple of weeks ago: painstakingly filed/sanded it down & erased all traces of the fret slots... Then realized I needed to bind the fretboard & keeping the curve in contact with the thinned out extension was beyond my limited skills- it kept folding over on the curve.
Oh well, I always liked the looks of the fingerboards on those Gibson signature models & so I "Bushed" the end off at the 24th fet & FB
binding went much easier...:p