Scooping the fingerboard and faux frets...

[Demetrius]

Hello,

As much as I do not love the look of a scooped board, I feel I just need to have it done to my extension for technical reasons. What I do know is if I have it scooped then I would like to have the faux frets put in their place. I've seen certain builders who do a really nice job with this. Lynn Dudenbostel, Steve Gilchrist, Lee Chapman of Aleyas mandolins, Dave Harvey, and Jaimie Wiens. This is just naming a few but, does anyone know of someone in Massachusetts who can do a nice job with this? I'm not apposed to sending it to any of these builders mentioned but I just don't feel like they'd have the time to do it.

Best,
Demetrius

[Charles E.]

While not in Mass but close by is Max Girouard.....

http://www.girouardmandolins.com/

Max and Lauri do fantastic work and are a pleasure to work with.

[Demetrius]

Oh wow that is a VERY good suggestion! Thank you for that Charles!

[Steve Lavelle]

One of my projects completed this last year was to convert a bass from fretted to fretless, and I learned some things that may shed light on your scooping. I found a company that makes maple business cards, and that's what I used to place in the slots where the frets were before I pulled them.they look great. If you scoop that means you will no longer have slots where the frets were because a scoop is deeper than the fret slot depth. It will probably be more expensive to put in the markers if they scoop because they will have to cut the fret slots deeper where the scoop is removed. I understand the aesthetic desire for the markers, I'm just saying the extra work to put in markers will cost more. I've been thinking about scooping a lot since my bass project, but I've decided to live with the occasional pick click until I can afford to pay a luthier to do it.

[pops1]

I use maple laminate for faux frets. It is a perfect width for the fret tang, and is cheap.

[Ranger Bob]

Bruce Weber does a GREAT job with this. Reasonable price and speedy turnaround.