FRETBOARD
PREPARATION
MR. BOKHARI
DATE: SEPT. 24/2021
In this lesson today we will be going over the basics
for the fretboard preparation. We will quickly go over
the steps from rough lumber to the layout of the fret
board. Most of the lesson however we will be looking
at the laser engraver, its use, function and how to
program the laptop properly to get the best outcome.
STEP 1: IDENTIFYING WOOD (yep, that’s wood)
The first thing you would need to do is grab a piece of
Walnut wood that appeals to you. NOTE: When
designing your Fretboard think about what kind of
color coordination you would want for your guitar
neck and fretboard.
STEP 3: Jointer
STEP 2: Making The Cut
-
-
Head over to the Miter saw, you will
want to make a cut at 16”
SAFETY WITH MITER SAW:
Before we joint this piece of wood which
area should we joint first? Why?
Follw the safe work procedures guidelines in
the Safe Work Procedures Binder.
SAFETY WITH JOINTER:
Follw the safe work procedures
guidelines in the Safe Work Procedures
Binder.
STEP 4: Band Saw
-
Once your piece of wood has been
Planed, take it to the band saw
Once at the band saw you will want
a jig along with a push stick
Pressing your wood firmly against
the jig, you will maneuver it to cut
the piece of wood in half
horizontally whilst standing up
After making your 16” cut, now
we want to take our piece of
wood to the Jointer
STEP 5: Table Saw
-
-
Now that we are done at the band saw
we will visit the table saw to rip our
board.
Using our guide set it to rip at 2 and a ¼
(quarter) inches
Make sure to use a push stick since the
board is significantly smaller than when
we started
SAFETY WITH BANDSAW:
Follw the safe work procedures guidelines
in the Safe Work Procedures Binder
SAFETY WITH TABLESAW:
Follw the safe work procedures guidelines in
the Safe Work Procedures Binder
STEP 6: Planer
-
-
After ripping your work, take your
piece of wood to the planer for the
final step
You want to Plane your piece of
wood to a ¼ of an inch thickness
Dimensions are key, make sure
you bring a Caliper for an accurate
reading
SAFETY WITH PLANER:
Follw the safe work procedures guidelines
in the Safe Work Procedures Binder
STE
Fol
the
LASER
Below are directions on how you would laser print a design on your fretboard. I as well will do a demonstartion
during class.
Step 1. After opening the porgram you want to go to File-Import, and then Import a file titled “Fretboard 2”
Step 2. Once opening the Fretboard 2 file some items need to be deleted. Highlight the entire Fretboard as well
as the unwanted text below it. Go to the Objects tab and select ____________________________ and select it.
Down below we can now delete the items we don’t want.
Step 3. Once we have deleted the items, make sure to highlight the Fretboard design again, go to Object-GroupGroup and click, this will make sure the Fretboard remians intact because we will need to move it in its entirety.
Step 4. Now that the Freboard is Grouped again, move it towards our outer template. Move it near its margins and
on the right side Click ____________________. Once done we now will need to Align it Horizontally and
Vertically with the page.
Step 5. Now is the time to be creative, you will go online and find an Image of your liking that you would want on
your Fretboard. Once found, cop an image and paste it in the program. Next is a crucial step, what should we do
with this image before we put it on our Fretboard as shown above, why?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
Once done and placed on your Fretboard try to make all the images symmetrical. Once you are satisfied you want
to take the images, place them on the Fretboard and also make sure they _____________________.
Step 6. Select the entire Fretboard and under properties change the color to _______________. You also want to
set the Fretboard to ________________ as well. Now your images will turn red as well, however we will change
them back to Black by individually selecting them, changing their color, as well as change Hairline to None.
Step 7. Now we need to delete some lines. The top Edge and Bottom Edge of the Fretboard can be deleted, as
well as the X’s in between. NOTE: There are additional thicker lines that are difficult to see that also need to be
deleted. Not doing so the laser will cut a bigger line than intended. We will go over this together and I will show
you how to delete them.
Step 8. Now we will be heading to the Laser Printer to go over a quick demo involving a few more steps. Once done
these are the settings you will need to apply for the specific cut and design we are looking for.