1 step forwards, 2 steps back

Well, I took an extra vacation day this past weekend with the hope of getting a few things accomplished. One of those was getting my fretboard slotted, frets set, and fretboard glued to the neck.

I've been putting it off, it's one of those mental block things. I've done it 3 times before and they turned out great but it's picky work and this time I was working with a pre-tapered board so my jig wasn't usable as in the past.

Anyway, I finally got to it yesterday and got it slotted, then set it aside. Today I gathered up my fretwire, hammer, and special fret-setting tool to "get 'er done" but before I got started I got a big surprize! Frets are supposed to get narrower as you go up the board but ONE of my slots was off. The pattern I use had slipped, along with the jig not lining up correctly on the tapered board.

It's ruined.

At least I noticed before fretting or gluing it up!

So... recovery time, what to do, how to proceed. No more of this hand cut slot stuff for me. I'm building a new jig and ordered a fretting blade for the table saw, serious stuff ($$), and a new rosewood blank that should do 2 ukes.

I also ordered some new wood, enough to do a guitar body (I've wanted to try making one but don't worry, ukes still come first), old growth sitka spruce and goncalo alves, should be sharp!

.

Brian