NOW THE FRETBOARDS are nearing completion. Cut to shape, the slots cut, the mother of pearl dots installed. All they lack are the frets themselves, and so here we go, the time consuming but so important process of installing the frets. I put a tiny bit of luthiers glue on the tang before tapping and pressing them in. After that is done the long ends are snipped off and then filed down smoothly ready for additional sanding sand smoothing . Here you see a fret board, partially installed, on the press that I use to really drive in the frets. Tap them in with the hammer and then press with the shaped fret press. Then wipe off the glue that gets squeezed out in the process.
FRET BOARDS WITH GLUE DRYING
Here are the last two boards drying. You will no doubt note that there are two frets missing on each.
That is because each empty slot has a tiny hole drilled in its center through which a brad will be driven into the neck of the Ukulele in the glueing process. That is done to be sure that the fretboard is glued into exactly the right position. The missing frets will be tapped in later.
Once the fret boards are glued to the necks the frets will be leveled. A process of working over the frets with a diamond stone to make them perfectly level, then re-rounding them with a rounding file, finally polishing them to be perfectly smooth. Then the uke will not buzz, and play properly.
Here are the last two boards drying. You will no doubt note that there are two frets missing on each.
That is because each empty slot has a tiny hole drilled in its center through which a brad will be driven into the neck of the Ukulele in the glueing process. That is done to be sure that the fretboard is glued into exactly the right position. The missing frets will be tapped in later.
Once the fret boards are glued to the necks the frets will be leveled. A process of working over the frets with a diamond stone to make them perfectly level, then re-rounding them with a rounding file, finally polishing them to be perfectly smooth. Then the uke will not buzz, and play properly.
