Next, the fretboard extension has to be painstakingly fitted.
The tricky part of this is due to having a gap between most of the extension
and the top-plate, giving an elevated section to the end of the fretboard. Why
do this? Well to my mind, it frees up the area of the top plate, underneath the
fretboard to vibrate.
To add to the complexity, I also like to fit threaded
inserts, for the finger rest attachment, at this stage.
The fretboard extension is glued on and although I have
faith in glue, if you know my work, you’ll know that I’m a belt and braces man.
So, I put a dowel through the extension into the neck block to give some
mechanical strength. Although it’s another task, if it makes it better, why not
do it!
A couple of months ago, I bought one of these 25 quid mini
lathes on eBay. I was a bit sceptical, but once it arrived, I was impressed by
the quality and what it’s allowed me to do is make my own dowel from some
walnut.
Here’s the dowel in place and you see what I mean about the
ugly duckling phase!
And finally, all cleaned up and the slots for the
carbon-fibre routed. The carbon-fibre ties everything together nicely! All the
small holes are for wooden pegs that locate the fretboard whilst it’s being
glued on.
Labels: Nava Archtop Mandolin
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