About the Fret slotting templates
Cutting fret slots in the right places is one of the most precise jobs in building a guitar. These templates carry 2 mm slots at every fret position for the two most common scale lengths: 25.5 inches (Fender-style) and 24.75 inches (Gibson-style). A peg on a mitre-box slotting jig drops into each slot in turn, so the saw lands in exactly the right spot. The designer checked the slot spacing on a milling machine with a digital readout and found it very close to perfect, better than measuring by hand, provided your printer is accurate.
Version 2 adds 3 mm dowel holes at 150 mm centres along the middle, to index the fretboard and line up with the designer's printable mitre box. You don't need to glue the three sections together. Clip them, stick the template to the fretboard with masking tape plus superglue (or double-sided tape), and unclip them for storage. Avoid elephant's foot on the first layer, and PLA's stiffness suits this job.
Who it's for. Occasional guitar builders. It's not aimed at production shops. Pairs with a mitre-box slotting jig.
Photos. No-Derivatives licence, so the designer's photos appear resized only.
What you'll need
Printed parts
- The template for your scale (whole or in 3 pieces)
Bought parts
- Masking tape and superglue, or double-sided tape
- Optional: 3 mm dowels
Tools
- A fret saw and a mitre-box slotting jig with a 2 mm peg (a printable one exists)
- An accurately calibrated printer
Build overview
Print settings
- Material: PLA (stiff)
- First layer: Avoid elephant's foot
- Accuracy: Dimensional accuracy matters; check a known length
Photos
All photos: DoomMeister, from the design page on Printables, licensed CC BY-NC-ND. Shown unmodified apart from resizing and conversion to WebP (no crops), as the no-derivatives licence requires.
1 more photo on Printables ↗