where can i get a fretboard

[Zoomp]

Im building a bowlback and have had a hard time finding a complete fretboard for sale. Any ideas where I can find one?

[pops1]

Stu Mac (Stewart MacDonald) has fretboards, and can slot it for you with different scale lengths.

[Jim Garber]

Also, Allen Guitars and LMII sell pre-slotted fretboards.

[sunburst]

I've had good luck with Allen Guitars.
They've only made one mistake on a 'board that I ordered, and they very promptly replaced the 'board no charge.

[Tom Haywood]

Wondering what the OP means by "a complete fretboard". Do you mean the fret slots are already cut? Last time I looked for fretboards at StewMac a few months ago, they only offered pre-slotted boards and nothing in a 13" scale length which is what most of the old bowlbacks I've seen have. I've had good blank boards from Allen and LMII. They will cut the slots for your scale length for an added fee. For a 13" scale, I cut the slots myself.

[Graham McDonald]

A 13" scale is almost exactly a 13 7/8" scale less one fret.

[pops1]

A 13" scale is almost exactly a 13 7/8" scale less one fret.

Was thinking that, but didn't make it over to the shop to measure.

[AndyV]

A few years ago I bought one from one of the Vietnamese ebay vendors, Bruce Wei, the other (Anatoni?). I know their build quality is bad - often seen on ebay falling apart- but I was very happy with the custom scale complete fretboard he made for me, fret wires installed, levelled and polished. Maybe I was just lucky that time.

[Tom Haywood]

...I was very happy with the custom scale complete fretboard he made for me, fret wires installed, levelled and polished. Maybe I was just lucky that time.

That's really what I was wondering. Is the OP looking for something already cut to shape, inlayed, fretted, and ready to glue on? I didn't know you could buy such a thing.

A 13" scale is almost exactly a 13 7/8" scale less one fret.

Interesting. I need more coffee to think through this, but it seems on the surface that the longer scale places the bridge 7/8" or so further from the nut no matter how many frets. The first bowlback I repaired required a new fretboard. The cant was 13 5/16" from the nut, so a 13" scale placed the bridge ahead of the cant and close to the cross braces, and 13 7/8" placed the bridge behind the cant and a good ways from the cross braces. Very different structural and sound considerations, not to mention different bridge heights. The old shellac showed that a bridge had been in both locations.

[Mark Gunter]

That's really what I was wondering. Is the OP looking for something already cut to shape, inlayed, fretted, and ready to glue on? I didn't know you could buy such a thing.



Interesting. I need more coffee to think through this, but it seems on the surface that the longer scale places the bridge 7/8" or so further from the nut no matter how many frets. The first bowlback I repaired required a new fretboard. The cant was 13 5/16" from the nut, so a 13" scale placed the bridge ahead of the cant and close to the cross braces, and 13 7/8" placed the bridge behind the cant and a good ways from the cross braces. Very different structural and sound considerations, not to mention different bridge heights. The old shellac showed that a bridge had been in both locations.

Tom I think the point is that you'd trim the 13-7/8" s.l. board at fret slot one for a +/- 13" s.l., that's what I'd do if I wanted a 13" scale length board.

[Tom Haywood]

Tom I think the point is that you'd trim the 13-7/8" s.l. board at fret slot one for a +/- 13" s.l., that's what I'd do if I wanted a 13" scale length board.

Ahha... Thanks, Mark!

[Jess L.]

... I think the point is that you'd trim the 13-7/8" s.l. board at fret slot one for a +/- 13" s.l., that's what I'd do if I wanted a 13" scale length board.

Yeah that's what I was thinking too, almost, anyway... I'm thinking that could be a good opportunity to install a zero fret (in what had started out as the 1st-fret slot of the new shortened board). I like zero frets.

But... if one was *not* planning to use a zero fret, I'm not sure you could just cut through the existing 1st-fret slot on the new board and put a nut there, wouldn't the nut be slightly misplaced, by an amount equal to the distance between the center of the fret vs the edge of the fret slot? Below is one of my half-ignorant quickie not-really-to-scale digital sketches... (experts please correct me if this is wrong thinking) ... the yellow highlighted area is what I think would be the problem if simply putting a nut there after cutting right on through the 1st fret slot to shorten the fretboard. (Er, well, I guess the nut could have a shim added to it on end of fretboard equal to the width of the yellow area, that would solve that problem...) Anyway, seems to me there would be no problem (guessing & speculation follows!) if trimming the new fretboard just *slightly* above the 1st-fret slot (as shown in drawing below) and then installing a new zero-fret there instead of a nut. I've only thought about this, I haven't actually done it, so I might be totally wrong. Maybe it's such a slight amount it wouldn't matter... Anyway, here's my drawing, and due to drawer ineptitude it's NOT TO SCALE:



Somewhere out there on the internet is probably a proper diagram that shows what I'm trying to get at (links are welcome!), but I figured it would take me longer to search for an existing diagram (since I don't even know what search terms to use, that's always the hard part about finding stuff online) so I just made my own digital sketch above, based on trying to remember what a fret cross-section looks like.

[sunburst]

The distance you are indicating, center of slot to edge of slot, would be about .012". Trust me, you would not hear the difference. In fact, due to the sharpening effect of fretting at the first few frets (where the string is stiffer because of the anchor point), the error would be in the right direction to somewhat compensate for that.
Add to that the luthier's option to adjust the front edge of a nut for better intonation (something we can't do with a 0-fret), and we're fully in non-issue territory here, IMO.

[Jess L.]

The distance you are indicating, center of slot to edge of slot, would be about .012". Trust me, you would not hear the difference. In fact, due to the sharpening effect of fretting at the first few frets (where the string is stiffer because of the anchor point), the error would be in the right direction to somewhat compensate for that.
Add to that the luthier's option to adjust the front edge of a nut for better intonation (something we can't do with a 0-fret), and we're fully in non-issue territory here, IMO.

Excellent, good to know! Thanks for the explanation.

[Zoomp]

I was def looking for a complete fretboard. With frets. Easy to find for guitar and ukulele. I will look at the leads posted here. Thanks to everyone!!!! ¡

Paolo

[Zoomp]

ordered from allen guitars !!!!

[Zoomp]

The distance you are indicating, center of slot to edge of slot, would be about .012". Trust me, you would not hear the difference. In fact, due to the sharpening effect of fretting at the first few frets (where the string is stiffer because of the anchor point), the error would be in the right direction to somewhat compensate for that.
Add to that the luthier's option to adjust the front edge of a nut for better intonation (something we can't do with a 0-fret), and we're fully in non-issue territory here, IMO.

great idea!!!!!!!!