Okay! Back to the workshop (or the kitchen in my case). It's about time I gave my banjitar frets. This is the part of the build that has been giving me nightmares. First of all, I need to do the maths to calculate the fret spacing according to the scale length of the instrument, then I need to accurately mark where the frets should go on the fretboard, after which I must cut the grooves straight and then finally insert the frets. Easy!
There's so much that can go wrong, especially as I'm a complete numpty when it comes to maths.The scale length of a guitar is the space from the nut (the top) to the bridge (the bottom), and for some mercurial reason I decided mine should be 26".
Luckily, I found the web is awash with clever little programs to do the fret calculations for me. Problem solved? Well, it now creates a secondary problem...How in blue blazes do you measure 1.459" with only a crappy tape measure and a 12" ruler?
To cut a long and overly tedious story short, I converted the measurements into millimeters and I was laughing!
So, with the frets marked in pencil I set about cutting the grooves into which the the fret wire would be slotted. Arming myself with the 0.022" TPI (teeth per inch) razor saw, I gingerly started to cut.
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(It's at this point I wish I'd had the forethought of mind to grab my camera and take some photos of this process, but I was concentrating so hard it completely slipped my mind.)
I added a wee bit of superglue to each fret, making sure the fret wire was going nowhere after I had banged it into place. It made a bit of a mess of the fretboard, but that could be sanded later. Cut the ends proud of the board, filed them smooth, and I had finished. It was time to string her up and see if my endeavors had resulted in a tuneful guitar. But that, as they say, is a story for another day.
I bet you can't wait.
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