Fretboard

The Fretboard is pretty much finished - it was a bit of a pain fitting the frets! The fretboard is radiused at the nut end (about 35cm radius), and flat at the bridge end (my thought is to make it a bit easier on my arthritic fingers). I started hammering the frets into the slots (I always start at the bridge end in the hope that any early mistakes are well away from the main playing area), but it was a messy method.

I decided to finish off with a press. I need to drill a hole in the end of it to take a caul (Amazon...), and make a threaded hole to lock the caul in place (I still hate tapping holes).

Pressing was SO much easier than hammering.

I finished off by dressing the ends of the frets, but I will leave working on the crowns until the fretboard is glued into place. The board develops a very slight upward bow with the fret tangs driven into the thin board, but this won't cause a problem and will be flat again once it is on the neck..

Here is the DIY fret press.