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I've always strugled with getting the nut slot squared and perpendicular to the fretboard (the portion of the headplate against the nut that needs to be cut straight across and perpendicular to the fretboard). Normally I measure the angle, cut a peice of wood with tha appropriate angle, and use it as a guide for my fretsaw to cut is as straight up and down as I can. I never get it perfect and always have to custimize the backside of the nut slightly to get it to fit well.

After thinking through this, I realized a pretty slick method to do this and thought I would share as it worked quite well! I will be using this method going forward!

It involves using a table saw sled to make the cut prior to gluing a fretboard to the neck and before the neck is carved. I have an old panel cutting sled that I use for cutting my tapers into my fretboards. It works great for this task. But an appropriate smaller sled would be super easy to make for this.

Here is my procedure:
1) First adjust the table saw blade height to be even to or just under the sled height.. Then do a test cut on a small board to make sure the saw blade doesn't cut into or just kisses your test board. See below picture #1 below: 2) Place your fretboard on the sled and adjust the neck on the sled against the square miter to where the table slaw blade will barely cut the edge of the top of the angled headplate. (see picture below) Measure/check twice and check again (while the saw is powered off obviously) Then make your cut on the table saw very slow! You don't want tear out. I used some tape on the headplate to prevent this but may not have needed it. Since the sawblade is perpendicular, the cut will be perfectly squared across and perpendicular.. 3) Check your cut and make minor adjustments if needed.. My cut worked perfectly first time.. Easy and fast! No more hand saw and chisels for me on this task.. I hope someone finds this tip useful.. I am sure someone else has done this as it makes a lot of sense. But in my somewhat limited experience, I have not seen it done this way. Thanks,
John Butler

Your way looks like you can get a clean square cut on the veneer. As you say be sure of the height of the blade as much care must be taken not to bite into the neck as it really shows up. But it is testable with your set up. If you cut the veneer before shaping that part of the neck to head stock transition , it would more tearout safe on the ends of the cut.

I always place the 15 degree angle on the veneer before gluing it on. I then use a nut width spacer between the fret board (sometimes only clamped in position) and the veneer while gluing the veneer to the head stock.

Putting the angle on the veneer prior and then using a spacer (or actual NUT blank) between the fret board and the veneer is certainly another great way to do it! Thanks for sharing!
John

Actually you want to square the nut slot to the fretboard and the head veneer to that.

tippie53 wrote:Actually you want to square the nut slot to the fretboard and the head veneer to that.

Very good point John!
Maybe my idea isn't the best general tip and shouldn't be recommended as both of you pointed out better methods and processes to consider for getting the veneer side of the nut channel correct. For me, it was better than what I was doing before. And it worked for me this time, given when and how I chose to implement the veneer side of the nut channel. Goes to show that we all pick up better ways of doing things along the way that work for us individually. For me, this process is a journey that always can be improved the next time.
Cheers

Nice info. Thanks.-Bob