Making Jigs
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2026 8:29 pm
Haven’t posted in a while since I finished a couple guitars in May. Been doing some work, though. Here’s some pictures of a couple jigs I made.
I want to start making my own fingerboards. So, I made a fingerboard radiussing jig and a fret slotting jig. Trickiest part was figuring out how to make adjustable brackets for the roller guides. Ended up using some aluminum square channel. The screw holes holding the bracket against the wall are large enough to adjust the positions of the rollers up and down, right and left, and also the angle of the roller axes. That all allows me to position the rollers against the saw blade to get the cut angles true and set the depth of the saw cuts. Also bought some 1/8” x 2” aluminum bar to make fret scale guides for the fret slotting jig.
I’ve only used the jigs on scrap poplar and they seem to work ok.
I then realized I need a place to put these things. Decided to build a sort of cabinet for these and some other jigs. My space isn’t that big, so I had to move some stuff around to make room for it. Made it with clear plexiglass windows that I could easily remove for access. Came out a bit clunky and a bit out of square, but functional.
I want to start making my own fingerboards. So, I made a fingerboard radiussing jig and a fret slotting jig. Trickiest part was figuring out how to make adjustable brackets for the roller guides. Ended up using some aluminum square channel. The screw holes holding the bracket against the wall are large enough to adjust the positions of the rollers up and down, right and left, and also the angle of the roller axes. That all allows me to position the rollers against the saw blade to get the cut angles true and set the depth of the saw cuts. Also bought some 1/8” x 2” aluminum bar to make fret scale guides for the fret slotting jig.
I’ve only used the jigs on scrap poplar and they seem to work ok.
I then realized I need a place to put these things. Decided to build a sort of cabinet for these and some other jigs. My space isn’t that big, so I had to move some stuff around to make room for it. Made it with clear plexiglass windows that I could easily remove for access. Came out a bit clunky and a bit out of square, but functional.