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OK, so far all my guitars have had a martin necks and fretboards with locating pins. I want to do my own fretboard next time. What is the best way to get those locating pins/pin holes on my board so it doesn't go on crocked?

This weekend I am making a jig like the one I used in Rick Davis's class. It will be a plexiglass rectangle with the centerline marked out on both sides of the jig for proper indexing. It will have two holes to be used as drill guides for holes for 1/8" indexing dowels. I would place the holes top to bottom and on both sides of the center line (maybe the third and 10th fret position.)

The proceedure:
line up the jig top on the neck at the nut position and line up the centerline. Drill very shallow holes.

flip the jig onto the back of the fret board, aligning the top of the jig to the figerboard nut side and line up the center lines and drill two shallow indexing holes.

As you are using the same jig for the holes and indexing both the nut and the centerlines the holes should be lined up.

Thanks guys, that was, of course, an "Ah Ha" moment! (Sometimes I feel so dumb)

I do the brads but trim them so they are under the fret tang. Any way that keeps the board from moving during glue up will work.

I just do the same as Ken but use the brads themselves as the drill bit. Remove the heads before trying use use them as a bit.
Tom

Runningdog wrote:Lots of folks use the brads. They don't require a jig and they allow you to compensate for an off-center headblock or tenon. But I like to be able to install and remove the fingerboard while doing the neck set and the brads are a bit of a pain. Dowelling is better for that, I find. And it's better not to skew the fingerboard off-center on the neck -- it leads to problems with relief. Also, sometime down the road the fingerboard may need to come off and the repair person will curse the builder who leaves a bunch of metal in the way of the spatula!

Spoken like a builder sharing a shop with a full-time repair person! =)

Would a dowel make removing the fretboard any easier? Seems a spatula would hit either one.

The brad technique has been around a long time. I have pulled many old boards and found them . Wood dowels make pulling the board off more difficult as the glue slips off the metal much easier than breaking bonds off the wood. Don't over think it , it isn't that hard . As long as you have 2 points to fix the fretboard you are good . Also on another note.
I am finding I am getting a much better fretboard plane by fretting on the guitar after the neck is applied. I know I was one in the past that did it the other way and I will tell you why I changed. Once you have the neck fit to the body , any irregularity can be planed out of the board. This way you can make the board dead flat. This make the neck more playable in the end.

I don't use a buck I press them in with a simple C clamp and a cawl. I agree I don't like thumping on the extension and while I am sure I am not the first to do it that way . We will be shooting a video on this subject soon.
Lets face it , that fret plane is so essential to the quality of the set up .

I fret off the neck and level after attaching to the body.