Refret Saw Guide
© Frank Ford, 4/14/98; Photos by Dan Erlewine, 1992
(Photos by permission from Stewart-MacDonald's Shop Talk Video #3)
When you're deepening or cleaning fret slots, it's a good idea not to cut them unevenly or too deep. The basic idea to cut the slots to a uniform depth
Dan makes the job easy.
He drills four large holes in his fret saw blade:
These holes are large enough to allow the guides plenty of room for adjustment.
The guides are two identical strips of acrylic. Each has two small holes and two large holes that line up with the holes in the saw blade.
The smaller holes are for stationary pins to keep the two pieces of acrylic aligned to each other:
Here Dan is holding one guide under the blade and is about to place the other onto the alignment pins.
Two bolts through the large holes tighten the guides to the blade. There's enough adjustment up and down to allow just the right amount of blade to protrude. That way, Dan can simply cut the slot downward until the guides rub on the fingerboard:
He gets a perfect cut every time.
Another simple tool we all can use!
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