Fret Board Radius Jig

[Gordon Bellerose]

Here is something I found online on another site.
I would like opinions on this if you could.

http://www.luthiersuppliers.com/products/p12.html

[Pete Halliday]

Genius? Not $200 genius, but copy with pride genius.

[David King]

It looks like a basic Charles Fox fingerboard compound radius jig for belt sander. I built mine 12 years ago. It works with my 6 x 80 belt sander and it can handle fingerboards up to 30" long. It would barely work with a drum sander. That would take forever and drum sanders aren't accurate enough to get you a straight fingerboard.

[Michael Lewis]

That fixture has SOME similarity to the Fox radius system but the Fox system works so much faster and very accurate leaving a smooth radius rather than the facets this system would leave. The Fox system requires a long belt sander, which also serves to shape necks with a very similar "system". The cams on the ends control the radius for the fingerboard for the fingerboard system and the profile for the neck for the neck system. Same basic idea but with different spacing and such.

[Clay Schaeffer]

"The Fox system requires a long belt sander, which also serves to shape necks with a very similar "system""

For those who don't have a long belt sander this simple system might work fine. By doing intermediate passes you will get more facets and a more finished board. One thing that is not obvious from the photos are the alignment pins that must ride in the curved dado to keep the board at the proper angle. If someone is mechanically inclined I'm sure they could work out the details to build something similar. For those who aren't, the price isn't too extreme. There are other jigs, many using routers, but some people are more comfortable with sanders.

[Bob Gramann]

I have a router jig that I made that works just fine. I still pay LMI a little extra and order my boards pre-radiused when I can. It's worth a few extra bucks to me not to have to do it.

[David King]

Bob,
Are you able to get compound radii from LMII now?

[Bob Gramann]

Don't know. I've never wanted one.

[David King]

Well the main virtue of this type of jig is that it gives you that capability if you wanted it.

[Eric Baack]

The router jig worked well for me. I might make something like this for my 3 axis router if I want to get a bit more fancy

[Gordon Bellerose]

Do you think this jig would be capable of compound radius boards?
Maybe by using the smaller radius at one end and the larger at the other?
It does say on the site that it is not.

[David King]

Gordon, it should be capable of doing a compound that but I haven't examined one in person to make sure. Facets that lined up with the center of each string would be a great place to start. I'm not sure this one is designed with that in mind but that's how I would use it.

[Barry Daniels]

I took this jig on trail when it first came out and it was then advertised as being capable of a compound radius. However, IT WAS NOT ABLE TO DO A COMPOUND RADIUS. I talked with the guy that sells them and explained why it could not do a compound radius and they subsequently removed the claim from their ads.

[David King]

Coffin effectively nailed shut.