Cutting fret slots failed. And now?

[Beate Ritzert]

Thanks.

[Beate Ritzert]

It finally came out nearly invisible, even from closer than 2m:



Thanks alot for the advice!

[Bryan Bear]

Good news!

[Barry Daniels]

Give it a couple of weeks of playing in and it will be invisible. Nice job!

[Steven Smith]

Very nice work!

[Beate Ritzert]

Just another question: what if such a mistake would have occured in an instrument for sale (which is not the case here)?
What would the market demand / accept such repairs in new instruments (of course if the client had been told and given a suitable discount)?

To me that would be a target conflict between sustainability and "professional craftmanship".

[Steven Smith]

I have repaired a fret board on a commission (A5 mandolin) but the repair was absolutely invisible and that was my requirement. If the repair had been visible I was going to replace the fret board. I didn't ask the client.

[Beate Ritzert]

Well, the same neck: a nasty mistake while fitting it - the neck pocket was so tight that i did not fully see that misfit because the neck never was correctly in the pocket The gap appeared to be a lot narrower as you can see from the slice of maple it dit already fit into the slot. And i should possibly not work at 3 o'clock in the night... And i needed to deepen the neck pocket a bit after sanding the body.

Anyway: the opposite side seems mostly "ok" although not "perfect".



Well, as a repair i am considering filling all three sides with a narrow stripe of rosewood. Intentionally make a contrast. Or would You use maple or walnut for that?

[Carl Dickinson]

Use ebony to match fingerboard.

[Carl Dickinson]

Oops....fingerboard is rosewood.

[Chuck Tweedy]

i agree - use a dark wood to make the contrast - you can see how it would look in your photo where the shadow is acting as a dark line

[Beate Ritzert]

What do you think of the following idea to hide the gap frm the back (where it is widest)?

Regarding the gaps on the sides. These are much more narrow. I am considering to do a very narrow inlay of, say 1.1-1.25 mm (< 1/20 in), but i am completely unsure on the best way to cut such a slot. The cutaway would enforce a cutting angle of about 45° if i used a large chisel. And my smallest chisel is 2 mm, so i need to buy something appropriate.

[Barry Daniels]

I like the back inlay. Looks intentional instead of corrective. Very creative.

[Beate Ritzert]

Thanks.

The main reason why i did not just do it is the questions on tools and procedure for the slots on the sides, which need to be done first, see

[Darrel Friesen]

Recovery and fixing mistakes is the mark of a good builder Beate!

[Keith Cary]

Great advice here. I was so embarrassed when I cut a wrong slot a few weeks ago I didn't even search for solutions. Akkk! My wood dust and superglue fill is obvious.
Probably you're all done but I've found that if a slot is only, say, .5mm off I can reshape extra wide fret wire to get it right.