- 1). Cut a solid piece of rosewood to the dimensions of the guitar neck using a table saw for accuracy. The piece's length will depend on the amount of frets you wish to have. Guitars with 24 frets have longer necks than standard 22-fretted guitars such as the Fender Stratocaster. The fretboard must be the same width as the guitar neck for playing comfort. You may use soft maple or ebony instead of rosewood.
- 2). Mark the fret slots on your board with a straight edge after calculating their distances. The frets are separated by distances that are mathematical in nature. A chart is available at projectguitar.com; distances vary based on the overall scale length of the fretboard.
- 3). Cut the marked fret slots with a utility knife or a Gent's saw. Be very careful not to go too deep, and cut on the marked line because the frets must be spaced correctly for the correct intonation, which makes every fretted note accurate.
- 4). Sand the radius on the fretboard. Use radius blocks to achieve the correct radius. The larger the number, the flatter the fretboard will be. The average radius is between 12 and 17 inches. Websites such as Stewart-MacDonald sell sets of radius blocks to help you get the perfect radius on your fretboard.
- 5). Drill holes for the dot markers in the side of the fretboard and the playing surface. Place the dot markers on the fret numbers 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 19, 21 and 24 if applicable. You can place them on only the side of the fretboard, the front or both. Use a drill bit that is the same diameter as the dot markers; such drill bits are available at music supply stores. Dot markers are often made of plastic, abalone or mother-of-pearl.
- 6). Insert and lightly tap the fret-wire you have chosen for your fretboard with a mallet. Fret-wire comes in many sizes, including various profiles in medium and wide for electric and acoustic guitars. Cut the wire with tin snips to just past the fretboard on each side, tap or press into place and clip the ends as close as possible. File the ends so that they do not cause injury.
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