Guitar setup tips

[Slobrain]

When I visted the Cort factory in Korea, they had an automatic machine cutting frets to exact length and notching back the tangs for installation on bound fretboards. They'd set it up for doing 500 1st frets, 500 2nd frets, etc. and the machine was running full time.

At Fender, however, in about 2006, they were wasting a good 1 1/2" of fret wire per fret with overhanging wire. Go figure...

The supplier for fret slot milling cutters designed for rosewood and ebony is "Precise Bits". Great stuff. We use the .025" bits. UltraBIT Fret Cutters The trick is figuring out speeds and feeds. Yes, you can do closed end slots with these. We also run a "V" cutter to slightly bevel the edges of the fret slots for easier fret insertion and to help prevent chip-outs when refretting in the future. Love that CNC machine...

Hey Rick,
Does the Cort factory cure its wood that they use in guitar builds? I have to ask, after working on a bunch of Squier strat necks I always notice the fretboards are not consistent from one end to the other by having dips or humps. which I think maybe the wood isn't cured right or just cheap wood in general...

I had to ask as its the Indo Cortek factory that build the Squier necks, some are Cortek/Samick. surprisingly, the build of the Squier necks are similar to Mighty Mite neck builds. I wonder who really builds the MM necks?

Cheers

BTW, can you post some pics of the CNC and other stuff you guys use in building guitars?

Thanks