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Fretboards are traditionally made from ebony, but any hard, close grained wood can be used. I've used ebony and rosewood before. On the example here, I am using "Crelicam" ebony. This is sustainably grown ebony from Cameroon. This ebony has streaks in it which is actually quite normal. It turns out that traditional black ebony is fairly rare. When foresters harvest a tree, they would discard the streaky ebony and let it rot on the forest floor. Crelicam ebony is sustainable because it's not discarded. I think it looks pretty great, and it performs just as well as traditional black ebony.
The first step is to cut a slight radius on the surface of the fretboard. Most acoustics have a radiused fretboard (exceptions are some classical guitars). I used to do this with a large sanding beam that had a radius in it. But I've since switched to a router mounted on a travelling carriage that cuts a perfect arc in the wood. It's great and quite a lot of fun to use.
The result is a perfectly radius fretboard. Next up, I will cut the slots for the frets.
Some folks measure the slots, but I use a template that allows me to advance the fretboard the exact right amount through the miter box. The saw is set up to cut a perfect depth slot in the fretboard. It's a tedious job, but it needs to be done slowly and carefully.
Before the frets are added, I'll drill shallow little holes for the fret board markers. I used mother of pearl or paua abalone for these. The markers are glued in with a little thin CA glue.
I buy long pieces of fretwire that I bend to the a little more than the radius of the fretboard and then cut to fit the fret slots. The frets are then hammered into the slots and I add a little thin CA glue to make sure they stay put. I use a deadblow fretting hammer to do this.
Finally, I glue the fretboard to the body of the guitar. And yes, it is held in place with a very very long elastic band.
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