partial detachment of the fretboard, what now?

[hopdybob]

Hello all.
Today i made some progress with my 'turn child electric guitar into a electric ukulele' and was hammering the frets into the fretslots.
suddenly i notices the fretboard came partial detach t.
the board is about 36 cm long and came loose from the nut side to the 9 th fret, that is 21 cm.
15 cm is still at its place.

i think it has to come of, but how can i make sure i get it on the right place again?

 

[Boreas]

Pix or it didn't happen.

 

[guitarbuilder]

Use brads through the holes that you drill in the fret slots. Take a brad and clip the head off and use that as a drill bit. Drill 4 -5 holes avoiding the truss rod and don't drill through the neck. Wax the brads, clip off the heads leaving enough to grab onto. I use a basswood caul so the sharp end of the brad pierces the caul easily.


See post 72

Let's make a neck!

Agreed the wooden blocks are affordable, even the aluminum one on eBay is 1/2 the price of Stewmac and trending towards affordable. There are 2 things that I wouldn't build without these days. That aluminum radius beam and a fret arbor press.

www.tdpri.com

 

[philosofriend]

Before you take the fretboard off, drill two tiny holes through the fretboard and a short distance into the neck. Put one hole at each end of the board. If the fretboard markers come out easily put the holes there so you won't have to disguise the repair later. When you glue the board on, put round bits of wood in the holes which will prevent the board shifting on the neck when you glue it and put the clamps on. Pieces of a wooden toothpick work well.

It is good when clamping it up to have something strong and absolutely flat against the fretboard. This will keep you from glueing a warp into the neck. I use a carpenter's level.

When you glue it up flat have the truss rod relaxed or with only a tiny bit of tension. If you glue it with the truss rod tight you could end up having to tighten it too much to resist the pull of the strings.

 

[toanhunter]

use cocktail sticks, I prefer to use 4 holes so it's perfectly aligned, ideally before you take it fully off, usually the sticks measure 2mm so you'll need a 2mm bit and be careful to drill it at 90 degrees to the surface, as straight as possible, under the 1st and last frets are ideal locations, and not in the centre to avoid the truss rod.

It can be quite a challenge to clean up old glue, try using a card scraper, my favourite is a no80 scraper for removing old glue, I can highly recommend hot hide glue but regular white PVA will do as well, the only problem is it can creep over time,

good luck! let us know how it goes.

 

[schmee]

"Just lie on the sofa Mr Hopdybob, and tell me how long have you had detachment issues with your fretboard?"
"Is it possible your fingers are sabotaging your actions?"

 

[Supertwang]

I'd probably try using glue syringes to try to get adequate glue underneath the fretboard by lifting/bending the fretboard away from the neck slightly,...this operation may separate the fretboard even further which would be a good test as maybe the entire fretboard to neck glue joint maybe compromised already. If the FB further separates easily from the neck go ahead and remove the fretboard so the old crappy glue can be scraped away clean making a new better bond more probable

 

[hopdybob]

Pix or it didn't happen.

working on it

 

[hopdybob]

and here i ended with refretting

 

[hopdybob]

Before you take the fretboard off, drill two tiny holes through the fretboard and a short distance into the neck. Put one hole at each end of the board. If the fretboard markers come out easily put the holes there so you won't have to disguise the repair later. When you glue the board on, put round bits of wood in the holes which will prevent the board shifting on the neck when you glue it and put the clamps on. Pieces of a wooden toothpick work well.

It is good when clamping it up to have something strong and absolutely flat against the fretboard. This will keep you from glueing a warp into the neck. I use a carpenter's level.

When you glue it up flat have the truss rod relaxed or with only a tiny bit of tension. If you glue it with the truss rod tight you could end up having to tighten it too much to resist the pull of the strings.

good advise to, only the fretboard markers are just repaired with glitter and superglue.

 

[hopdybob]

@schmee
MMM, what would cost me this therapy counseling in a hour?????

This neck has cost me some time now
working on the neck 1

working on the neck 2

and i think this was the reason for this problem

to much force

 

[philosofriend]

"Too much force" may be true, but you can fix it. After you get your holes for your alignment dowels or brads, you can pull the board all the way off and put the frets in while the fingerboard is not attached. You are doing well, you are just not done yet.

Ideally, pushing the frets in can be done with a slow two-handed pushing motion of the hammer. Violent banging with the hammer is seldom needed.

The face of the hammer should be polished with no scratches. Scratches will put marks in the frets that will need to be filed smooth later.

 

[Freeman Keller]

I have removed fretboards using a silicon heating blanket and pallet knives. Because I like to fret a boar before gluing it to the neck I can't put brads thru fret slots (but it a very good idea if you can), instead I use two wood dowels or sometimes clamp the neck lightly from the sides to center it.

 

[hopdybob]

"Too much force" may be true, but you can fix it. After you get your holes for your alignment dowels or brads, you can pull the board all the way off and put the frets in while the fingerboard is not attached. You are doing well, you are just not done yet.

Ideally, pushing the frets in can be done with a slow two-handed pushing motion of the hammer. Violent banging with the hammer is seldom needed.

The face of the hammer should be polished with no scratches. Scratches will put marks in the frets that will need to be filed smooth later.

My first refret was done years ago after reading the repair book of Dan Erlewin.
That was in the time that internet wasn´t so common like now.
Good reading info
If i remember correct he gave the advise to hit the ends of the frets that stick out a bit a bang with a hammer so they bent a little and stay put more.

 

[hopdybob]

I have removed fretboards using a silicon heating blanket and pallet knives. Because I like to fret a boar before gluing it to the neck I can't put brads thru fret slots (but it a very good idea if you can), instead I use two wood dowels or sometimes clamp the neck lightly from the sides to center it.

just thought about it bit heat would possible destroy the new glitter dot inlay

 

[stratisfied]

Just re-glue the portion that is separated. No registration issues as any wood that separated from the underside of the fretboard will align it. Just brush the glue on both surfaces and clamp it.

 

[Boreas]

Just re-glue the portion that is separated. No registration issues as any wood that separated from the underside of the fretboard will align it. Just brush the glue on both surfaces and clamp it.

Won't the heel end just pop up later? Or just cross that bridge if/when it happens?

 

[Freeman Keller]

just thought about it bit heat would possible destroy the new glitter dot inlay

I mostly use pearl dots or other fretboard markers and they would not be affected. I don't know about plastic or "clay".

 

[hopdybob]

a step further.
i had a small strip of thin metal (you can see it on the left with the orange sticker) and softly pulling it to the end of the neck i came of
tada!!!!



i used the brad idea that @guitarbuilder mention t.

 

[hopdybob]

gluing it back will not be that difficult but i want to try something to tackle a little problem.
i could net get rid of a little back bow in the middle.

the idea is to clamp the neck at the heel and push the neck up a little bit at the headstock getting a little relief. than glue the fretboard back so it hopefully will hold a little relief.

bad thought /idea?