messed up inlays..

not being able to get a neck with the inlays I wanted from PBG, I purchased one from else where.

I asked them for Black PRS style bird inlays on a Maple fretboard and didn't look at the pictures too closely. my bad.
looks like they routed the inlays and then filled in around them, but they used dark filler that would have been better on a rosewood fretboard. other wise it is a nice neck..

can I fix this?
would it be better to take them out get new ones and filling with lighter Maple colour fill?
or try to remove the fill and replace it?

sorry for all the questions lately.

Hi Crusy don't apologise for too many questions !
You haven't had much joy with necks from other suppliers of late.
Think the easiest fix is to get some sharp pointy tools and try and remove the dark filler and fill it with a maple timbermate.

Would be much easier than trying to remove the inlays, although if you can't remove enough dark filler you may have to resort to that.

You can get sticker inlays but that defeats the purpose of having real inlays

sticker inlays might be a good choice here, they are super thin, look ok and should hide this. if you dig them out etc, i think you will always see where they were, almost regardless of how well you do it.

other option is ebonise the fingerboard - make it black, although you want maple which is exactly not black...

A word of caution that Maple TimberMate is not very maple-ish in my experience. WeirdBits has suggested that Pine TimberMate may be a better alternative in my IB-6S build thread http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ll=1#post86643 .

Attachment 6468

good tips Sarge I remember your post now about maple timbermate, colour looks way off although it should lighten a bit when dry but woudn't be any where near maple colour by the looks

It tends to dry to more of a salmon colour. Similar to Maple grain lines, at a stretch, I suppose. There is a rather bad image of a patch attempted with the maple TimberMate in the post that the image above was originally posted in.

sure Sarge, salmon colour would look terrible between black inlays and the maple fingerboard

Ok, thanks guys.

You may want to stabilise any Timbermate with some CA glue as well. Apply after the Timbermate has dried.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wokkaboy

You haven't had much joy with necks from other suppliers of late.

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Just one. Will never use that method again. Live and learn I guess.

Hi Gents,
What is involved in removing the fretboard from the neck?

Hi Neil,
big job you have to get a steam iron and heat up the fingerboard and try and lift the fingerboard from one end with a paint scraper of something to wedge in the gap and slowly separate the glue.
Which neck is this the maple PRS one with inlays ?

Have a search on youtube and search for how to remove fingerboard from neck or something similar

Yes. I hate the inlays, have been considering my options to make something from. Because I really like the res of the neck.

Neil why don't you try and see if you can remove the inlays ? Otherwise I would consider PRS sticker markers might be an easier fix

Yes, my first option will be to route them out, I have purchased new ones to put in.
Since the hole will be too big, I am debating filling around them with red abs or maple chips. I'll see how I go.

I need to build a router base for my rotary tool first. 😀

no, damn it, I am not scared of a challenge.

I am going to remove the current Maple Fretboard and replace it with a Hornbeam one.
in doing so change it from and F type nut to a G type nut. and insert the new inlays.

Just thought you might like to know :P ...

this is going to take me some time, but that is fine.

good luck Neil,sure you will learn new skills taking on the challenge

thanks, and yes that is the idea..

haha, good man, go hard

5 mins to remove the fret board...

Attachment 6772

now to attach the new one going to be a bit harder ...

well done Neil, 5 mins to remove a fingerboard shows how little glue the Chinese must have used !

Hi Neil,

Good job.

Just for future reference what did you use to heat the fretboard/fingerboard/glue?

A steam clothes iron. Left the frets in. Got the paint scraper under it and forced about 2" at a time from the neck after steaming that section. And just kept moving up the neck. It worked really well. Better than I hoped.

That's useful information.

Thanks

great work, removed the finger board on my Harmony the same way