Fret not, it’s time to get rid of those pesky speed bumps.
Again I had the choice of easy (just pull the frets out) or hard……. So I bought this fingerboard from DB…………
I decided that for a real challenge to build (and play), I wanted a clean-skin fingerboard. I’m an idiot, no fret markers for me! I am going old school.
After heaps of research Plan A was to use an ordinary steam iron to heat up the glue binding the fretboard to the neck and “just” pries it off. It sounded so simple. I found that after about half an hour of resting the iron on the frets that there was no sign that the glue had started to melt. It certainly was hot enough, the burns on my hand will attest to that.
Plan B was to still use the iron but also use some brute force. I needed something with an edge to start the delaminating process. I was using a paint scraper, so I got the oil stone out and put an edge on the blade and VERY carefully positioned it on the glue line between the fretboard and the neck. (I was working from the heel end of the neck as I figured that any mistakes would be less noticeable there rather than the nut end). I could still not push it in by hand, so started to tap it with a mallet. I was being careful to ever so slightly angle the paint scraper towards the fretboard so if I had a mishap I would damage the fretboard and not the neck.
Well after about 2 1/2 hours I got the fretboard off. When I started I was using very gentle taps, but as I gained confidence, and got a feel of how the process worked I began to get a bit more aggressive with the “taps”. Having learnt by doing, I would imagine that this job could easily be done in under 2 hours
Next step will be rough cutting the fingerboard to size and glue it to the neck.
Pic 1 – Iron on the fretboard, and we’re ready to go – NB it must be a steam iron set on the highest setting.
Pic 2 – After over half an hour this is as far as I got!
Pic 3 – Another half hour or so and I had got about 5 frets done.
Reply With Quote