One thing that occurred during neck removal was warping in the last bit of fretboard that I took off. The swelling laminate wood around the mortise pushed up on the piece, resulting in the top of the fretboard piece becoming almost completely flat. It's hard to explain the exact shape it was in. Regardless, the piece could not have been glued back in the state it was. I employed a pot of shallow, boiling water and a cookie cutter to heat and moisten the piece in preparation for re-bending.
Heat and moisture softens the misshapen fretboard. It was later clamped into shape using a vise and shims.
Some neck work was done, including removing 75% of its finish (using only 150 grit sandpaper). I took great care in monitoring lacquer removal, for such low grit sandpaper could remove noticeable amounts of wood if one doesn't pay close attention. Since I am keeping the binding on the neck, I couldn't have used acetone for removal.
Finished removed, except for peghead. Notice the bottom maple shim and the properly shaped fretboard piece.
I used superglue and rosewood shavings to fill in my drilled steam holes and chips from fret removal, which I continued to do for the entirety of the fretboard.
Using a filed soldering iron tip, I heated each fret before removal with my modified fret nippers.
All off. Some big chipouts were superglued back in place.
Steam holes mostly filled. Keep in mind the new frets will cover any small chips. Once I re-sand the fretboard, it should look great.
From StewMac, I received a new quart of Behlen's Nitrocellulose Stringed Instrument Lacquer, med/med fretwire, 0.060"/0.25" creme binding, and a grain filler squeegee. I began with the new binding, gluing it into the cleaned binding channel using the acetone glue like before. Removing the tape after the glue dries, gives this.
Glued binding.
Much easier than last time, when I used 0.090" thick binding instead of this 0.060". With a burnished razor and X-acto knife blade, I scraped the binding flush with the body. The little material removed also ensured even binding thickness throughout. I filled any gaps between the binding and the wood with the acetone glue.
The curved X-acto blade allowed me to scraped the binding so it didn't slope near the edges, resulting in a nice 90 degree edge.
Looking good. The binding end on the bottom right is angled to compensate for the weird curve in the neck joint I explained in the previous post.
Through all the steaming and moisture, the neck joint dried in a way that there was slight wobble when the neck was placed. I added a mahogany shim on the side of the tenon so it fit snug.
Mahogany shim made from a few block plane shavings. The imperfections at the bottom of the neck is from a mistake I made during initial shaping years ago (it's hardly noticeable with a finish on).
The neck is ready to be glued in, so expect that in the next post. The peghead lacquer will be off as well. I'll probably, by the next post, have the fretboard piece also glued in. Who knows.
-Andrew
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