Fret board trick

dave g

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Don't you hate it when glue seeps out when clamping the fretboard on? This pretty much fixes that - grooves to give any excess glue someplace harmless to go:

fretbd%20002.jpg


The little molding plane to make the groves:

fretbd%20006.jpg


And the little plane in use:

fretbd%20008.jpg
 
Cool. I'm tempted but I kinda like watching glue gush out everywhere.
 
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I do this on my Renaissance guitar bridges which we glue to the finish with superglue, but for a fingerboard, I think it's a solution looking for a problem.
 
Cool. I'm tempted but I kinda like watching glue gush out everywhere.

Yeah, I can understand that :) but the way I do it it's kind of a hassle; I finish the neck and the fret board separately, then glue them together. And I intentionally put a little "reveal" at the joint by sanding a slight round along the edges of both (resulting in a little "V"). Getting excess glue out of that "V" is a PITA...
 
Yeah, I can understand that :) but the way I do it it's kind of a hassle; I finish the neck and the fret board separately, then glue them together. And I intentionally put a little "reveal" at the joint by sanding a slight round along the edges of both (resulting in a little "V"). Getting excess glue out of that "V" is a PITA...

Right on. And then there are others who wrap with rope or rubber... the squeeze out is probably a nightmare with that method although it's a great method for even clamping along the fretboard. I do mine with cauls upside down on the neck carving jig in the vise before finishing the neck and finish up to the edge of the fretboard ala gibson. I kinda like the idea of that V "reveal" though.
 
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I do this on my Renaissance guitar bridges which we glue to the finish with superglue, but for a fingerboard, I think it's a solution looking for a problem.

Superglue to the finish? I'd imagine it would never lift but if it did it would take some finish with it? And what are some comapanies that glue to the finish using that makes their bridges pop off? Not gonna mention any ovanames. lol
 
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Why finish the neck and fingerboard separately? I don't get the advantage at all. Seems like the hard way to do it for no benefit to a player.
 
I've worked like mad to get really good finish adhesion, and the bridges coming off just hasn't been an issue. We don't do it with all instruments, but with those we do, it's not an issue.
 
By the way Dave G.. Wanna thank you again for all the building videos and stuff you've shared, that stuff helped me get started in a big way and I love all your ukes. I'm gonna go firewood shopping in a couple of weeks. :)
 
I've worked like mad to get really good finish adhesion, and the bridges coming off just hasn't been an issue. We don't do it with all instruments, but with those we do, it's not an issue.

I think you misunderstood me. I didn't mean to imply that the bridges would pop off I was just wondering if there were any caveats down the road when it came to repairs. Much respect to you Rick, seriously. And I was really wondering what others who glue to the finish were using that made THEIR bridges pop off.

And another question... what type of finish are you using when you superglue the bridges to it and how do you prep it?
And what's your method of insuring excellent finish adhesion?
 
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'Cause it takes a bunch of time out of it. Lacquer isn't a suitable finish for a fret board, so this way eliminates having to mask it off, etc., etc.

I'm tempted to go that route. But I won't lol... I have a thing... I can't have any voids at all and everything has to be soaking in glue and clamped/squeezed out to the single molecule or until I hear something crack. Probably makes no difference whatsoever but I go this route, along with a striped solid not gonna ever move neck to try to grab the most sustain I can.
 
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And I know it probably sounds ridiculous that a small channel in a fretboard would make any difference at all... but I'm superstitious that way lol. Don't want any voids in my neck joint either.
 
I still don't get it. Most companies and luthiers do just fine masking off the face of the fingerboard and spraying the edge along with the neck. Standard operating procedure on thousands of guitars, ukes, and basses every week around the world. What's the problem with finishing the edge of a fingerboard? What finish are you using? Are you using a decent sealer? Are you lacquering the face of the fingerboard? Fender doesn't have a problem doing maple fingerboard Strat and Tele necks...

Ever look at a Martin, Gibson, Taylor, Bourgeois, etc.? This is a non-problem if you know finish work. You can fret before or after finish, etc. Or are you using some non-standard fingerboard wood? In which case, just epoxy seal it. Sorry, but this is totally out of left field and looks to me like, as I said, a solution in search of a problem. If I had a reveal between fingerboard and neck, my customers would think the fingerboard was coming unglued from the neck...
 
And on the bridges popping off, please be more specific. I don't know what company you're talking about. I know that it worked for Larrivee and then didn't, but I don't know what other issues might have been going on or what exact glue they used.

I'm using HotStuff Super T.

What I can say is that we carefully clean off any residual buffing wax with acetone (which doesn't touch polyester) before gluing on the bridge. I've not had any pop loose in a very long time, and that's with hundreds and hundreds of instruments.
 
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