With a break like this with plenty of surface area, I would just glue it without any additional supports. My glue of choice is hot hide glue, but there will be lots of opinions on that and many option…
I think that's a good move. One thing I might do to kick things of is to hit the area with some ultra thin master glue so it wicks under the area and prevents more chipping from potentially delaminate…
Hi guys, I finally managed to sort the problem out. Seens like was a simple issue that I cant see in that moment. I took the whole bridge apart and did a complete setup from scratch. I read somewhere…
This is precisely why Leo Fender developed the insideless guitar. A compromised neck block is super hard to come back from and when I see something like this, it leads me to believe that it's the tip…
Chris, can I add this for the council of elders show ? Also, we are going to have @member on pretty soon to talk about a job about this dramastic. Here's a link to the live show co…
I’m about to do my first ebony fingerboard replacement and wondered if there was any advice, compared with rosewood fingerboard construction. I plan to use the small aluminum jig and fret saw to cut the slots manually, indexing off the old fingerboard.
I wonder if anyone does a ebony board by scribing the raw board with the appropriate tooling and then using a mini-routing tool (i.e. dremel) with an appropriate size bit do the final fret slots?
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one thing for sure is i hope your saw is still sharp...not fun slotting ebony witha dull saw & i can promise this one board will dull it a good amount if it is sharp lol
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John, I don't always use the fret tang sizer; when I do it's so I don't backbow the neck in certain situations. I do far more repair than building, and most every fret job is different, and the stiffness of the neck/fretboard lets me know how much tang to remove in order for the fret to be seated well. I almost always use glue, and of different types. A snug pres-fit often works best, but in a number of cases I want to leave enough tang that I have to clamp them in (where some compression is needed when the neck has a tendency toward upbow and a truss-rod that doesn't work great.
I generally do my fretting in the SM neck-jig, the Total Vise "Proper's Workstation" also.
If you are somewhat new to fretting, it's really worth the time to do some experimenting — take some scrap wood or necks and fret them in different ways and see how much tang sizes affect the different woods. That is how I started out, and I sill find fretwork to be a challenge. Thanks, Dan
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Dan, your generous advice is much appreciated. I'm all repair at this point, and have refretted a couple of dozen necks but still feel like an amateur!
If you have time, can you mention which glues you favor for fretting and when? CA thin wicked in, CA medium in the slot before, Titebond?
Thank you.
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↪ Private memberJohn, I will soon, but that is a huge subject and I think it should be answered oh the "Council of Elders" sessions. I will suggest this to Ian. Still, I will send something soon to tide us over. thanks, Dan
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Of course you want to determine the scale length and lay it out carefully (if you pattern after the original board measure down the center of the board for slot layout
Ebony, being a good deal harder than most rosewoods is more likely to backbone a little if you are fretting it before it goes on the neck, and even then, so choose fret tang size and fret slot size carefully and practice on scraps of ebony
Pay attention to not sawing the slots deeper than needed (checking the slot depth - many fret saws have a depth set attachment (I know StewMac does). Good luck! Dan Erlewine
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Dan, thanks for such a quick response.
I cut with the StewMac fret saw and use standard SM fretwire and like to do the fretting once the FB is glued to the neck. When you use the fret barber, what kind of feel would you go for when installing the frets in terms of press in force in an ebony FB? Do you use glue (TB or CA) with ebony?