allstellar Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 I have an EPI les paul and the fretboard has a crack in it.. Ive revoiewed the instructions at several plaes hw to remove the necka nd fretboard... is this a realistic thing to try to do? I have sone several guitar builds and have an integral relationship with all my guitars... is my 3 pickup epiphone-paul ready for the dumpster? ;( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 I've done several bolt-on necks but never a set neck. I don't know how much more complicated it is to remove a fretboard from a guitar where the neck is still attached? The method I use is to place a household clothing iron on the fretboard and set it to full power / full steam. I hit the self-clean button often, forcing it to blow out loads of steam (be careful not to let it dump water though). After about 5 minutes, I use a razor blade to get under the fretboard at the heel end. This is where I really don't know how you would do this. There's probably a different method for set-neck guitars (maybe start at the nut end?) but I am not up on those. For a bolt-on, it's really not very bad. I usually can get one off it about 20 minutes. It takes a little while to get everything sanded flat/smooth again but as a whole, it's very doable. I just don't know about that type of guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 These get redone all of the time. It's easier if you pull the frets first. Since it's already toast this is a slash and burn affair. Get out your deadly heat gun and just be very very careful near the finish. Take some aluminum tape, the three inch stuff that they have in the appliance section of Lowe's and put it on the sides of the neck Bend it out at a 45 degree angle and it will channel the heat away from the body if you keep the gun angled towards the head. Pro's use a heat blanket. You might ask your local repair guy what he would charge to just pull the sucker for you. There is also a solvent called "Deglue Goo" that will soften the glue and not screw up the finish. It seems to be mostly water cornstarch and vinegar but it dissolves glue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertonessuckbutigotone Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 wouldn't the "deadly heat gun" warp the neck? I'd og with what daveq said, I've done it 3 times, but all on bolt ons. Like he said, I don't know if it would work with set necks/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 I think the iron method would work on a set neck. I've done it to an acoustic, and it worked well. Just be very careful and score the finish deeply around the fretboard. It's probably best to start at the nut end, because I had a lot of trouble getting it started at the body end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted February 15, 2005 Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 Heat is heat guys. A heat gun is no worse than a heat blanket, if you use it right. Always take a razor knife of some kind a score the finish first. Gibson oversprays everything first and then scrapes the bindings clean so there is a good chance that if you cdon't cut it you'll pull some chips. Always start at the nut so you don't have to have as much heat on the body. They make some really thin bladed doo-dads called palette knives. These are sold at artist supply stores. They have a really really thin blade that is rounded on the end. They're great to work in the crack and lever things that are glued together apart and are pretty cheap. I'd take one, press it against the seam and hit the blade with the heat gun at the back away from the wood. It will heat up and you can work it in. Once you get it going replace it with a thin bladed butter knife. I had an honest to god luthier show me this trick and I use it on funiture all the time with good results. I pulled the bridge off of my 1965 Epiphone Texan flatop about a month ago with zero damage to the wood or finish and it took about 15 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allstellar Posted February 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 Heat is heat guys. A heat gun is no worse than a heat blanket, if you use it right. Always take a razor knife of some kind a score the finish first. Gibson oversprays everything first and then scrapes the bindings clean so there is a good chance that if you cdon't cut it you'll pull some chips. Always start at the nut so you don't have to have as much heat on the body. They make some really thin bladed doo-dads called palette knives. These are sold at artist supply stores. They have a really really thin blade that is rounded on the end. They're great to work in the crack and lever things that are glued together apart and are pretty cheap. I'd take one, press it against the seam and hit the blade with the heat gun at the back away from the wood. It will heat up and you can work it in. Once you get it going replace it with a thin bladed butter knife. I had an honest to god luthier show me this trick and I use it on funiture all the time with good results. I pulled the bridge off of my 1965 Epiphone Texan flatop about a month ago with zero damage to the wood or finish and it took about 15 minutes. ← Use a razor blade to score the finish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted February 15, 2005 Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 I'm not convinced by the theory that pulling frets helps. I does move the heatsource closer to the glueline, but I find the frets are far better at transferring heat than the fingerboard. That said, if you are 200% certain that the fretboard is not repairable you can pull the frets and plane off the fretboard, taking it down to .5mm will make it much easier to remove. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allstellar Posted February 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 I'm not convinced by the theory that pulling frets helps. I does move the heatsource closer to the glueline, but I find the frets are far better at transferring heat than the fingerboard. That said, if you are 200% certain that the fretboard is not repairable you can pull the frets and plane off the fretboard, taking it down to .5mm will make it much easier to remove. ← In an above post I was told that with a set neck I would need to remove the fretboard BEFORE the neck.. so is it possible to use a planer on the fretboard? if so how ... Hmm, I'm learning alot here it ROCKS.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted February 15, 2005 Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 By razor blade to score along the seam I mean an x-acto No11 type blade. Very very very carefully. Planing. The gaget that you run wood through to thickness it is a planer. The thing you run it over to flatten it is a joiner or jointer depending on where you live. Before we had electrical gagets that eat wood and fingers we had hand planes and hand jointer planes. The one I have is three feet long and I can flatten a board with it in no time flat. If I'm doing a bunch of wood I step over to the big Powermatic and save my forearms. You can flatten your fingerboard on the body by making a hand jointer. Take a piece of 1/2 inch by four inch aluminum metal. I've got a metal supplier in town who I've bought a bunch of stuff like this from. 6066 is a common grade. Used in all sorts of industrial applications. Stick sandpaper on it. Use super glue to stick a couple of wooden handles on the back. As long as you don't try to press too hard and just let the tool do the work this will flatten damn near anything and do as good a job as a $2000 power tool. Just slower. And sweatier. It also won't eat your fingers or grab and throw your guitar across the room.(Hmmmm how do I know that these things happen?) You can also stick your paper to a flat surface, like a table saw top and sand upside down. This will flatten stuff. Just remember to not rock the pressure back and forth. Stand in the middle of your stroke and keep your pressure uniform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allstellar Posted February 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 By razor blade to score along the seam I mean an x-acto No11 type blade. Very very very carefully. Planing. The gaget that you run wood through to thickness it is a planer. The thing you run it over to flatten it is a joiner or jointer depending on where you live. Before we had electrical gagets that eat wood and fingers we had hand planes and hand jointer planes. The one I have is three feet long and I can flatten a board with it in no time flat. If I'm doing a bunch of wood I step over to the big Powermatic and save my forearms. You can flatten your fingerboard on the body by making a hand jointer. Take a piece of 1/2 inch by four inch aluminum metal. I've got a metal supplier in town who I've bought a bunch of stuff like this from. 6066 is a common grade. Used in all sorts of industrial applications. Stick sandpaper on it. Use super glue to stick a couple of wooden handles on the back. As long as you don't try to press too hard and just let the tool do the work this will flatten damn near anything and do as good a job as a $2000 power tool. Just slower. And sweatier. It also won't eat your fingers or grab and throw your guitar across the room.(Hmmmm how do I know that these things happen?) You can also stick your paper to a flat surface, like a table saw top and sand upside down. This will flatten stuff. Just remember to not rock the pressure back and forth. Stand in the middle of your stroke and keep your pressure uniform. ← Wow that seems to be the route to take. Thanks so much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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