Question - Removing A Fretboard

[redwhiteandthemaple]

I know that the tutorial on the main site requires the neck to already have the frets in, but I have a neck at the moment, which needs to be removed.

The problem doesn't seem bad, it's just that I put a masking tape under the fretboard and glued in together and you can see it slightly from the sides.

The tutorial on the site says you NEED the frets so that the fingerboard doesn't warp when you steam iron it.

Now, I COULD radius the fingerboard, inlay, and fret it, THEN take the whole thing out, remove the tape and sand it down a bit, then glue it back on.

But I'd rather try to remove this before radiusing the fretboard as it might not sit too well after I removed the tape, but theretically it should. I'll just need to be careful about the sanding.

So the question, Is there a way to remove the fingerboard without its frets?

Silly me... it all happened because the fingerboard arrived so late, I was in a rush..

[Guitarfrenzy]

I've use that method to remove a fingerboard that wasn't fretted and it worked great. After you've steamed it and gotten the wood wet, you need to let it dry out a week or so though before proceeding with the build. At least that's what I didn't do one time and the neck wood blue streaked because after the neck had spray finish, the moisture stayed trapped in the wood and thus you could see a small blue streak in the wood a month later.. YIKES. I'm not talking about the fingerboard, just the neck wood if you plan on using it again.

[redwhiteandthemaple]

K, hmm that seems pretty good. Thx for the info Guitarfrenzy!

Now.. one more question to anyone who knows.

I have a steam iron, but it's not automatic. It's a manual button type.

Basically, would it hurt to oversteam? And what exactly is the function of the steam?

I can only predict so that.. the wood doesn't burn? Moisturize the wood for better bending?

Thx in advance.

[redwhiteandthemaple]

That wasn't too bad. I took my fretboard off within an hour. About halfway done, I got the hang of it, and the rest seemed really easy.

I just hope that the black stuff are natural.. From the tutorial, it had some black stuff on it too.

Pic

[Guitarfrenzy]

That wasn't too bad. I took my fretboard off within an hour. About halfway done, I got the hang of it, and the rest seemed really easy.

I just hope that the black stuff are natural.. From the tutorial, it had some black stuff on it too.

Pic

[redwhiteandthemaple]

Thx,

It isn't preradiused,

I did have a slight tear, I don't know how it happened, but if you can look on the left side just below the truss rod, there's a slight tear and you can see it on the fingerboard (symmetrically)

Little ugly, but not so much that it will cause any trouble.

Is it okay to leave the wood to dry under sun for few hours? Or will it warp?

I have no clue to what I'm doing when it comes to all those moisture contents, kln dried, etc..

edit: on a second thought, that sounds like a bad idea.. i'll give the wood at least 3 days..