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Fretboard Replacement With Binding?


RGGR

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How would you go about replacing fretboard on binded neck. Meaning, current neck has binding, and I would like to replace the fretboard. With tutorial on this site, I'm pretty confident I could pull off a standard fretboard removal. But with the binding....I guess you have to remove and re-apply that too, right?

Comments are welcome.

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Since its actually the fretboard that's bound and not the neck, I can't think of any way to remove a bound fretboard without bringing the binding with it. Even if I could, don't think I would - too much work. When you remove the fretboard, bring the binding with it. When you replace it, you can put back a bound or unbound fretboard.

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Since its actually the fretboard that's bound and not the neck, I can't think of any way to remove a bound fretboard without bringing the binding with it. Even if I could, don't think I would - too much work. When you remove the fretboard, bring the binding with it. When you replace it, you can put back a bound or unbound fretboard.

+1.

The binding's stuck to the edge of the fingerboard. Just remove the whole thing as you would a regular 'board, and replace it with whatever you want (binding material's not that expensive, and applying binding is simple. Bit of superglue and tape, scrape flush, you're done).

Mattia

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One of my next projects, I will have to deal with that whole binding thing.....On body, neck and headstock. Thought of doing Faux-binding on body and headstock....but Setch just pointed something out I had never thought of:

Binding is not purely cosmetic, it also protects the vulnerable edges of the guitar from knocks or bumps. If you bang your headstock against something (uumm, make that when, not if...) you will chip the painted binding, and the result will look cheap and nasty. If you bang a bound headstock, you may chip the clear over the binding, but the chip will be pretty inconspicuous.
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I disagree with the above.

You should remove the binding first, then deal with the fretboard.

Some people/manufactures only bind the fb itself, but others.... the binding goes farther down, into the neck itself. If the binding goes into the neck wood, it will cause a lot of problems unless you remove the binding first. It's usually easy to tell. If the binding gets really thin down at the upper frets it's probably just the board. If the thickness is fairly consistent the length of the neck, then it goes down into the neck wood.

Assuming you're going to refin the neck, use a heat gun and heat about 2 inches of binding really hot, then slowly and carefully peel it off, then heat the next 2 inches.... continue all the way around the neck in this manner. If a splionter pulls up with the binding, use a razor blade and cut the wood from the binding, and superglue the splinter back into place.

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the binding goes farther down, into the neck itself. If the binding goes into the neck wood, it will cause a lot of problems unless you remove the binding first. It's usually easy to tell. If the binding gets really thin down at the upper frets it's probably just the board. If the thickness is fairly consistent the length of the neck, then it goes down into the neck wood.

What? I have never, ever seen a guitar neck that is constructed that way. Do you mean that the binding is wider than the thickness of the fret board or what do you mean? Who uses that technique and why? I would really like to see that and know why on earth somebody would do it like that. The main idea behind a bound fret board (except for cosmetic reasons) is to stop moister to get into the fret end slots. Can’t really see any reason to why anybody would use a binding wider that the board. Got a link or a pic?

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You live and you learn. So 70's Ibanez were made that way. I got to look out for one and have a look.

Luckily I never have had one in for a fretboard removal. That might have been a disaster if I went on like I use to. Or use to... I have only made two fretboard removals

Thanx for the info pmarlin

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The guitar I was after was a Ibanez K7 with ugly inlay. I was thinking picking up the guitar for cheap and replacing binded fretboard with nice Ebony one. I ended up buying new mahogany body blank and some neck wood to roll my own version.

Body and headstock will get faux-binding, while neck get binding. Will be first for me.

That's the fun part of building guitars, you always can try something new. It's never boring. :D

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Swede

The channel for the binding goes into the neck wood so the binding is the same or nearly the same height at the nut and the end of the fretboard. I do mine that way, Fender basses with binding are done this way too. I think jacksons are this way as well.

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Thanks Postal. I finaly get the picture. Its done to get an even height for the binding along the length of the neck, right?

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That just seems idiotically complex to me. Heck, it's the reason I decided not to try doing an 'inlaid fingerboard'; you can't get the board off easily if you need to. If you want even depth at the end of the fingerboard, radius so you get even depth (either taper the 'board so it's a bit thicker at the end of the body than at the nut, or do a compound radius board), I'd say.

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Right Swede, Binding should be about the same thickness the entire length.

Mattia..... fender..... compound radius.... 2 words that dont belong in the same sentence!

It really isnt hard though. If you undersize your fretboard for binding, glue FB in place, unclamp after 1 hour if using titebond, scraping most excess glue out of the channel is easy at that stage- Let dry thoroughly, then grab a file. It doesnt take long at all to lower the channel into the neckwood at the upper frets. I've done 3-4 like this and probably took 10-15 minutes each neck. Checking the depth with a peice of 1/4" binding to see if the excess is roughly the same the entire length.

I forgot jacksons are compound radius. They tend to be about 200-220 thou though, so they probably do go into the neck wood a bit. They have other complications though, since jackson angles the binding so it's wider at the neckwood, and narrower at the top of the fretboard.

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HAHAHA! Touche`!

They do have a number of basses with it though.... 70', 75' JB, Geddy Lee 74' JB, marcus miller, and maple tops with binding.

Fender uses very thin fretboards, and some of those models listed are available with rosewood boards, so if the binding didnt go into the neck wood, at 21-22 fret the binding would only be about 1/16" thick....

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