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Thicknessing Fingerboard


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LMI sells their fingerboard blanks at 5/16" thick. Rather than sand by hand for hours, I'd like to take some of this off quickly. Could I take off the excess, i.e. nearly down to 1/4", with a router? (Assuming I could come up with a safe way to secure the blank).

I wouldn't expect the result to be uniform, so I would leave some to take out with 80-grit sandpaper and then start the actual sanding. (I don't plane FB blanks--my planes chatter on super-hard woods.)

Any thoughts? Thanks.

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If you use double-stick tape, the piece can be held down tightly so that you flatten it evenly with the router. It's very possible to do, just pay attention to the grain when routing.

Thanks--good idea. For the tape, do you use the thin, clear stuff, like Scotch tape, or something more substantial?

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StewMac's double-stick tape. You have to be careful with how much pressure you put against it. It's strong enough to do some deep tear-out on your board if you aren't careful when removing. But hey, more money to spend for LMI's inconsistencies, right? :D (I know it's not an inconsistency, they clearly state the boards are 5/16")

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StewMac's double-stick tape. You have to be careful with how much pressure you put against it. It's strong enough to do some deep tear-out on your board if you aren't careful when removing. But hey, more money to spend for LMI's inconsistencies, right? :D (I know it's not an inconsistency, they clearly state the boards are 5/16")

Crapola, I JUST put in an order this morning! :D Hopefully it's not too late and I can add that. Does anyone think something similar could be found at a hardware store?

Thanks for the reply.

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Geo, I use the double stick tape from my local Ace Hardware. All of the big home centers have it also. Sometimes it is called double stick carpet tape. Its pretty strong so you have to be careful when you try to unstick your fretboard.

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or at worst you can stick the fretboard to your bench - stick a couple or taller rails either side (made from anything thicker than the fretboard but obviously both rails need to be the same thickness) and you have an instant router thicknesser!!!

since you are aksing about making a bit of wood thinner the radius router jigs might not quite be for you yet - dont take that the wrong way but i guess you need a simple solution to this issue

....

i use carpet tape from my local hardware store as well . Dont make the mistake of covering ther whole surface area with tape, you will break the wood before you remove it!!! a couple of bits either end and a small bit in the middle is enough!!

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I use a chisel as leverage to get the first lift off the surface, simply placing the tip beneath the board and tape and lightly pushing the chisel down will pop the board up. After that I slowly remove the board so I don't snap it. Try not to peel the tape off going with the grain, you'll pull a fair amount of wood out this way. I almost never get tear-out and I use double-stick tape 10+ times a day for slotting fingerboards.

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Thanks for the replies everyone.

since you are aksing about making a bit of wood thinner the radius router jigs might not quite be for you yet - dont take that the wrong way but i guess you need a simple solution to this issue

Yeah, I may not attempt that quite yet. I've done okay so far using sandpaper to get the radius. If I had a power planer, I could probably just run it through that... but my power tools are limited to hand drill, jigsaw, table saw, and router. :D

I wish LMI would just sell the blanks at 1/4", or something closer. Does anyone know of an application where you would want a board thicker? I guess a many-stringed bass with a wide fingerboard and a smaller radius might need the fingerboard thicker in the middle.

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Yeah, but I don't know of any luthiers that actually go that route. The radius goes from 28"-40" on the bigger basses. I have no idea why they sell boards that thickness, that's why I thickness mine to 1/4". Easy for everyone!

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Yeah, but I don't know of any luthiers that actually go that route. The radius goes from 28"-40" on the bigger basses. I have no idea why they sell boards that thickness, that's why I thickness mine to 1/4". Easy for everyone!

Yes, much better than having to take some off, thanks :D

I hadn't realized that they leave them thicker like that at LMI. Is the board already going to be slotted? I'm just thinking about routing off 1/16" on a slotted board and if there could any issues, like tear out? I'm sure, maybe someone else has tried that and knows. If it was thicker than a 1/16" or unslotted I'd probably route it off, but if not I might just find some of that shrapnel that Jon calls 24 grit(?) I think and find the flattest thing I can and shave it down quick. Since your radiusing afterward anyways, all the scratchs would disappear and it might be safer than pulling out the router, just a thought anyway. Best of luck to you. J

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I use 24 grit to rough radius by hand. I do not recommend flattening a board by hand unless you're using a hand plane. It's take a very very long time to do it with sandpaper.

Your right. I was thinking about if the board was slotted, but obviously, you could always take it off the gluing side if routing over the slots would cause problems. Plus, I just realized it said fingerboard blanks, so I was mistaken I had the thought that it was going to be slotted. I was just thinking if he had to route over slots would that chip and if he didn't like planing, maybe sanding would be the best bet. Anyhow, my mistake. J

Edited by jmrentis
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Hi Folks, been lurking here for a long time.

If you want to avoid the incredible damage double faced tape can do to your materials, use chemistry instead of muscle. Drip a little lacquer thinner or acetone between the two joined parts and they will literally fall apart from one another.

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