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This is certainly not for the experienced folks here (who all ready know how to remove a fretboard) rather for those who may not know or who may think it's a difficult task to remove a fretboard.

Well, I'm not totally happy with the back bow on my neck/fretboard. I'm pretty sure I know what happened when I attached it to the neck and I know what to do to correct it. So part of what I need to do (and I think this is the right way to correct the back bow too) is to pull the fretboard off the neck and glue it back on again.

While trying to get the frets level (mind you the fret board wasn't level) I took the frets to far down and it still wasn't right.

So, I decided to pull the frets, pull the board, clean things up and glue it back down. Now you don't have to remove the frets but if you have to remove a fretboard for some reason you most likely are going to install new frets when the board is put back on the neck.

My fretboard is glued down with epoxy which needs about 125* to soften so using heat is all you need.

Here's what I did, pull out the fret nippers to pull the frets out and removed the frets. Start at one end and work your way to the other, move along the fret about a 1/2" at a time. Just use the fret nippers to do the work.



After the frets were all pulled, I got out the $2 cloths iron I picked up at the local thrift store. I also like to put a rag over the fretboard, I have no good reason for this but this is what I do.



I start at the heal end of the neck and I let the iron sit there for about 2 mins, than I move the iron up the neck about 3/4 of its length, let it sit there for about 2 mins than move one last time up the neck. Once the iron has warmed each section of the fretboard I check it with my hand, it's quite warm by now but usually not hot enough. Just to check I get my thin blade (again an icing spreader from the thrift store) and try and work it between the fretboard and the neck in the middle of the board at the heal end. I keep warming the heal end of the fretboard till I can get the blade in between the fretboard and the neck easily. You shouldn't have to force it, once the glue is soft it will be very easy to separate the two pieces.



Once you get the blade started just work your way along the neck. When it gets more difficult to move the blade, just put the iron back on for a few minutes to warm that section of the fretboard/neck and try working the blade along again.

Just use the iron to heat the glue and don't force the blade along.

Here's the board off the neck, ready to clean up and do what ever it is that you need to (the reason to pull the fretboard).



Ok so this post seems longer than I wanted. Sorry for that. Hope this helps someone in the future or at least lets folks realize that it's not to difficult to reverse the things we do in order to make a guitar, or fix our mistakes.

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I've done this without pulling the frets.

I HAVE read that the fret tangs help get the heat down to the glue quicker...... (mine was yellow titebond)

I also did it with the neck attached to the body.........

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Nice post Rod,
I once saw one of John Mayes videos and wondered why the heck he had an iron sitting on his work bench.

Thanks for sharing this tutorial! I'll have to try it.

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Nice job Rod!

Hi Rod,

Do you know if this method will also work for HHG or Titebond?

David-

Thanks guys,

Todd, ya this is the one that didn't glue down right the first time. I took a look at my clamping caul and noticed it wasn't dead flat, had a 1/32" gap from one end to the other hence my back bow. I fixed the clamping caul, now it's dead flat along the entire length. I'm hoping this will take care of the re-glue.

Martin, The first board I removed I tried with the frets in (glued with titebond also) and it was a real bear to get off. That's interesting that someone would say the frets would help get the heat down to the glue. That might be so, I don't really know, seems like it would make sense as metal would conduct the heat faster than the wood.

And yes, you most certainly do not need to pull the frets to do this or have the neck off the body. I am going to put new frets in and hasn't been attached to the body yet hence my procedure

Oh and Chuck, don't do it unless you really need to . It is a fun procedure mind you, but it is a step in the wrong direction

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Hi David.

Yes, this method will work for a board glued on with HHG or titebond. Both of these glues require slightly more heat to release, not a lot though. Sometime with HHG or titebond it's good to get some moisture into the glue joint to help release it easier. So what you can do is get the rag on top of the fretboard damp and iron away, when it gets dry, mist some more water on it with a spray bottle. If you start out with some moisture you want to continue with it till the pieces are separated. Adding some moisture and heating the board can cause a crack if it gets wet and is dried quickly by the heat.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Ah, I was sort of wondering how I could use my heating blanket but I couldn't get past putting it on top of the fretboard versus your way of putting the fretboard and neck on top of the blanket. That would have worked great too.

Thanks for another fine way of skinning this cat. Like Hesh says, it always seems to bring out other ways of doing things when someone posts a tutorial or "how to..." type thread.

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"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Thanks for posting this tutorial on fb removal.

I went to a luthier school in Ontario, The guy doing the teaching had a couple of broken truss rod repairs to do. His method was to use a jointer to plane the fingerboard down to almost the neck, dig out the truss rod, then glue the new fb over top. There is a slight gap where the new fb meets the fine sliver of the old, but with ebony almost impossible to tell.

What are folks opinion on this method?

stef

Stef, interesting. I'd have to agree with Todd. It's really not difficult to remove the board, why toss it to the chip maker.

One thing that wouldn't work so well with that method is if the headstock veneer rides up past the flat plane of the neck (this is how I do my headstocks). It would get planed down too and actually if you weren't paying attention, one could easily plane off some of the neck at the heel end without even noticing, or even worse run the trussrod end into the jointer blade, (but those things never happen).

Nope, I'd have to say heat and a bit of time gets the job done just fine, and you re-use the fretboard. Saves $$ too.

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Yeah, 'specially since he only wears T-shirts! (Hey John, howya doin'?)

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