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I'm building my second guitar and everything is coming together very well except for one issue that has sprung up. I have a radius fretboard that I've now glued to the neck and glued the neck to the guitar. When starting to setup the bridge and necessary action with a good straight edge I notice that there is a hump in the middle of the fretboard. I was hoping someone's expertise here could help be resolve this issue. As you can probably imagine I've put a lot of time and money into this guitar and I would hate to have it have really high action or terrible fret buzz. Thanks so much for any advice!

How much of a hump is there?

Might be best to take the frets out, level the fretboard so there is no hump, put frets in.

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What kind of guitar? Does it have a truss rod? Is it double action? Is there any tension on the rod?
I can't answer your question, but those are the things I would want to know first if I could.

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A little hump in the middle unstrung with the truss rod neutral or tightened a little is not necessarily bad. All depends on how much the neck moves with string tension. You might want to string it up and see if it pulls flat or into some relief that you can adjust with the truss rod. If you still have the hump strung up then there could be an issue you'll have to deal with.
Terry

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I haven't put the frets in yet because I want to try and fix the fretboard before I put them in. I was wondering if anyone knew of a specific technique that was effective at leveling a radius fretboard. It does have a trussrod in it, but I would really like to try and straighten the fretboard out first if I can before relying on the trussrod. I would say the hump is approximately 2-3mm tall. Thanks again for any help.

Go to Frank Ford's frets.com and read the stuff he has on re-fretting and leveling fretboards. It should be just the ticket. I'd put a
little tension on the truss rod before you level if it's not a two way.
Good luck
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

First before you start leveling determine how much rise and where. And determine if it is a hump in the board or bow in the neck. I bet it is a bow in the neck. Which is a different issue than an unlevel fretboard and I bet this is the case. If between 5th and 10th frets then it is in the area that the truss rod will act on. First try to take the rise out with the truss rod but with out applying more than a third of a full nut turn. If this fixes the hum then set your bridge fretboard relationship with out relieving. When you string up to tension the string tension will add some relief bow to the neck and if just a tad lucky all will be fine.

On the other hand if it takes more than a third of a nut turn then either the neck needs to be flattened or the fretboard leveled a bit.

Dont mistake a little fallaway (.010' maybe) above the 12th fret for a hump,not the same at all.

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How long is that in luthyears?

I put the neck in a cradle just below the nut and two 8 lbs weights one on either side of the fretboard extension. This simulates the neck under tension. Then I sand the fretboard with a radius block, clean the slots and fret. Make sure that the truss rod is not under tension. This has worked well for me and was taught in Frank Finnocchio's class.

Steve

Did you glue the fingerboard onto the neck with yellow glue or hide glue? That'll give you a nice bow.

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

What Mike said...happened on my first when I used HHG. I have used Epoxy ever since...thanks, Mario!

If so, I'd remove the FB, level the neck and start over with Epoxy.

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JJ
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