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As I was removing the lacqure under the fretboard extention area, it accured to me? Why am I doing this?
Because im suspose to?
I got to thinking, this area is under constant pressure pushing the fretboard extention down, so why is it we remove the finish? Would it makse sence to glue the extention down to the finish? Is there any reason I shouldnt? Im I over looking something?

Thoughts are welcome.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Hi Lance,

What kind of glue would you use that would stick to the finish, and yet allow disassembly?

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

That is a good question, but i suspect any white glue would work? No?
I think the key here is that there is no upward pull on the extention, if it were not for the potentional of vibration I wonder if there even needs to be glue there?

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

I know white glue will stick to the surface of Melamine, which was surprising to me, so it might stick to KTM-9 and nitro. How about disassembly? Would it be more likely to get a fingerboard off clean (without bringing up the finish) if the finish has an edge right where the fingerboard starts?

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Lance I did one without glue. The fretboard bowed down slightly from fretting, so when the neck was installed the top under the extension put upward pressure on the extension keeping it tight. The customer never complained, and when I played it there was no buzz.

Al

Hi! I always wondered about this my self. I think the theory behind scrapping the fingerboard area was for a good porous surface for the glue to adhere to. The finish could fail and weaking the glue bond. But has anyone ever had that problem with the finish? I have experimented on scrap wood with regular wood glue, epoxy and gorila glue. All 3 held up well with a strong bond. The best was the gorila glue. When I broke the joints apart the the gorila bond held so well that it took a lot of wood with it from the laquered board. The others broke apart cleaner with less splinters but still had to be wacked off with a hammer to get them to snap off.They still took some wood from the finished scrap. I used a piece of 1x6 cedar that I laquered and wet sanded to 600 grit and 2x2x2 scraps of honduran rosewood I got from a friend who does turnings.

[QUOTE=DennisLeahy] I know white glue will stick to the surface of
Melamine, which was surprising to me, so it might stick to KTM-9 and
nitro. How about disassembly? Would it be more likely to get a
fingerboard off clean (without bringing up the finish) if the finish has an
edge right where the fingerboard starts?

Dennis[/QUOTE]

My thoughts too.....ease of future disassembly an issue with this joint.

Now you've got me thinking... Why do we do SS guitars the way we do? In a classical you attach the neck and bridge, get it just right then apply the finish. Why do a SS in pieces? Finish the body & neck separatly, no finish on the bridge. Is there a reason or is it just tradition?

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Because it's a lot easier to polish and buff the neck and body seperately, no pesky edges all over the place? High-gloss finish on a guitar with a bridge and neck in place just sounds unnecessarily complex. It's not like removing the finish before gluing down a bridge or fingerboard extension is a huge amount of work...

As for the other issue, gluing straight to finish, it may not be the wisest of ideas, but I've seen reports that a good number of low-end Asian imports have bridges superglued directly to the Poly finishes...

[QUOTE=Mattia Valente]
As for the other issue, gluing straight to finish, it may not be the wisest of ideas, but I've seen reports that a good number of low-end Asian imports have bridges superglued directly to the Poly finishes...[/QUOTE]

Mattia,

I thought that this is what Rick Turner does after seeing Larrive do it too. I wouldn't call them low-end Dave White38845.2252777778

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Ah, does he? Heh. OK, never mind. I do know low-end guitars ALSO do it.

Why scrape of all the finish under the neck if you do insist on gluing it down. Just scrape a half inch or so down the centre and just glue that bit, also has the advantage of allowing the top to move with humidity and preventing those annoying cracks alongside the fingerboard extensionthat can happen.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I would think that the finerboard is stiffer against setting into too much relife when it is glued down.

if you glue to the finish, then the glue bond is only as good as the finsh bond to the wood, which aint that good.

I go with tradition on this one, because it only takes a few mins to scrape back the finish.

I'm with Colin, I just glue the center of the fingerboard extension. I put a piece of 5/8 tape in the center when I'm applying finish, and that's the only part I glue, for the same reasons Colin mentioned.

              Paul Harrell

I like the idea of just using a small strip down the center, but how do you get wood to wood contact?
OR dont you? Do you depend on the glue to fill the gap?

Thanks

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Lance, I do scrape the finish between the center strip I'm going to glue and the edge of the fingerboard extension. I don,t try to get all the finish off, just enough to make sure I will get good contact in the middle for the glue joint. Only takes a minute.

                Paul

Lance, add a 1/64" by 1/2 wide laminate down the center of the extension (I had the same question after Collin's post)

[QUOTE=MichaelP] Lance, add a 1/64" by 1/2 wide laminate down the center of the extension (I had the same question after Collin's post)[/QUOTE]

So a kind of gap fill?

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

YEP. To be really precise measure the difference between the finish level and the scrape back. Subtract about .002 and that is your laminate thickness. The fretboard extension will fit flush and tight to the film and the laminate will fit flush to the bare top.. The only problem is thinning the laminate to required thickness MichaelP38845.4391203704

I think I may be trying out John Kinnairds neck join on my next few, I know its a great joint, and it would certainly remove the need to remove the lacqure so closely to the fretboards edge.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Thats where I am gong as well.