Fixing a bad repair

[Didier Savard]

I just got an electric guitar with 2 problem. First, the neck was broken and fix but the FB came unglue around the 12 fret, That is giving a bump. On top of that, it look like the fret board was sanded, but not equally. The fret board is 3/16 at the nut and 1/8 at the 22 fret.
So impossible to properly give this guitar a descent action.

I never removed a FB but did check youtube for instruction.

The best solution i think, would be to removed the fret, then the fretboard, reglue it, then sand it flat( or do it before glueing) then refret.

Could someone please confirm or tell me what else i would be a better plan.

Thank you

[Mark Swanson]

It is pretty much impossible to give you much advice without seeing it, or some good photos. But it sounds to me like a whole new fingerboard would be a good thing.

[Didier Savard]

I dont know how to post photo, but replacing the fretboard is not the first option. Rosewood is very hard to get in canada and rosewood board pre-sloted is even harder.

[Charlie Schultz]

Here's some help on how to post photos: http://www.mimf.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1656

[Didier Savard]

Here are 2 photo.
The thing is, the board radius is 15 at the nut and 12 at the 22 fret, it should be the otherway around, no?, so making the FB straight should be fine.

[Didier Savard]

And here is the part that is unglue.

[Barry Daniels]

Yep, that joint is a mess. The fretboard will need to be pulled off, both surfaces scraped clean and then reglued. You might be able to do this without removing the frets.

[Didier Savard]

Thank you, will do that.

[Didier Savard]

Just as a follow up, the FB was removed, but it was attach with epoxy. Not fun to work with at all, but it's done.
The thing is , the truss rod look too small,so it will be probably change, depend on the owner.

[Barry Daniels]

Truss rods are normally a 3/16" (5 mm) diameter steel rod. Is yours smaller than this?

[Didier Savard]

Sorry about the mis understanding. It fit fine but it is 14'' long with a 3 to 4 inch gap, pass the end of the rod. It should be 17 to 18'' long in total. I'm planning of fitting a hotrod, but that's up to the owner.

[Brian Evans]

Just to the rosewood in Canada comment, https://www.woodtoworks.com/ will sell you all the rosewood you want with absolutely no issues, if you are in Canada. Pre-slotted I don't know about, although a guy local to me just advertised slotting (and blind slotting) services for $30 a board, I may well look into that!

[Didier Savard]

Couple of weeks later...... other problem arrived. After installing a brand new two way hotrod, re-installing the fretboard( client wish), i did some ajustements and the wood right under the neck close to the head start to push and crack forming a bulge. I have no space to add wood. do i put a metal braket to help solidify?, i just dont know. help

[David King]

The Hot rod probably wan't the best choice as it requires such a deep slot at the head to accommodate the brass block. You will need to reinforce the back of the neck now with built up layers of veneer and sand those to fair into the neck shaft and then refinish that area to match. I would setup the guitar with strings and adjust the truss rod until the neck is straight or even has a little forwards bow (truss rod over-tightened). You need to do this because the brass block under the heel rocks back under tension and will force the bulge in the back of the neck to become worse.
Now you can carefully sand through that bulge with a drum or the end of a stationary belt sander to create a shallow trough across the back of the neck. You will sand right into the brass block and the neck wood on either side. Now comes the fun part which is to fill that divot with the veneer layers of matching or contrasting woods as if you were doing a back strap. You could actually cover the entire back of the headstock if that were appropriate but I'm guessing that it wouldn't be on this particular guitar. Clamping your veneer layers in place will require a caul and that caul should have a layer of rubber gasket material to allow it to adapt to the exact shape of your divot under pressure. You should probably wax the back of the brass block to keep the veneer from sticking to it.

There may be other better repairs for this but this is the one that comes to mind short of replacing the neck. Best of luck Didier!