Official Luthiers Forum!

Let's just assume that a newbie, (a YOUNG man), building his first guitar, accidentally cut his fingerboard a little too short to cover his rosette. And assume that this young man's fingerboard is radiused, slotted, inlaid with all position markers and side dots.
Should he:

a. try to make the rosette look presentable, perhaps with some other innocuous inlay.

b. epoxy 1/2" back onto the hypothetical fingerboard, which, BTW, we will assume is ebony.

c. make a new fingerboard.

d. wait for an answer from the all knowing, all seeing, olfers.

If anyone has a suggestion for this hypothetical situation, why not offer it here, in case this situation ever arises.

Ron (OLD man)

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

When removing a top to be replaced a practice has been to remove the 14th (as applicable) fret and saw through the fretboard there.(where the fretboard joins the top) Then you leave the rest of the neck alone while you do what you need to do with the top plate. So why doesn't your young friend saw through the last fret and add a piece on there? The fix should be invisible!

Just me very inexperienced suggestion to help get things going for you!

Shane

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Canada

I would wait for an answer from the all knowing OLFer's, but until they show up, this is what I would do. I made many mistakes on my first guitar and learned from every one of them. Don't fret over the lack of frets. I would fix it as you suggested by trying to glue on a piece of ebony. That part of the fretboard will not be bearing any load as it is glued onto the top. Ebony glue joints are very easy to cover up with some dust and CA. I bet you could make it practically invisible, and structurally it shouldn't make a difference.

Just my .02 cents.

Cheers!

John

Well, IF this ever happened, I would advise the ol...uh, young man to yes, glue on a piece, somehow disguise the joint with some inlay if needed, and bind the whole thing to strengthen the joint. He could even use some pieces of ebony as binding.

Let us know how it turns out.
I mean, if you ever hear of this happening to someone, let us know if they succeeded in fixing it or not.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Not that anyone here ever made a mistake on a guitar but if THIS particular
mistake were to ever happen, perhaps the young man (we of the graying
generation have of course learned from the mistakes of our youths) could
cut off the fretboard at the last fret and add the extra length so that the cut
is under the last fret. Maybe do the ebony binding thing like Don suggested
too. The last fret would have to have a fairly loose fit and be put in with glue
to keep from stressing the glue joint. That would hide the seam..... that is, if
this ever happened.

Edit:
Uh... just noticed Shane's idea about the last fret. Yeah, what Shane said.burbank38651.8204050926

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Another Approach for this Young man would be to Glue on the 1/2" piece in a contrasting wood and make a design feauture of it.

Although with Ebony he may be able to get a pretty invisable joint.

I would agree with Don W.
Just glue another piece to your existing fretboard.
Walter

Young man...it's been done, trust me! It works...trust me! Do it and you'll be fine...trust me!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

This is in fact how young men grow old and wise.

Sure just try to put the joint under the last fret. Mayhaps you could use an overlapping joint, just make sure that the visiblt portion is under the fret. Since it's ebony you should have no problem hiding the seam.

see how easy grasshopper.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

This place overflows with wisdom and decorum. I'm going to pass these ideas along to the young man right away.
Personally, I think cutting at the last fret is a fine idea. Thank you, gentlemen.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Yes he did, Todd! Thanks for the help and pic.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Ron, some great advise given here. I agree that if you make the joint in the fret slot there will be no evidence of it. And if for some crazy reason you can see it, all you have to do it bind the edges and it's gone because the top will be under a fret. Good luck. Paul

Funny, I remember asking this same question a few years back I cut it off at the last fret and glues a new piece on using CA and ebony dust. I couldn't even find it after ward. Sold that Guitar to the lead guitar player from a big name Reggae band and he couldn't find it even after I told him.

I keep on measuring once and cutting twice and it is still too short...where is the wood stretcher when you need one

[QUOTE=Shawn] I keep on measuring once and cutting twice and it is still too short...where is the wood stretcher when you need one [/QUOTE]
Keep measuring until you get the same answer twice in a row. I've found that by using this method you may never make the cut at all.

I once wanted to make a fingerboard out of some soft-shell almond wood, but the chunk of fire wood I got was 'way too short. I used a two-piece board with the joint at a fret, and bound it, and very few people noticed. It will work even better with ebony.

The ebony one I did wasn't even bound and no one could see the joint.

An experienced forum is nice. It's good to see that I haven't made any new mistakes.


Drat, I blew my cover!

Ron old man38652.9538657407

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......