Reusing a fretted fingerboard

[NeilG495]

After aiming for a low profile neck on my latest acoustic build, I was gutted to see I’d just started to expose the bottom of the truss rod at the first fret. The neck is now scrap but I’ve managed to remove the fretted ebony fingerboard, without much trouble, using heat and pallet knife. The board was fretted and the frets levelled. Question, any reason I can’t reuse the board on a new neck build? Has anyone tried it with any success?

Thanks in advance.

[Will Reyer]

Neil,

I'm hardly a knowledgeable luthier, but I hate to waste anything that looks useful. Can't see why it wouldn't work fine again if the mating gluing surface is flat.

On my 6th guitar I made a hasty machine setup and cut the neck too thin at fret one. Pulled out the double-action truss rod and installed it in a new neck. But I'm planning on just gluing on an 1/8" thick piece on the old (ruined) neck and then gluing a new fretboard on top of that; reuse on another guitar. This will make another installed truss rod 1/8" lower in the neck but seems possible.

I also built a home-made single action truss rod for my 2nd guitar, which had the necessary drooping channel routed in for it. The resulting neck feels like a baseball bat because I didn't shape it enough wanting to get it done by Christmas. At some point I'm gonna thin the neck a LITTLE careful bit to avoid your problem, and then whittle lots off the sides of the neck aiming toward a vintage V section that would be a lot more comfortable for me.

[NeilG495]

Thanks for the help Will

I did think of building up the back of the neck, but I knew I couldn’t live with the look of it, I guess I’m too much of a perfectionist. This was my 6th guitar build and I’ve never had this issue before, the problem was a cumaltive one - I fancied a lower profile neck but had also used a different make truss rod which was deeper than I’m used to - hey presto disaster and another lesson learned!

The gluing face of fingerboard looks fine, now that I’ve scraped the old Titebond off it, just wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be any issues reusing it before I glue it down on another new build neck.

[Tim Benware]

As long as the FB is not damaged, that process is fine. I have removed & replaced many FB for one reason or another during repair.

[NeilG495]

Thanks Tim, if I can use the fingerboard and truss rod then it’s not a complete disaster, just annoyed with myself that I could make such a basic error.

[Herman]

That is a bummer Neil,
If the fretboard is straight, without kinks or bends, I certainly would reuse it again. I have a gorgeous fretted Madagascar Rosewood fb that came off because the owner wanted a wider fb. It is sitting on the shelf, 'cause no one wants a that small nut so far. (42 mm/1.65").
Good luck
Herman

BTW, If you want a very low profile on the neck: A Martin/Gotoh channel style rod can be less deep than a "Hotrod".