Mind Riot Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 So, I'm working on this build, and I'm at the point where it's time to glue the fretboard on. I use the method where I hammer in and then nip off two small finishing nails and press the dry fretboard onto them for alignment, then spread the glue and move it around until it slips onto the pins before I clamp. Done it twice before, worked great. I don't know what I did wrong, but for whatever reason THIS time the fretboard slipped slightly off center at the body end and I didn't catch it until it was dry. So now the fretboard is slightly skewed from the nut to the body end, and if I cut and taper it properly where the frets are straight and perpendicular to the strings as they should be, the truss rod will be slightly off towards the body end. Here's some particulars: Neck: three piece African mahogany, center laminate flipped, scarf jointed 13 degree headstock Fretboard: Pao Ferro, 26.4 inch scale Truss rod: LMI two way Reinforcement: Two 1/8" by 3/8" by 21" carbon fiber strips running a half inch on each side of the truss rod. Now, at the nut end the truss rod is perfectly centered. At the body end, the board somehow slipped slightly to the bass side, so by the end of the board the truss rod is off center toward the treble side by a little under 1/4". There is enough fretboard to taper things just fine. There is no chance of me carving into the truss rod or carbon fiber channels, this won't be a terribly thin neck. I can still cut the headstock as normal. So basically all I'm wondering is if the truss rod being slightly off to one side at the body end (and the CF as well, of course) will cause any problems down the road as far as neck twisting or stability. I can always route off the fretboard and buy another one, but I don't want to trash it if it won't really make any difference in the final guitar. Particularly since the CF is in place, the rod is LMI's top of the line, and the headstock end is fine and it only goes off center slightly toward the body end, I was hoping I could just go with it and it would be fine. None of it would be visible in the end. Any and all thoughts appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 What is "slightly"... And where are your nail pins?if they are under the fretboard and not in the alignment hole is it causing a gap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 A 1/4" is more than slightly off. That is off pretty bad. Pull the fretboard, sand off ALL of the old glue and reglue it. You don't say if this is a set neck or a neck thru or a bolt on. Either way, if you leave as is, you are just asking to introduce a twist when you go to adjust the neck. Even with the CF rods in there, you will have problems. Even if the neck barely moves and you don't have to touch the truss rod, that also means that your CF rods are running at an angle as well. Meaning they will encourage a twist in the neck as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted February 13, 2009 Report Share Posted February 13, 2009 Yeah, a 1/4" is a fair amount. I'd remove the fretboard by heating it off as shown on the main site tutorial. I was surprised how well this worked when I did it. You don't want to be routing away wood that close to the trussrod! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mind Riot Posted February 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Nuts. Oh well, it's far from my first mistake and I'm sure it will be far from my last. I don't think I'm going to bother steaming it off, I'm already making another order to LMI within the next day or two and I'll just order another one. Thanks for the input everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 You ought to just give it a try. You can probably get it done in under a half hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Steaming it off is easy. Even if you don't want to re-use the original fretboard, there is no sense in trashing a neck or truss rod for an easy fix. About 1/2 sounds right and most of that can be spent watching tv. That's what I've usually done. Set it on the dining room table on a towel, set the iron on it, let it sit for a little while, come back to work a little off, go back to tv for 5 minutes. Commercial breaks seem to be spaced just about right on a 1 hour show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 If I see this right I don't really think the truss rod is the main problem. If you glued an oversized fb to the neck and trimmed it down to the neck profile then the trussrod is still in the center of the neck, no stability issues there. The main problem is the preslotted board (I'm assuming as you already mentioned 26.4" scale) lining up with the centerline of the guitar. If you try to run the strings perpendicular to the slots on your "skewed" fb then your bridge will be projected way off the centerline. If you stick to your centerline then each fret will be skewed and the guitar will not intonate. So as mentioned, tear it off and start again OR fill all the existing slots (with glue and dust mix) and recut accordingly with your centerline, maybe no one will notice a little "skewness" in the fb grain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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