Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello Everyone
I'm a new user. I've built two guitars and I'm working one two projects right now. I'll try and post pictures later on if anybody wants to see them. I usually repair any guitars that need working on. I'm excited to be a member of this forum. I do have a first question though. Is there a way to remove the fretboard of a guitar without damaging any part of it and while keeping the frets intact?
Thanks very much
ric325

Welcome to the forum. I don't have your answer, but maybe someone else will chime in here and give it to you.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Welcome to the board.

Call John Hall at Blues Creek guitars. He caries a heat pad in the correct shape and size to remove the fret board.
I have one and it works great.

Jim

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If you can't do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.

hi welcome to the forum
i have done it plenty of times with an old iron and slightly damp rag
and a thin wide paint scrapers and something to protect the top from heat (leather)
if theirs any wobble deformation on your scraper youll get a laquer chip or two
the ease of which the f/b comes off is related to how much glue was used
its easier if more glue was used and the last time i took a f/b off
the wood was particulary porus and this took twice as long to do

usually takes about 25 to 30 mins to do
with the dial turned up to 3/4 for around 4 mins at a time
i test with my finger on the fret
(if you touch the fret for more than 1 1/2 seconds it will burn you)
id definatly try it first with a cheapie or broken guitar to get practice
if you dont want evidence .
start at the body (the hardest part)
look for a gap i usally try the treble side corner
DONT FORCE it your seperating the woods
if you do your not doing it right and you will gouge the top under the f/b
work side to side thats why the wide scrapers handy

you might need another scraper with a sanded handle to get started
if you cant get it flat under the fb without scraping the top

i think frank ford might have it on his website frets.com
good luck ive gotta go tomas

It can be done but the odds are more often than not one or more frets will want to come free at the edges as the wood expands from the heat. If the frets were glued in as well as pressed or hammered to aid fret retention you will be softening the glue in the slots as you heat the board. My personal opinion is that after removing the fretboard to do what ever work you need to do to the neck that is causing you to remove the fretboard in the first place, you will have to clean up the bottom of the fretboard and the neck s fretboard surface (remove all remainging glue) once you have done tht the level of the fretboard and neck mount surface are less likly to be the same as they were at original glue up. Therefore to do the job right I would pull the frets and relevel the fretboard after re-glueing in place and then refret. probabbly not tha answer you wanted to hear but that is my opinion. when the fretboard is removed from the neck with the frets still in place. the tension of the fret tangs on the fretboard makes it want to curl slightly when free of the glued surface.

Don't get me wrong it can be done but don't expect it to always go as planed