Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello everyone

I was wondering if any of you folks have any experience with removing a fretboard on a classical guitar and if you have any tips so I don’t mess it up.

It’s my fathers guitar so it means quite a bit to me. The issue I’m having is that the action is way too high and the saddle has reached its lowest point. When measuring at the 12th fret I’m getting an action of 5.5mm underneath the string to the fretboard. I tried removing some material on the fretboard from the nut end a couple of years ago but action is still sky high.

I’d like to replace the fretboard with a thicker ebony fretboard. When I put the straight edge on top of the fretboard what am I aiming for in terms of where that straight edge should be at the bridge?

Help is always much appreciated!

Best

Carlos

I've seen cases where people have simply planed the fingerboard level, and glued another piece of ebony on the top. With care the joint will simply disappear, and you avoid the risk in trying to un-glue the board without damaging the neck or the top. It's probably best to go below the existing fret slots.

Classical guitars generally use higher 12th fret action than steel strings, so I'd aim at having the straight edge on the fingerboard point a mm or a bit more above the bridge top.

I believe another accepted method of changing the fretboard plane is to hand plane a taper into the fb making it thinner at the nut end. My jam is not repair though so…

I recently took my only classical guitar that I made a long time ago, cut the neck off and converted into a bolt-on. Oh the horror! But neck angle will never again be an issue with this guitar. By the way, no effect to the guitar’s tone or volume.