I could kill you

Sometimes it’s necessary to remove the fretboard from your guitar and may seem like an impossible task. You may be surprised to know that it’s not all that hard and you probably have the tools you’ll need already.

Here’s what you will need:

1. Iron (with steam function)
2. Razor Blade
3. Putty Knife (or knife)
4. some rags

The iron is going to soften the glue used to bind the fretboard to the neck and make it easy to remove.

Step #1:

The first thing you will want to do get your iron warmed up on it’s highest setting. (I used steam, but wouldn’t recommend it because it could warp or damage your fretboard.) While that is warming up, get your rags (I used a couple old towels) and place them over the fret board. The surface you use to lay the guitar neck down is going to get hot, so make sure you are using an area that will not become damaged.

Wrap the neck with the rag and place the iron on the fret side and let it sit for about 5 mins. Make sure to move it around occasionally so it will not burn anything.

Step #2:

Now that the iron has heated up the glue joint, we will take the razor and work it into the bottom part of the neck in-between the fretboard. You may have to use something to tap the blade in, being careful not to cut into either the neck or fretboard. (I used the handle of my putty knife to tap it into place) The thinness and sharpness of the razor is what will make it easy to later place the putty knife in. (You Also may need to scrap off any lacquer covering the joint before this process.)

Step #3:

Lastly, once you have make enough room from the razor slide in the putty knife and work your way up the neck. What I’ve found to work best is slide the putty knife back forth while pushing up the neck. Don’t rush this process or you could break the fretboard. Take your time, move slowly and if the putty knife doesn’t want to budge forward try some more heat. The more time you take, the better the pay off in the end.

That’s it, the entire process shouldn’t take you more than a half hour depending on the quality of the glue used during manufacturing. I would like to note that steam may not be necessary and might cause damage to the wood. This is how I was successful, but you may want to find a better way without the steam.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 12:35 am and is filed under Guitar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.