| Customary board removal for luthiers envolves using a steam needle and/or heat paddle to release the glue and remove the board. If you want to preserve the board you are removing, this is pretty much the way to do it.
A dirty little secret that some techs probably don't talk about much:
When I worked in a shop, I saw the chief tech (more than once) remove a chewed up finger board from a fretless by taking a power planer and buzzing it right down to the neck. He cleaned off the last few hundredths with a belt sander. This doesn't work too well if you want to preserve it tough, as it is nothing but particulate matter when you are finshed. Of course if the board is already fried, who cares.
You should be able to buy a preshaped replacement board if the bass is of standard design. It will most likely require some dressing after it is glued up.
It isn't a super tough job, but not for the faint at heart.
Chas
Last edited by Chasarms : 07-02-2002 at 01:21 PM.
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Replacing a fretboard 
