Balance K Tribute repair & major MOD

[Bruce Johnson]

I thought about doing it this way...
But in this case, the truss rod is at tension and the nut is broke off.
So once you get down too thin... that stressed out rod is likely to pop through and bite you in the bit.?

Yes, I've seen that situation too. The trick is to rout off most of the fingerboard on either side, leaving a strip down the center. A couple of raps with a chisel will pop the center strip off. Pry out the truss rod, and finish the routing to get a good flat surface.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

That would be exciting, I've hit a nail with my router, and it cut through it like butter, but I don't think it was too good for the bit blades....I don't use that one anymore.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

That would be exciting, I've hit a nail with my router, and it cut through it like butter, but I don't think it was too good for the bit blades....I don't use that one anymore.

Did you see the exciting adventure that Randy (Robinson) and I had on my Big Green Pin Router? We were using it to rout the fingerboard off of a Pedulla, not realizing that the fingerboard was located by two 1/4" (!!) steel pins! Fortunately, I saw a spark when he just grazed one of them. We stopped and examined it. That could have been dangerous if he had caught one heavily. A carbide router bit will cut mild steel, but the sudden increase in load can throw things. Once we knew that the pins were in there (directly under the 1/4" dots at the two ends), I used a hand chisel to knock away the wood around them, and pulled the pins out with pliers. And finished the routing. Whew!

The nails and staples that many builders use to align fingerboards aren't much of a problem. They are soft steel, and the router will zip through them, making a couple of sparks.

 

[RichterScale]

Thanks gang.

 

[Dr. Keebs]

Sweet karambit there. A little sprinkle of chaos magic your way.

 

[dkelley]

With my limited ability to do woodwork, I simply would have recessed the bridge about 2mm, maybe 3mm (which is a lot further than it sounds) (to give more travel for future lowering).

I've done that on a couple neck throughs now and voila, great great low action.

However, this is a super fascinating thread, and now having seen what you went through, the difficulty, the cosmetic stuff, the damage to the lighting... I know for a fact that I will never ask anyone to remove the fingerboard of a bass I love. LoL - that's just WAY too scary for me! haha, but I'm VERY impressed, all the same. Fascinating and educational, thanks for sharing!

 

[Reedt2000]

There are two basic ways to remove a fingerboard:

1.) Machine it off, with a router or a milling machine. A variant of that would be to shave it all the way off with chisels and a hand plane. Obviously, take out the frets and dots first!

2.) Apply heat to soften the glue joint and pry it off. That's what Rockhewer did above. The usual technique is to apply heat to the top of the fingerboard with an electric iron. Then use some kind of a thin knife blade, heated, to slice through the glue joint. A variant is to make up a hot wire rig to slice the glue. I messed with this a few years back, and couldn't get it to work.

Are there any other methods? I can't think of any off hand.

Edit: Another variant on 1.) would be to grab an angle grinder with a 60 grit disk, and grind the whole fingerboard off. Just be really careful as you get down to the neck wood! Clean up the surface with a flat sanding block. Ugly and messy, but it would work.

I know a luthier who would drill a hole through the 12th fret tang and inject steam to loosen the glue in addition to heating from above. Ive seen him get boards off in shape enough to go back on.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I just saw a video someplace where the builder used plastic side-dot material as the locator pins for the fretboard, I might try that on my build. It seems like they'd be rigid enough in such short lengths, at least enough to keep it from shifting during glue-up. Anybody tried that? I used some thin aluminum rod stick on my Ric clone, figured a router would cut that no problem.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I know a luthier who would drill a hole through the 12th fret tang and inject steam to loosen the glue in addition to heating from above. Ive seen him get boards off in shape enough to go back on.

That's a common technique with acoustic guitars, where the fingerboard is glued on with hot hide glue. Hot hide glue softens easily at a lower temperature, with steam. It would be tougher with Titebond.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

I just saw a video someplace where the builder used plastic side-dot material as the locator pins for the fretboard, I might try that on my build. It seems like they'd be rigid enough in such short lengths, at least enough to keep it from shifting during glue-up. Anybody tried that? I used some thin aluminum rod stick on my Ric clone, figured a router would cut that no problem.

Yes, that works. I use 1/8" white plastic rod stock (same as I use for side dots) as the locator pins gluing body tops and backs together.

 

[Rôckhewer]

NASA One (flight control): "It looks good at NASA One."
....(Original build quality control status 6 years ago)
B-52 Pilot: "Roger. BCS Arm switch is on."
NASA One: "Okay, Victor."
B-52 Pilot: "Lining Rocket Arm switch is on."
B-52 Pilot: "Here comes the throttle. Circuit breakers in."
Steve Austin: "We have separation."
(... sold the bass)
Chase plane: "Roger."
B-52 Pilot: "Inboard and outboards are on."
B-52 Pilot: "I'm coming forward with the sidestick"
(... bass got re - sold)
NASA One: "Looks good."
B-52 Pilot: "Ah, Roger."
Steve Austin: "I've got a blow-out - damper three!"
(...crap action?)
Chase plane: "Get your pitch to zero."
... (well....the pitch on the board WAS zero!... that was the problem ...NASA??... )
Steve Austin: "Pitch is out! I can't hold altitude!"
(... well ... break out the wrench... it's your last option)
B-52 Pilot: "Correction, Alpha Hold is off, turn selectors — Emergency!"
Steve Austin: "Flight Com! I can't hold it! She's breaking up,
(......... snap.)
...

 

[Rôckhewer]

The new rod is a BBG. It actually has a thicker round rod than the one that broke.
I had to clearance out more for the BBG "shrouded" nut ... And strip off the blue wrap...(tiny dab of silicon is all it needs not to rattle)
... fits great!! I'm already feeling better.

 

[Rôckhewer]

I'm thinking about mounting this one to a stock...
...As a crossbow prod ....that shoots old chisels.

 

[Reedt2000]

NASA One (flight control): "It looks good at NASA One."
....(Original build quality control status 6 years ago)
B-52 Pilot: "Roger. BCS Arm switch is on."
NASA One: "Okay, Victor."
B-52 Pilot: "Lining Rocket Arm switch is on."
B-52 Pilot: "Here comes the throttle. Circuit breakers in."
Steve Austin: "We have separation."
(... sold the bass)
Chase plane: "Roger."
B-52 Pilot: "Inboard and outboards are on."
B-52 Pilot: "I'm coming forward with the sidestick"
(... bass got re - sold)
NASA One: "Looks good."
B-52 Pilot: "Ah, Roger."
Steve Austin: "I've got a blow-out - damper three!"
(...crap action?)
Chase plane: "Get your pitch to zero."
... (well....the pitch on the board WAS zero!... that was the problem ...NASA??... )
Steve Austin: "Pitch is out! I can't hold altitude!"
(... well ... break out the wrench... it's your last option)
B-52 Pilot: "Correction, Alpha Hold is off, turn selectors — Emergency!"
Steve Austin: "Flight Com! I can't hold it! She's breaking up,
(......... snap.)
...
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[EdwardofHuncote]

6 million dollars worth.

 

[Means2nEnd]

Fantastic thread, this is the stuff I love to read and look through. This is real luthiery to me and sharing with us is very generous and I also think the mark of a true craftsman and artist.

 

[Rôckhewer]

So here's the fun part

MOD #2
She's going to be resurrected...
...as a fretless.

Here's a lovely lump of ebony... cut to taper... and overly thick.

I stuck it on my 35" scale rule... cut the nut position... and then scored little fret lines ...lightly... just on the very corner of the board.

Because she's getting Luminlay fret side-lines
Cut freehand with the assistance of a square and depth stop on the saw.

Luminlay lines installed.

 

[Slidlow]

Yes!!! Fretless

 

[charlie monroe]

Don't get lulled into a false sense of security. These last few photos show you aren't keeping that karambit within reach. Be prepared...

 

[Gilmourisgod]

So what was the actual malfunction on the old rod, it just sheared off at the head?