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rick neck repair
- Thread starter woolybass
- Start date
Post some pictures of the the damage, and it will be a lot easier for people to give you a proper assessment. It probably can be fixed with ordinary wood glue, but it's better to see the damage before I start making assumptions. 
Thanks for the tip. the area is about 1.5 in from end of fingerboard. No damage to FB or nut, which is still attached to FB. It has opened recently as I was doing some trussrod adjusting, in small increments.The pictures show both sides, It is separating on both sides. Any help is greatly appreciated. I use Titebond lll when I make bodies but am not sure about the Rick neck.
Thanks
Thanks
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That looks like it would be an easy fix with a little Titebond (assuming you can press the fretboard and the neck together). I would take off or loosen the strings, loosen both trussrods so there is no tension on them, get a fair amount of glue into the crack, then just clamp it up with a few cauls and let it sit for around 24 hours.
mikeyswood
Inactive
Use a syringe to inject some good glue into that separation and a quick grip on each side on the neck and you will be good.
And for God's sake - throw out the TB III!
And for God's sake - throw out the TB III!
tight bond is the best glue ever. maybe not for small repairs like this, superglue would probably be the best in a syringe and inject in deep into the crack, clamp it, and it will squeeze out to the edges.
mikeyswood
Inactive
Superglue (thin viscosity) would definitely penetrate deeper into the crack, but since it would flow much more freely, you would be more likely to have some drip onto the trussrod, potentially freezing up some of the threads. This could be a non-issue if Rickenbacker covers their trussrod routes with wood before gluing on the fingerboard, but I don't know of many companies that do and have never removed a Rick's fingerboard. Titebond is less likely to get all over the trussrod, in my opinion.
- Mar 22, 2005
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- Karl Thompson, Builder (Formerly Fat Karl)
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
That is a classic 4001 problem. It probably happened from improper truss rod adjustment. People asume that the rods on a 4001 will work like the truss rod on a Fender. NOPE! To adjust a 4001 you loosen the strings, you loosen the rods, you move the neck, the you tighten the rods, then you tighten the strings. On a 4003 bass the rods move the neck like a Fender bass. But on a 4001 the Rods simply lock down an adjustment. If you over tighten 4001 rods then the fret board can pop up and come loose. Bummer. 
Fixed it
Just what I was thinking!
I don't know but could there be a danger of getting glue on the truss rod, or is this some kind of compression rod?
Thanks for all the tips, guys. I love all the discussion of the finer points such as glue , string types etc. This is my 4th Rick and first time to have this happen. Most people don't know the proper operation of the truss rods and I can see how that can be a problem. I'll post a post-op follow-up. Thanks again y'all.
Woolybass
Woolybass
- Aug 21, 2008
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- Owner, SGD Music Products
You need to loosen the rods ASAP! Rics are known for having the fingerboards come off that way.
It's important to note that you can't use the rods to straighten the neck. You must straighten the neck by bending the neck over your leg, or some other such thing, and then tighten the rods. This method was even in the instructions that came with the bass!
The rods only hold the position of the neck. If you are still getting an up bow, you need lighter tension stings. What year bass is it?
You should only use original Titebond. Type II and III do not dry hard enough and will creep over time.
I only use slow set epoxy when I glue fingerboards on. You can also use a good quality cyanoacrylate glue, so you can get it in the crack. Just be careful of it fulling out.
Superglue or epoxy is the wrong glue for this job. Use tightbond I if you would like a chance of taking the fingerboard off in the future.
- Aug 21, 2008
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Both CA and epoxy release with heat, same as Titebond. CA releases at a lower temperature than epoxy. But just warm up the fingerboard with an iron, and you can start to pry it off, even with epoxy.
In many ways, epoxy is a better glue to use for fingerboards than Titebond, because it doesn't have any water in it, which often causes the 'boards to back bow. Many professional luthiers use epoxy.
I glue all my fingerboards on with epoxy, and they are not hard to remove. But I've never had to do that anyway.
For small areas like this CA would be a good glue to use. I repaired a cracked headstock on a Pedulla MVP with the thin viscosity CA and it worked out great.
These are standard practices.
If you are REALLY concerned with fretboard removal, use hot hide glue.
When superglue contacts wood it 'plasticizes' and penetrates the wood. If you use it, it should really be regarded as a permanent assembly. Slow cure epoxy also soaks into pores and never really comes out, even with methylene chloride based paint stripper. You can re glue with epoxy but the wood has to be removed if you want to use wood glue or hide glue down the line.
Titebond can be more or less steamed out of the wood pores so it's less permanent. Hide glue is strong and reversable but it loses strength as the years go by. Probably not the best choice for a bass guitar fingerboard.
Seems to me if you're making instruments, it's your project so use whatever glue you want. I know a lot of makers use epoxy to glue on fingerboards because they can avoid introducing water and that's fine. But you level the board after gluing, right? And you can request that all repairs on your instruments go back to you personally and you can deal with these situations as you see fit. But, if you're doing repairs and you're not sure who will be working on an instrument in the future I feel it's probably best to take a more conservative approach.
Titebond can be more or less steamed out of the wood pores so it's less permanent. Hide glue is strong and reversable but it loses strength as the years go by. Probably not the best choice for a bass guitar fingerboard.
Seems to me if you're making instruments, it's your project so use whatever glue you want. I know a lot of makers use epoxy to glue on fingerboards because they can avoid introducing water and that's fine. But you level the board after gluing, right? And you can request that all repairs on your instruments go back to you personally and you can deal with these situations as you see fit. But, if you're doing repairs and you're not sure who will be working on an instrument in the future I feel it's probably best to take a more conservative approach.
- Aug 21, 2008
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There's always some glue left behind in the wood pores, and it's inconsequential. No one I know bothers to steam titebond out of wood. You will do more damage than good IMO. Glue has two properties, adhesion and cohesion. Any glue with good adhesion properties will stick to wood that might have some glue left in the pores. Epoxy does sink into the wood, but it doesn't have to, and doesn't even need to be clamped to get a good bond, though I would always clamp a joint.
Not always. I tend to find the board doesn't need leveling if it's glued on properly.
Another benefit of using epoxy is that Titebond creeps over time, even the original kind.
Any competent repair person can deal with a fingerboard that has been glued on with epoxy. You have to, because it's quite common. Some high end builders also use polyurethane glue. Personally I don't use hide glue because it's made from animals.
I started using epoxy because I was using phenolic fingerboards, but we use it on all our wood boards too. One of my personal basses was glued together entirely with epoxy. I'm in the process of making that neck narrower, and I'm not having any issues working on it.
And how often do you have to remove a fingerboard? I don't anticipate any of my instruments ever needing to have that done.
Why wouldn't you want to use hide glue? Am I missing something here? Or is that only for acoustic instruments?
Well, the only thing I can add here is that if you do a lot of work requiring disassembly of glue joints and then assemble them with future disassembly in mind, epoxy, superglue and gorilla glue are probably not the first recommendation.
To each his own.
To each his own.
Mostly because most builders don't have experience with hide glue and it requires a bit more work than simply opening up a bottle of glue, spreading it on the wood, and clamping. Also, I've heard that hide glue joints can be more brittle than PVA and aliphatic resin joints, but I've never personally used hide glue.
