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Old 11-03-2020, 08:20 AM
Arumako Arumako is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 25
Default Fretboard Extension Support

Thanks for the kind comment Mandobart. This restoration is thoroughly engaging for me. Hope it will be of some help to anybody else attempting restorations somewhere out there. Despite being inexpensive, a 50 year old solid spruce top, pressed or not, is hard to toss into the garbage!

The Koa neck block filler took awhile to shape. A lot of scraping and sanding, but in the end the shape came out pretty good. The extra length ensures the piece doesn't get stuck in the slot prematurely. It's not perfect, but it will do well enough. Some years ago, my mentor gave me a bunch of tools, and this Japanese hand planer is one of them. Called Titebond hide glue into service again and was really surprised with how much the neck block (not the Koa) soaked up the adhesive.



Despite cool weather, the dry autumn in Japan allowed the glue to dry quickly. Taped up the body and sawed off the extra Koa. A sharp chisel and some Koa powder from previous builds with CA glue (to further fill any gaps) completed this part of the restoration.



Now, it's time to turn my attention to the fretboard extension support. The Ebony/Canadian birch glue-up is looking really good. Turned to my Dremel Motosaw (scroll saw) to rough cut the neck cavity into the extension piece. The Motosaw is nice for general work, but it's not a good tool for final cuts and finishing cuts. Lots of chiseling, scraping, filing and sanding to get the piece into its final specs.



The long Ebony scraps from my fretboard used in this glue up will be cut-off later. Leaving them in place gives me something to hold onto when shaping the piece, and they serve as nice alignment tools as well.



Got the neck cavity in the fretboard extension support to fit nicely. Now, contouring the bottom of the fretboard extension support by hand is gonna be really hard. That'll be an all day project; so, gonna call it a day for now. Getting closer and closer!

Thanks for letting me share AGF! Praying that everyone will be safe and that the elections will proceed peacefully!
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