Fingerboard planing question

[offkey]

I have a nice inexpensive old Japanese classical that sounds great but has too much relief in the center of the neck. I would like to try planing the fingerboard to correct the problem. Is there a thread lurking somewhere that will walk me through this process? Including what tools are best for this job.

[offkey]

Does anyone have advise of any sort concerning fingerboard planing?

[tadol]

I’m not a luthier or a tech, but have done a fair bit of woodworking, and would recommend that it might be much easier to make a sanding block with the radius you want, attach a strip of coarse self-stick paper, then carefully sand the fretboard until get it all even, then work your way up thru all the other grits until its polished back to original, then re-fret -

[offkey]

Thanks Tadol,
I am a woodworker as well and I think the same thing. But I have always heard it called planing, not sanding.
The classical has a largely flat fretboard so that simplifies it a bit. But I do like to have some benefit of others experience before I try something new.
I can foresee that pulling the frets cleanly will be a big part of doing a successful job.

[tadol]

Well, you can definitely plane it - its just far more critical that you get your plane super sharp, with a tight mouth, and read the grain really well - it can be hard to tell which way the grain is running, and with all those fret slots already in the board, you have a risk of catching an edge and lifting a chip -

I toured the Larrivee factory in Oxnard many years ago, and they used a wood template mounted behind a long belt sander. Just a quick press of the neck/fretboard into the belt sander, radius done!

[JonWint]

How much excessive relief?

Why not flatten it with compression fretting?

[offkey]

When strung under tension there is about 18 thousands. Plus this is a well played guitar and there are divots in the fingerboard. Sanding, planing will smooth them out. Plus the frets should be able to be reused, at least I hope so.

[JonWint]

My planing skills forbid me to approach a fretboard for less than 18-mil removal. Sand paper is sufficient. Divots can be filled if deeper than 15 mils.

Fret removal with the intent of reuse is very difficult. Much faster to replace them.

Consult frets.com and/or StewMac.com for instructions.

[offkey]

Originally Posted by JonWint

My planing skills forbid me to approach a fretboard for less than 18-mil removal. Sand paper is sufficient. Divots can be filled if deeper than 15 mils.

Fret removal with the intent of reuse is very difficult. Much faster to replace them.

Consult frets.com and/or StewMac.com for instructions.

I guess the thing I wish to avoid is removing all the frets when only 7 or so need removed otherwise. Think I would be happier in the end with changing them all out?

[rick-slo]

Thicker tang on frets may work.

[Neil K Walk]

I wouldn’t even attempt it. My concern is that at some point you will end up with not enough relief. This excessive relief might be a symptom of string tension and improper humidification. Best to just remove the strings, put the guitar in 40-60% RH and under 80°F for about a week and see if the relief adjusts.

[offkey]

Originally Posted by Neil K Walk

I wouldn’t even attempt it. My concern is that at some point you will end up with not enough relief. This excessive relief might be a symptom of string tension and improper humidification. Best to just remove the strings, put the guitar in 40-60% RH and under 80°F for about a week and see if the relief adjusts.

This is good point I had not considered. I got it less than a month ago with a nasty top crack, which I have fixed up pretty nicely. Looking down the ebony reinforced neck with no strings on it looks dead flat, it won't cost me anything to let it set for awhile.

[mirwa]

Being a classical its not going to move much under that string tension.

Remove the frets, replane the board, fit new frets, level and crown, play away

Will pm you links on how to do the jobs

Steve

[redir]

As mentioned you typically use sand paper levelers for this type of work. You can even use a bubble level and double stick tape sand paper to it and that should be accurate enough to get a decent flat surface.

But I worry a bit by what you mean when you say there is too much relief. Is the FB plane banana shaped? Such that from the nut to say the 7th fret is the low spot then it curves back up to the 12th fret? Or is it that from the nut all the way to the 12th fret there is a curved shape? The latter of those two options could be a bit more problematic.

[Quickstep192]

Originally Posted by offkey

I guess the thing I wish to avoid is removing all the frets when only 7 or so need removed otherwise. Think I would be happier in the end with changing them all out?

I too am a woodworker not a luthier, so take this with a grain of salt. If the fretboard has too much relief, it seems to me that you'll need to remove material from the ends in order to make them the same level as the middle. This would mean you need to remove all the frets. Right?

Once leveled, it might be necessary to deepen the fret slots as well so they'll accept the tang of the new fretwire.