Fingerboard Extension Shim

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by redir

But if Steve was shocked seeing the pic then it must be concerning .

Yep, some of the things you see come in for repair just boggle the mind

[Supersport]

I don't mind the time spent. Not sure why it wouldn't come out well.

If I went the epoxy route you suggest flooding the area with epoxy then milling flat?

And then titebond board to top?

I appreciate all the help guys...thank you very much.

[John Arnold]

I wouldn't consider using epoxy in this case. It may be expedient, but it just makes a future repair unnecessarily difficult. I think in terms of future resets. For that reason, I favor gluing the fingerboard tongue with wood glue, but Titebond won't stick to epoxy.
For an experienced repairman, this repair of the top with spruce can be done in way less than an hour.

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by Supersport

I don't mind the time spent. Not sure why it wouldn't come out well.

If I went the epoxy route you suggest flooding the area with epoxy then milling flat?.

No, i mean in your situation with the amount of tear out, i would recommend using epoxy as the glue at the extension area, it will fill the gaps and provide structural strength.

The reference to a future repair being more difficult in terms of potential resets is a red herring, if you ever need to lift the fingerbiard extension again, heat will seperate the fingerboard from the epoxy just fine.

Epoxy IMO is bad in things like a dovetail joint, but a surface that you can work with a spatula to seperate like a fingerboard extension, it is no more difficult than any other glue to split.

Steve

[John Arnold]

Slopping epoxy in the gaps is inelegant, to say the least. Maybe appropriate to fix an old boat or a rotting windowsill, but IMHO has no place in repairing a nice guitar.

[mirwa]

Love the way you skew your statement, slopping epoxy, you may slop the epoxy, I apply it neatly

Must remind myself next time I send an email to ovation and a few other manufacturers that they should stop using epoxy building their guitars because some person on the internet thinks its only good enough for rotting windowsills.

You crack me up...

Steve

[redir]

There is a time and a place for epoxy. I used thick Superbond Standard epoxy to patch up this hole becasue it was so chewed up on the inside from who ever tried to remove the bridge plate in the past. Of course you can't get in there to inlay a patch. But there were sizeable spruce tearout areas that needed to be filled. Frank Ford illustrates this method using epoxy too so hey if it's good enough for him...

I'd still suggest the op do the inlay procedure though, it's not that hard to do. Though this example below is the same, using epoxy to fill the voids.

I still cannot see the OP's pics but generally jsut a bit of glue is all that is needed for this joint so even with tear out most of the time you can still just use Titebond.

[Supersport]

https://imgur.com/a/7aZEbhV

https://imgur.com/NUdv7cl

Now can you see them?

[redir]

Yes I do. And jsut so you know for the future you can use Imgur and copy the BBCode and paste it in here to post pics to the forum. The option to copy code should be to the right of the image as you view it when logged in.


Anyway yeah taht's is significant but I think all you have to do is glue those slivers back in place, sand everything flush as best as possible and glue the neck back in place.

[Supersport]

I just saw figured it out right before your post about the BB code...thanks.

This may be a better perspective

[John Arnold]

Must remind myself next time I send an email to ovation and a few other manufacturers that they should stop using epoxy building their guitars because some person on the internet thinks its only good enough for rotting windowsills.

When you do, be sure to mention my name, and the fact that we were discussing the repair of a spruce top on a nice traditional style guitar, not a plastic excuse for one.
I was good friends with Jim Rickard, who was with Ovation from their earliest years. He had no illusions about what they were making, and how different the repair techniques would be....as opposed to traditional guitars like this one.
Over my last 36 years of repairing vintage guitars, the only time I have felt the need to use epoxy is when a poorly-repaired headstock break has failed multiple times.

Anyway yeah that's is significant but I think all you have to do is glue those slivers back in place, sand everything flush as best as possible and glue the neck back in place.

+1. Maybe add a few spruce slivers where there are significant gaps. Save the epoxy for another day.

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by redir

There is a time and a place for epoxy. I used thick Superbond Standard epoxy to patch up this hole becasue it was so chewed up on the inside from who ever tried to remove the bridge plate in the past.

That is another ouch one, love to see finish job

Steve

[Supersport]

I'm using cocobola as a shim. What glue is best to glue it to the ebony fingerboard underside?

[Supersport]

Originally Posted by Supersport

I'm using cocobola as a shim. What glue is best to glue it to the ebony fingerboard underside?

Anybody comment on what glue to use? I have heard it can be tough to glue.

[charles Tauber]

Use standard wood glues such as Titebond I.