Fretboard repair

Unorthodox

So I was trying to be gentle and remove the nut from my guitar without causing much damage, but that didn't go to plan.



Seems there was a lot of glue holding it in there, and despite trying to cut the sides with a stanley knife and plenty of tapping from either side it wouldn't budge without a fight.



I've put some PVA glue in the cracks and now has some weights on top holding everything in place until the glue sets, after which any rough spots can be sanded down...or at least that's the plan.

Have I FUBAR'd it good and proper, or can this be somewhat decently repaired?

Bridgehouse

That needs a proper man’s clamp...

Unorthodox

Didn't turn out too bad considering.

Will a bit of sanding smooth that out any? Literally have no experience in doing this stuff. Does it show?¿?

sweepy

Sand it along the grain, polish off with Lemon soil and it’ll be fine. I’ve had some Guitars in for repair/setup where it looks and feels as though a whole tube of superglue has been used ! 2 small drops is always enough

Bridgehouse

Yeah that’ll be fine with a bit of sanding and oil.


Just play up the neck instead

breakstuff

Most appropriate username ever. 

WezV

I don’t see how you would get those cracks on the end from a nut removal.  More likely it was already cracking anyway and your job just made it worse and appear on the front
.  Looks like it’s cracked as the ebony has shrunk across the truss rod area

ICBM

Unorthodox said:

I've put some PVA glue in the cracks and now has some weights on top holding everything in place until the glue sets, after which any rough spots can be sanded down...or at least that's the plan.

Have I FUBAR'd it good and proper, or can this be somewhat decently repaired?

Yes, unfortunately you have . PVA was the wrong glue to use and you'll never get it out now. The crack is also not totally tight.

The right glue would have been superglue, and it should have been clamped really tight - with something soft like a cork block behind the neck and a piece of softwood on the front, to avoid damage from the clamp.

If you're lucky you *might* be able to get it tighter by heating the wood until the PVA softens and then clamp it as hard as you can, but that may be difficult without damaging the binding or the finish.

This won't help now, but the right way to remove a stubbornly glued nut is to cut it in half along its length (across the width of the neck) using a hacksaw, break the halves into the saw cut using a pair of heavy pliers, and then clean up the slot with a file...

Unorthodox

breakstuff said:

Most appropriate username ever. 

Well this was my initial solution to keep things in place...





Clamped it up after around 2 hours as it hadn't fully cured yet. Left it overnight and seems to have done an okayish job.

WezV said:

I don’t see how you would get those cracks on the end from a nut removal.  More likely it was already cracking anyway and your job just made it worse and appear on the front
.  Looks like it’s cracked as the ebony has shrunk across the truss rod area

Was my fault 100%. After cutting the sides, giving a good few whacks each side I used a small claw hammer inserted into the truss rod cavity and then pried the nut upwards. There was an audible crack when the nut finally moved, fretboard still attached.

ICBM said:

Unorthodox said:

...

Yes, unfortunately you have . PVA was the wrong glue to use and you'll never get it out now. The crack is also not totally tight.

The right glue would have been superglue, and it should have been clamped really tight - with something soft like a cork block behind the neck and a piece of softwood on the front, to avoid damage from the clamp.

If you're lucky you *might* be able to get it tighter by heating the wood until the PVA softens and then clamp it as hard as you can, but that may be difficult without damaging the binding or the finish.

This won't help now, but the right way to remove a stubbornly glued nut is to cut it in half along its length (across the width of the neck) using a hacksaw, break the halves into the saw cut using a pair of heavy pliers, and then clean up the slot with a file...

Thanks for the info ICBM, at least it's a lesson learnt for the future, should I ever attempt a nut change again.

Should also mention it's 'only' a Harley Benton guitar, so it's not the end of the world if there are a few more flaws here and there. Still a shame that I was such a numpty attacking it the way I did.

WezV

Unorthodox said:

 

WezV said:

I don’t see how you would get those cracks on the end from a nut removal.  More likely it was already cracking anyway and your job just made it worse and appear on the front
.  Looks like it’s cracked as the ebony has shrunk across the truss rod area

Was my fault 100%. After cutting the sides, giving a good few whacks each side I used a small claw hammer inserted into the truss rod cavity and then pried the nut upwards. There was an audible crack when the nut finally moved, fretboard still attached.

now I know how you get those cracks from a nut removal. 

fwiw , whilst I totally agree super glue would have been the correct fix, I don't think the PVA will have borked it completely.    It will creep over time though - that crack is going to reappear.

tone1

I’d have tuned down and stuck a capo on it... job done 

Unorthodox

WezV said:

Unorthodox said:

Was my fault 100%. After cutting the sides, giving a good few whacks each side I used a small claw hammer inserted into the truss rod cavity and then pried the nut upwards. There was an audible crack when the nut finally moved, fretboard still attached.

now I know how you get those cracks from a nut removal. 

fwiw , whilst I totally agree super glue would have been the correct fix, I don't think the PVA will have borked it completely.    It will creep over time though - that crack is going to reappear.

Bollocks Take it adding some super glue now wouldn't help?

Seems to be great now after a bit of sanding.

WezV

It won’t have made it worse, and might help keep it looking okay for longer.it won’t have done much where the PVA was

impmann

If you do use super glue, use one that creeps - a thin one, not the gloopy stuff.

meltedbuzzbox

could epoxy be used?

WezV

impmann said:

If you do use super glue, use one that creeps - a thin one, not the gloopy stuff.

Do you mean “creep”, because that’s normally a bad thing with glues.  

https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?66246-glue-creep

You do need a thin superglue for capillary action to work.

WezV

meltedbuzzbox said:

could epoxy be used?

Yes, but you would need to thin or warm it to get it in, probably a suction cup too. and cleanup after is more faff.  Structurally, it would work well

Unorthodox

Thanks for all the help and info guys

I added some superglue just about everywhere, scraped off any excess with a stanley blade and sanded it again.



Aside from an ever so slight shine in the patch near the fret, I'm happy with my amateur fixing results.

Bridgehouse

You could try a small amount of acetone (really small...) on a q-tip and see if you can take a bit of that shine off. 

Don't go mad and just a dab as acetone dissolves superglue......

Unorthodox

Just going to leave it as is now, I have a feeling the superglue didn't penetrate the wood much so I'd rather err on the side of caution.

It's only a Harley Benton, I think a small patch of shine on the fretboard is the least of my worries with the guitar lol.

WezV

Cool.  Now if you get stuck again, reach for the keyboard before the claw hammer