Guitar Fretboard Repair

Guitar care is of prime importance when you want to maintain your instrument and keep it playing the way you want for years to come. With any stringed instrument, the oil and dirt tend to build up on the string and fretboard, and in course of time, behave like an abrasive sand paper working on the fretboard surface, wearing it off and making pits on it. To avoid this sort of wear, it is necessary to clean the fretboard regularly and seal the surface as well as clean or replace the strings.

When it comes to fretboard repair, you need a lot of patience and caution to make sure that the fret’s tangs do not chip the fingerboard when removed. You can repair the abrasions between the strings caused by your fingers.

Removing The Fingerboard

To remove the fingerboard, use a special heating blanket to heat the board before you remove it. The neck and fingerboard are assembled before painting. So when you separate them, the finish line may need to be touched up. Plastic inlays and binding may have to be replaced as the heat applied to soften the glue joint between fingerboard and neck can damage vulnerable pieces. Preferably buy pre-slotted fingerboards since it is cheaper to buy a slotted fingerboard than to make it from scratch. Use removal pins to keep fingerboards in position while clamping. Drill a small hole through the fret slot and into the neck to keep the board in proper position with the pins.

Replacing Inlays

You can upgrade from plain white pearl dot markers to more colorful abalone pieces. Using a clean soldering iron to remove it can save a pearl inlay. When the old slot is clean the new inlay can be glued in. Tinting your adhesive to match the board can camouflage the gaps between the inlay and the slot. Use epoxy or superglue here. Once the adhesive is cured the inlay can be filed level with the board. Pearl inlay is harder than the wood, so if you use sandpaper you might end up removing more of the board than the inlay.

Polishing And Lubricating

Lemon oil, or any other vegetable based oil, could rot the wood as it decomposes while saturated into the wood cells and pores of a fingerboard. Do not use silicone-based lubricants on guitars. Use clarinet bore oil, a petroleum product available in most music stores. Scratches can be eliminated with a piece of 400-grit sandpaper to which a few drops of oil are added and then sanding the frets across the fretboard. Follow this up with a little piece of 500 or 600 grit papers, and finally a piece of 0000 steel wool, all with a bit of oil as a lubricant, to remove dirt and dust. With a soft cloth, clean the surrounding finish, and carefully wipe down the fingerboard, to wipe off excess oil. 0000 steel wool leaves the frets and the wood nicely polished.

A clean fretboard with polished frets always makes you play a lot better.

By: Werner Wichmann – ElectricGuitarz.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Werner_Wichmann

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