Gluing up the neck/fingerboard this weekend - final considerations

[Philip Donovan]

Hello,

As the title says, I'm gearing up to glue the pre-slotted/pre-radiused ebony fingerboard to the hard maple neck base hopefully tomorrow if there aren't any loose ends to my process.

There is a Stew mac Hotrod truss rod that has been channeled to fit in, also.

So far all seems to have gone well to my knowledge:
*Boards have been sanded flat for a good surface mating, but will do a final sanding 15 minutes before the gluing to open up the wood for Titebond.
*Fingerboard has been carefully measured and marked for good starting and ending positions as well as centered with fret slots perpendicular to neck base.
*holes have been created and positioned for inserting the pre-cut and pointed nail lengths to be inserted in order to prevent fingerboard from sliding around during clamping.
*plenty of clamps available
*Blue tape handy for preventing glue from entering channel before mating up neck boards (remove tape before gluing of course).

Now, I'd like to bring up a couple of considerations and please feel free to straighten me out in any way you please! .
1. Is it a good idea to apply any RTV or similar to or around the Hot rod truss rod? I've heard of people doing that to mitigate any potential rattling. I feel as though if the truss rod is tightened even the slightest amount that that would not happen but, I wouldn't go betting any paychecks on that.
2. Is it fine enough to clamp the neck boards as they are OR, is it better to clamp them onto say, the edge of the mdf double layered sanding board that I made for sanding the neck board surfaces? I've seen people clamp neck/fingerboards together without any help but, I had to wonder if clamping onto an already trusted flat/true and strong board section would be of benefit towards ensuring a straighter neck/fingerboard bond.

To add, I bought a hard metal U bar (about 1.5" edge-to-edge) for the purpose of directing the clamping force more toward the edges of the neck/fingerboard rather than to gust the middle. I saw that used by a fellow in a video and it seemed like a reasonable tactic as I've heard a few folks claim that good edge-to-edge neck glue bond is very desirable. I collected some high quality thin stick-able padding to place on strips of wood to both even out the clamping force as well as protect the wood from damage from any hard metal edges.

So, this is where I am at. Do you think I've missed anything? Inquiring first time neck makers want to know, and they are scared of screwing up.

Thank you all for your feedback, I'm really hoping this comes off well as this project has been in the making for a few years now.
Best and thank you,

Phil D.

[Barry Daniels]

First thing is do several dry runs. Your idea sounds a bit complicated so work out the bugs before you slather the glue.

But I commend you on focusing on "directing the clamping force to the edges". This will minimize the curling of the fretboard due to soaking up water from the Titebond.

And clamping everything to a known and immovable flat surface will also help to end up with a truly flat neck. The water in the glue is also a factor in this. Hopefully your fretboard is still flat so you can use a 3/4" thick mdf caul on top of it. (Don't place your clamps directly on the fretboard because it is too thin to take the clamp pressure uniformly.

Use as many clamps as you can squeeze onto the neck.

One more suggestion would be to leave the clamps on for a full 24 hours or even 48 hours if clamped to a flat surface.

[Philip Donovan]

Hi Barry,

Decided to wait another day or two to get everything inorder for gluing. Bases on your recommendations, I felt the need to prepare a couple more things before slathering the glue.

I made two padded rods to both spread out the clamping force and to not cause any indents or scratches to the fingerboard. Also, need a few more right sized clamps (4", not 3").

Plus, got called on for a gig Sat night that went late - wasn't in good mental condition the next day to ensure a well executed job.

Thank you for the good advice. I'm engaging it all.

Best
Phil D,

[Bryan Bear]

I glue my fretboards to the neck blank on the surface of my workbench top (fretboard face down) so it clamps nice and flat. Barry's advice to let it stay clamped longer is good advice. You want it clamped flat long enough for the water from the glue to fully move out. I usually plan the fretboard gluing for a time when I have plenty of other things to work on. It is not uncommon for me to leave it clamped up for a week or so. That is probably way more time than you need though.

[Philip Donovan]

Thank you for your informative responses.

It has always struck me as a bit odd that many claim that they have removed the clamps after even 1 or 2 hours of clamping tine. I was wondering what I was missing but for sure, I'm happy to give more time than it even takes for letting the wood be in the clamps. Lord knows I have more than a reasonable number of projects I can get to while things are curing and drying.

I stopped by Harbor Freight last night for a couple more clamps to increase even clamping force beyond what I even had, so, glad I did that.
I've done a dry run and things are looking pretty good now for an uncomplicated gluing event. I may even do the gluing up today but, mabye tomorrow - gig tonight and don't want to feel rushed.

The only ruminating concern I'm dealing with now is clamping pressure. In convinced from others experience that too much will squeeze out too much glue and starve the surfaces and well, too little is an obvious issue. I think I can trust my instincts on this and will certainly approach clamping pressure with great attention and consideration.

my son agreed to video tape the glue up so, should I make any dumb blunders, I'll have the shame recorded for prosperity for all to see.

Thanks for your patience with this - I created this neck base almost 2 years ago but haven't felt confident enough to move forward till now. This is a 28.625" baritone scale neck, and what I did was not simply make the fretted portion longer but, the entire guitar, body and neck head to toe, was increased by the percentage increase of the baritone scale over standard scale, which I assumed 25.5" for standard reference. That percentage is 11.2%. So, I created a large grid where the horizontal dimension was unchanged, but the vertical dimension was increased by 11.2 percent - a large piece of poster paper with full grids 1" x 1.112". Then, I used a French curve to match each and every grid block to a standard Telecaster dimension diagram that was easily found on the internet. It is as if you took a picture of a Telecaster on a piece of gum, and stretched it vertically 11.2 percent. I thought that this would be a cool thing to do and although I'm delighted so far with the results, it was a long and grueling process almost beyond my abilities.

This is why I have taken so long, and why I probably appear unduly ruminating about every little thing. I've become belligerent on making this work with out disaster and scared to death of running into an irreversible situation. Plus, there is a beautiful laser engraved picture of my daughters business logo on the back of the body. Ha. I can't screw this up.

So thanks again for so generously and patiently hanging in there with me on this. I think I can do it!

Best,
Phil Donovan

[Philip Donovan]

The deed is done - I think it went pretty well. The fingerboard stayed where it belonged ! I think that the thin tough padding I used on the two 1/2" x 1/2" rods is helping to spread/even out the pressure as well as keeping the force onto the surfaces (towards the edges) even if the wood changes consistency.

I'll report back tomorrow. Thanks again!

Phil