Hi, that little artist pallet knife with the missing handle is the ideal thing for getting glue deep into cracks, they come in different sizes and profiles. I do a lot of veneer repair and use them with hide glue mainly but they work just as well with other glues.
From the looks of that large fingerboard separation, taking it completely off would have been the best repair method. I'm glad to see you didn't use Titebond to glue the fingerboard. Hot hide glue would have been the best, but fish glue is also a good choice.
I think you should have put a steam iron on the fret board and taken the fingerboard off. Two reasons. One to make sure you get good adhesion when you glue it back and two, to inspect the truss rod. With the nut missing I would want to take a good look at the rod.
I thought about this quite a lot and I’m content with my approach for a couple of reasons. I really didn’t want to risk the very fragile finish around the fingerboard extension over the body. If it fails due to poor glue adhesion, it won’t be too much of a bother to pull the board and start fresh, finish be damned. As to the truss rod, as far as I can tell, there’s a plug of maple or some other light hardwood covering it up, leaving no guarantee that the truss rod would be more available for inspection. Since this video went up, I got in a replacement truss nut and the rod works just fine. Given how flexible the headstock is, glued up and all, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the truss rod didn’t need to be tightened up much at all. The neck is pretty thick! More to come on that point later
Hi, that little artist pallet knife with the missing handle is the ideal thing for getting glue deep into cracks, they come in different sizes and profiles. I do a lot of veneer repair and use them with hide glue mainly but they work just as well with other glues.
From the looks of that large fingerboard separation, taking it completely off would have been the best repair method. I'm glad to see you didn't use Titebond to glue the fingerboard. Hot hide glue would have been the best, but fish glue is also a good choice.
I think you should have put a steam iron on the fret board and taken the fingerboard off. Two reasons. One to make sure you get good adhesion when you glue it back and two, to inspect the truss rod. With the nut missing I would want to take a good look at the rod.
I thought about this quite a lot and I’m content with my approach for a couple of reasons. I really didn’t want to risk the very fragile finish around the fingerboard extension over the body. If it fails due to poor glue adhesion, it won’t be too much of a bother to pull the board and start fresh, finish be damned. As to the truss rod, as far as I can tell, there’s a plug of maple or some other light hardwood covering it up, leaving no guarantee that the truss rod would be more available for inspection.
Since this video went up, I got in a replacement truss nut and the rod works just fine. Given how flexible the headstock is, glued up and all, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the truss rod didn’t need to be tightened up much at all. The neck is pretty thick! More to come on that point later