![]() (F) Glue fingerboard on to a slightly oversized black veneer the thickness of the black stripe under the binding (this will be the black stripe)Īccording to Ed Britt, Vega/Fairbanks would install the frets, glue the fingerboard on to the neck, then rout the rabbet for the binding, cutting right through the fret ends. (D) Install frets and trim edges, bevel off ends of frets (A) Cut out new fingerboard, exact size minus thickness of binding I would do it in a slightly different order: I would use whatever wood the original fingerboard was made from. Here is my guess, please correct me if I'm wrong.:Ī) Cut out new fingerboard blank, exact size/thicknessī) Router out sides for binding, leaving the thin black line under the binding (like orig.) I was thinking about grafting new wood to match in the dyed maple fingerboard, but now I'm thinking about replacing the fingerboard entirely along with the headstock overlay.ġ) Would you use Ebony (maybe one with more browns) ?Ģ) What would be the correct order to make a new Fairbanks fingerboard? I have a 1901 Electric banjo, and someone really butchered the fingerboard + headstock with inlays. I also use alignment pins when I glue guitar bridges. Drill holes in your upper clamping caul to clear the heads of the pins. If you don't want to insert the pins through the inlay cavities, you can leave the 1st, 10th, and last frets out and insert your pins through the fret slots. I've even seen fingerboards swim around after the clamps have been set, because glue is slippery and clamps exert sideways force as well as downward force. If you don't do this, the board can slide around when you try to set your clamps, and you may have trouble keeping it in position. When the glue has cured, pull the pins and glue in the inlays. You can then drill a hole through those inlay cavities and insert locating pins to keep the board aligned when you glue it to the neck. You may want to fit the inlays nearest the first and last frets, and the one nearest the middle of the board, without gluing them in. A dozen drops of Titebond liquid hide glue works well for this. When I do fret a board before gluing, I temporarily tack the board to a piece of hardwood that is true and flat. But your order of assembly will work also. Most of the time, I also prefer to install frets after the fingerboard is glued to the neck. I generally install frets after the binding, but I have a tang nipper to undercut the tang that you may not wish to buy for one job. You can save yourself a lot of trouble by buying a pre-slotted fingerboard. I recommend you do some research and go back with what was likely there originally. Many of those inlays look uncharacteristic for Fairbanks and were probably installed later.
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