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How to remove fretboard, used liquid hide glue

I've almost finished a washtub bass - the upright version with rigid neck, soundboard etc. (rather like http://www.arwoodsongs.info/washtub_bass.html).

I made the fingerboard too narrow for my taste and want to replace it. I used tightbond hide glue from a bottle.

I know the basic idea is to use heat and moisture, but I don't know the details - how hot, how moist, etc.
What tool would you use to get in the joint? How to add the moisture part of the equation? Does using bottled hide glue instead of traditional hide glue make this harder to do?

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on September 3, 2010 at 9:31am

I've done this before. You just need heat. I used a contraption I built with three light bulbs that's hung from the ceiling. You could probably get away with one bulb, this is just what I had already built for other neck heating purposes. Spotlight bulbs are the best - nice and hot. You need a special fixture for those which can handle the higher current, but I don't think either the bulb or the fixture cost very much.

Bottled hide glue might actually be easier from what I hear. The neck/fingerboard in the pic had regular Titebond.

Start at one end - I tapped in a safety razor knife to get it started, then switched to a putty knife. I inserted a wedge to keep the gap open. You tap it open a little, move the light down, wait for it to heat up good, tap the knife a little further, and so on.

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Permalink Reply by Fitzhugh on September 3, 2010 at 10:59am

Ah, didn't think of using bulbs, and I have a few photo floods that put out HEAT. I'll try those. Thank you!

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Permalink Reply by Ben on September 3, 2010 at 11:13am

For small applications, denatured alcohol is great. You might go through a bit of it on a fingerboard though.

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Permalink Reply by Fitzhugh on September 17, 2010 at 9:28am

Just in case anyone with the same question reads this later, I got it to work using a normal clothes iron set on high, with some aluminum foil between the iron and the fingerboard to keep the iron from getting messed up by the finish that was on the fingerboard... girlfriend/iron owner would not have likBased that (what, think I own an iron myself?)

I used a syringe to squirt hot water into the joint, and pried into it with a metal paint scraper that I'd sharpened the edge on. After getting a little separation I pushed a scrap wood wedge into the space under the fingerboard, and then just kept at it. I found hitting the block with a mallet got a lot done. The hot water made a big difference too.

I think the hot water is needed only for hide glue but I could be wrong.

Basically, Skeesix's suggestion was spot on, though I added water. The hide glue stank when done - I know "real" hide glue can go bad but I think this was from the heating.