rosewood fretboard repair...need help

alexis221woodworks

Hi. I have an old washburn neck that I am modifying. I just have one more fix....There is a 1/4 inch gouge right on the bottom of the neck where the binding meets the side of the fretboard near the 9 fret. I dont know how I should even tackle this. It is not visible from the face of the board but mostly on the side. I was thinkg wood filler. I tried timbermate and it worked great but dont know if it will hold up....any thoughts...thanks

AlanRatcliffe

Is the wood gouged out or dinged in? If it's dinged, you can try steaming it out with a damp rag and a soldering iron.

If it's gouged out, it depends on how deep it is. Wood fillers are often too soft unless you have a hard finish over the top. If it's fairly shallow, cyanoacrylate glue can be used as a filler/finish repair - fill in multiple layers then file level, sand smooth and polish to a gloss. Deeper gouges will need a hard synthetic wood filler. I don't know Timbermate, so don't know how suitable it is - depends on how hard it dries.

Bob-Dubery

This may help
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Technique/Frets/FBoardDivot/fboardivot.html

alexis221woodworks

Its gouged like a finger nail shape...i dont think is deeper enough for a glue up peice of wood and not shallow enough for wood filler...the problem is its right on the edge so there would only be 2 side for adhesive....i really like this neck too....Ill have to post some pictures........thanks

Gearhead

alexis221woodworks wrote i dont think is deeper enough for a glue up peice of wood and not shallow enough for wood filler

Not deep enough can be helped, especially if you can then make a flat (slanted) face between two frets again. You take out the frets, flatten the affected area, glue on a color matched piece of rosewood, shape the piece back to match the original, open up the fret slots and refret. In the end, only one glue line should be left visible, running between two frets.

alexis221woodworks

Thats what I am thinking.....the gouge doe not go across from fret to fret. It is right in the middle of the two frets about 5/16th of an inck. I might try to match the gouge with a peice of wood or maybe remove some to allow for a more even repaire Thanks.

Gearhead

My point was: The goal should not be to make the repair as small as possible but as invisible and tight as possible. As soon as you move away from the flat face glue joint, you're going to create uneven contact which will wind up as large patches of glue visible on the fretboard. I am trying to convince you that sonically and visually a single straight tight glue line that runs with the grain is better than a rounded wobbly crossgrain one. It will feel awkward to take perfectly okay wood away, but the repair will be better.

alexis221woodworks

thanks I will try to post pictures