Photos

Some of the repairs done at the Boston Guitar Repair Center are shown here. This gallery is a work in progress and Brant rarely thinks to take pictures while he's working...

Chipped Fingerboard


This chip has been poorly filled at some point in the past. The guitar is also being refreted and the fingerboard is being leveled.
The old epoxy fill is removed using a dremel tool and router attachments.
The uneven edges of the chip are squared off to make fitting a fill possible.

A piece of rosewood, approximately the same color, is cut and shaped to fit snug in the fingerboard.
The fill is held in with a special clamp while the glue dries.

Here is the filled fingerboard after leveling and refretting.



Warped Top & Separated Bridge


The bridge is unglued and the top is badly warped.
The bridge is removed with a heated seam-separation knife.
Serious warping...

The body is slowly humidified and the top is progressively flattened over the course of 2 weeks.
Thin shims are made for the bridge to compensate for where it still doesn't make contact with the body.
The shims are glued to the bridge after the old glue has been removed.

The bridge is refitted to the guitar and clamped.
Ready to restring! (Please remember to buy a humidifier.)


Partial Refret


Some of the frets are very worn down, but most of them are in decent shape. To prolong the life of the good frets, these worn frets are replaced prior to leveling and recrowning.
The old frets are heated to loosen the glue.
Fret is GENTLY removed using special pliers.

The fret slot is cleaned using the back side of an exacto knife. Sometimes a few passes with a fretting saw are necessary, but not in this case.
New frets, after being cut and pre-bent to the radius of the fingerboard, are hammered in with a plastic headed hammer.

The extra fret wire is cut off.
Fret ends are filed and dressed using a thin sheet of metal to protect the finished fingerboard.


Fingerboard Replacement

Removal
Old fingerboard is removed. Note: This is typically done with a heated seam separation knife, but the glue used in this particular case didn't respond at all to heating.
Planing the neck
Neck is planed for the new fingerboard.
Resizing
Fingerboard is trimmed to fit the neck.
Fret Slots
Slots for the frets are cut into the fingerboard.
More resizing
The sides of the finberboard are trimmed to leave room for the binding.
Fingerboard planing
The sides of the fingerboard are planed.
Fingerboard setting
The new fingerboard is glued and clamped after being carefully aligned, leaving space for the binding.
Binding
Binding (curly koa) is measured and cut.
More binding
The binding is glued and held tightly in place with masking tape.
Leveling binding
The binding is levelled using a slightly over-radiused block).

Fingerboard finishing
The fingerboard and binding are sanded with progressively finer (220, 400, 600, 000 steel wool) sandpaper.
Side dots
After measuring and drilling holes (not shown), the side dots are glued into the binding.
Fret bending
Fret wire is bent to a slightly tighter radius than the fingerboard.
Tang
The tang is removed from the ends of the fretwire so it can be set over the binding.
Hammering
Frets are hammered and glued into place.
Fret trimming
Excess fret is trimmed.
Fret leveling
Frets are levelled.
Fret crowning
The frets are crowned.
Fret finishing
The fret ends are dressed (not shown) and the frets are finished using progressively finer sandpaper and steel wool.
Finished product
After the binding is finished with polyurethane, we have a finished fingerboard.