fretboard coming off 4001, how to glue back down?

Setup, repair and restoration of Rickenbacker Instruments

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Sir Ricardo
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fretboard coming off 4001, how to glue back down?

Post by Sir Ricardo »

.

Greetings -

My 4001 sat with no strings on it for a while, and now I find that the fretboard has separated a bit. From the nut to just beyond the first fret, you can now insert a business card into the small gap.

All I've done so far is to completely loosen the truss rod nuts to lessen the tension.

Any thoughts on how to fix this?

I assumed some combination of glue+clamp would to the trick, but....what do you think?

If it's glue I need, what type? If possible, I'd rather use a strong wood glue rather than crazy glue.

And regarding claps, any thoughts as to a good clamp system?

See attached 4 photos.

thanks for your thoughts -

Richard
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jps
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Re: fretboard coming off 4001, how to glue back down?

Post by jps »

Titebond wood glue with whatever you can use to get the glue into the separation. Don't go too far in as you will eventually end up in the truss rod channels. Toothpicks, a fine artist's brush, etc, will do the job.

As to clamps one of these will do nicely:

https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/T ... Clamp.html
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jdogric12
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Re: fretboard coming off 4001, how to glue back down?

Post by jdogric12 »

I think the best wood glue is the kind you mix yourself with powder. I've done headstock repairs with it and everyone says it's stronger than the original wood! Just make sure to clamp it good, and get any extra that squeezes out off of there right away since it dries so quickly.
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Sir Ricardo
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Re: fretboard coming off 4001, how to glue back down?

Post by Sir Ricardo »

.

Greetings guys - thanks for your advice.

Jason, I liked your 'mix your own glue' idea....however, I chickened out on that bold thought. I think it just shows that you are a cleverer man than I am.

Jeffrey, I went with the Titebond you suggested. I used an exacto knife to insert the glue into the gap; that worked well. I ended up using a regular clamp (thanks for the link to the Stew-Mac clamp, it was helpful to see how it could be done), taking care to use padding so as not to damage either the back of the neck or the fretboard.

The end result is a firmly bonded (I left it clamped for 24 hours) fretboard, ready to last another multi-decade run.

thanks guys!

Richard
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jps
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Re: fretboard coming off 4001, how to glue back down?

Post by jps »

Glad to read it worked out well for you. I had to do the very same thing on my 4005WB after getting back from a friend who had the bass for a few years. That was in 2003 and it has been fine ever since.
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