Bubbling MOTS on old guitar fretboard

[Wayne Robinson]

Hi all, first posting and newbie!

I have a musician friend who has a 1930's Stromberg-Voisinet Kay Kraft guitar. The MOTS layer on the first two fret positions have swollen and need to be replaced. The MOTS is very yellow and I want to be able to find a supply of this material so he can replace it.
Also, what is the best method of removing the MOTS from the fretboard. What type of glue would have been used in that era...Hyde glue?

Can anyone help? I advised him that he made need to remove one of the pieces and send it to the US for ID'ing and matching.

Cheers

Wayne
New Zealand

[FRANK]

what is a mot?did you mean dots fret dot markers ?use aliphatic resin other wise known as elmers or tightbond either white or yellow

[Wayne Robinson]

MOTS stands for 'Mother of Toilet Seat' which is the pearlesent covering on many drums (called wrap) and older banjos such as Kel Kroyon and a cheaper line of Gibson et al. Some instruments were covered in this stuff.
To get an idea of what this stuff looks like...http://www.precisiondrum.com/html/wrap.html.

[FRANK]

why thank you for enlightening me on MOTS uhu I would use Duco Cement it has acetone which will bond well with wood and a plastic making sure to not get it near Nitro Cellous Lacquer lol or col

[Greg Mirken]

Wayne, you might try warming the stuff with a heat gun first. It is thermoplastic, and you might be able to coax it back down. You should have a caul you can press down on it with while it cools.

[Wayne Robinson]

Hi Greg, thanks for the reply. I was thinking along those lines myself. I figured that due to the age of the instrument they would have used Hyde glue and thus should be able to be removed via heat.