Sanded through fingerboard inlays

[Michael S. Fields]

I posted this over at MyLesPaul.com, but would like to ask for advice here, too.

I'm refretting my 1978 Les Paul Custom and decided to get rid of the fingernail divots in the fingerboard. I bought the Stew Mac aluminum radius beam, but sanding free-hand didn't work out too well. So, I made the fixture pictured below, tried again, and now I have a perfect 12" radius. Lesson learned. Unfortunately, I sanded through several inlays. The fingerboard measures .2" thick at the nut and I still have enough depth in the fret slots for the fret tangs. Where do I go from here? Thanks, guys.

Mike Fields

[Michael S. Fields]

I see that Stew Mac and LMII have inlay sets. Does anyone have a preference? Are individual pieces available anywhere? Thanks.

Mike Fields

[J. Ensalaco]

I find that the inlay sizes at SM or LMIi don't always fit the Gibson routing. Not sure if the inlays changed size over the years or if the aftermarket ones are just not accurate. You may find yourself reshaping them to fit the Gibson routes.

[Michael S. Fields]

I haven't had much time to work on it since my last post, but I did manage to remove the three worst inlays. I missed cleaning the glue out of a couple of corners, but I'll get it next session. Hopefully, I'll be able to do more this weekend.

Mike Fields

[Russell Vance]

You need to check your fret slot depth's - this amount of aggressive/significant  fingerboard removal may leave you short of tang depth (depending on the fret size/dimension you are replacing with)'

Rusty.

[Michael S. Fields]

Thanks for the tip, Rusty. I checked the slots with a Stew Mac gauge and a piece of fret wire with the barbs ground off and fortunately, I still have a little wiggle room, but not much.

Mike Fields

[Michael S. Fields]

As I don't yet have a set of chisels, I used a temperature adjustable wood burning iron to remove the old inlays and glue. All but two of the inlays came out in one piece after heating them. I then set the temperature low enough as to not burn the wood and dug out the old glue. It just crumbled up when heated. The darkening seen around the cavity edges came from hot glue gasses, not the wood charring, and comes right off.

Mike Fields

[Michael S. Fields]

This past weekend, I managed to deepen most of the cavities to where the new inlays sit just above the fingerboard in the middle. For the last two over the body, I'll need to modify the jig.

Mike Fields

[Michael S. Fields]

I finally got the inlays glued in and sanded down. I'm going to have to fill in a few pin holes where there were air bubbles in the epoxy. I used the black Stew Mac epoxy which blends in with the wood pretty good after sanding. Next time, I'll pull a vacuum on the epoxy after I mix it.

Mike Fields

[Mike Kolb]

Nice work.... that turned-out great! 

[Michael S. Fields]

Thanks, Mike Kolb, I appreciate the encouragement.

Mike Fields

[Michael S. Fields]

J. Enslaco, you are right about the fit. I got the set from Stew Mac and although they were close enough on most of them, I think four of them were too wide (nut to bridge measurement). In fact the two nearest the body were a lot too wide and man, is MOP hard to sand by hand! It seems I read somewhere that those two were slimmed down at some point during later production, so replacements are made to fit the earlier Customs. Thanks.

[J. Ensalaco]

Wow, looks great. I was a bit worried, but your patience paid off. One of the lessons on this is to take each step slow. Only remove as much fingerboard as required (might have saved the inlays). Route as clean as possible. Use the right tools and glue. Nice job in the end.