MIM Fender strat, 1993, rosewood fretboard separating from neck very slightly between the 5th and 8th frets

[David Reilly]

hello all,
i noticed a bump in the neck on this one. looking closer i see that the fretboard has separated, and that it has been unsuccessfully re-glued. looks like super glue was used.
i am able to get a .006 feeler gauge into the separation on both sides of the neck, but not all the way thru.
my idea is: make a 9.5" radius caul for the fretboard, with slots so as not to compress the frets. i have a stew mac, cork lined, neck rest block for the back of the neck.
get as much titebond one as i can into that tiny separation and clamp the heck out of it for a few days.
any ideas, thoughts, warnings about the above? would be much appreciated.
thanks,
dr

[Russell Vance]

Titebond does not stick to superglue, so if there is a lathering of CA already in the crack you may have some difficulties getting the titebond to actually stick. Having said that, I use a hypodermic with a 22 gauge (thin) needle to get into the guts of the neck and get some new material, I would open up the crack a bit to get to the extreme ends of the split and I have in these circumstances used compressed air to blow the into the crack to get coverage in cracks that mechanical and capillary action won't handle. Once you get the glue in the crack put a thin feeler gauge in the slot and slide it around to spread the glue and them 'rub' some more glue into the edge of the crack with the gauge holding the crack open. Clamp the buggery out it otherwize you will get a rise where the titebond is absorbed into the wood - you will need to fret level the neck after this anyway (unless v. lucky). R.

[David Reilly]

Russell,
thank you.
There does not seem to be much glue in the crack, but i will clean it out best i can.
Yes the titebond can add bulk. Should i just use superthin hot stuff CA glue instead?
- Clamps placed but not all tight, send in the glue and clamp fast? -
or not?
The customer is just selling it onward so there is not enough money to do a fret level.
I just want it to leave here playable.
thanks,
dr

[Russell Vance]

Superglue is fine provided you can manage it without getting messy - clamp tight - superglue needs to be snug to work, and clamp over the the fingerboard not the frets or just use a caul as you planned. Wrap the caul in brown packing tape (the shiny plastic type) so the superglue won't stick if it drips/wicks out of the crack. R.

[Rick Gentry]

What about a vacuum? When you're ready, put a narrow homemade vac tip on one side, and you will see the glue disappear from the application side. Keep adding glue until you have a layer emerging on the other side. No better way to make it happen.

It is a bloody shame that your customer is willing to glue it back, but too cheap to pay you to get a file out and fix it right. Shortsightedness has caused more problems for future end users than anything else.

[David Reilly]

Rick,
Thanks for the great vacuum tip tip.
This particular cuatomer takes advantage of the exchange rate to buy strats on ebay and sell them on trademe (new zealand's version of ebay). Sometimes his ebay vendors take advantage of him!
He brings them to me for strings and setup. I tell him what they need. It is often more than he'd like. This one is not the worst by far. Oh well. They leave here playable if not deluxe.

The separation in this neck may not be truly fixable. That is, the wood there may be warped badly enough to never truly lie flat, and a new allparts neck is less expensive than re-gluing the entire fretboard and re-fretting.
But, that's all part of the 'thrill' of ebay, isn't it? Especially when you pay another $100 USD to get it here.
I just wanted to try to glue it down BEFORE any filing and/or leveling.