Super shrunken fretboard problem...

[Kerry Krishna]

 This board in on a '33 Kaykraft '0'  that I bought a few weeks ago. The board is just barely glued onto the neck, and needs to come off to level the neck surface and be glued back on anyway. Can someone tell me what they think I should be doing here. It would be pretty easy for me to be putting a new board on and just salvaging the binding.   The binding has amazing patina I would try to save also, although I've done this before and know how hard that sort of thing is. I have just put  3 coats of fretboard oil on it, in the last few days , but it is not really making a difference. Any advice for me my friends? 

[Mark Wallace]

Myself, I'd probably get the fingerboard glued back down (however you choose to go about it), remove the binding, file the fret ends level to the side of the fingerboard, and then re-install the original binding.

[Kerry Krishna]

The problem with this Mark ( and I did think of this before) is that the sides of the fretboard wont come close to matching up in width. I could actually put a black veneer on the side of the board before the binding goes on. I was just wondering if I should give up now the thought of expanding the wood back to close to it's original size? If its a lost cause, I can live with that. What do you think?

[FRANK]

SO you want to add purffurling to the binding ?or you want a two piece binding with ebony ?is this the thought to make what seams to have shrunk to original size ?why not ,it is a vintage instrument though correct so you may sleep on it again and man i don't know either .since it is near imposable to stretch wood to add the space it is an option I would conciser as a plan b plan A would be just to restore the instrument with out modifications and when plan A fails then go with plan b.this is my thought .

[Kerry Krishna]

Thanks Paul. I am actually just taking the board off now, but I have not made any decisions yet. Anyone else?

[Mark Wallace]

I like the black veneer idea.

[Greg Mirken]

I agree, the black veneer is probably the way to go. Your application of 'fretboard oil' is misguided- the fingerboard shrank because water left the cells and the walls collapsed. No amount of oil is going to reverse that. Oiling a fretboard is pointless and unnecessary ( Well, it does make it shiny and dark). After you remove the board, you might put it in a plastic bag with a humidifier to see if it will swell back up at all. It won't come all the way back, for sure.

[Bob Gaddis]

The fingerboard shrank because the moisture level reached its natural equilibrium. If you try to rehydrate it to grow it back to its original size, it won't happen. If it did, it wouldn't stay there. Install a new fb, salvage the original binding.

[FRANK]

YEA THAT SOUNDS GOOD TO I SECOND THAT IDEA

[Kerry Krishna]

The fretboard was a write off. Took it off and it was split right down the center, so much so that the only thing holding it together were the frets! I just happened to have an ebony slotted board of the exact scale waiting for a project. Thats what I've been working on today. I did'nt figure that the oil on the board would help much, but I thought it at least would'nt hurt. Thanks so much for all responses.