How do I remove fretboard with mother-of-toilet-seat inlays?

[Bob Steinarsson]

I have an Arnold Hoyer no. 19 "Esquire" without truss rod. Instead it has a virile up-bow. I intend to install a truss rod in the neck. The fretboard is typical for old German guitars, all inlays are large and probably made of plastic. Does anyone have an idea how to remove the fretboard without melting the M.O.T.S? Does anyone know how thick this inlay may be?
Thanks!

[Paul Breen]

I have done this by heating a thin, wide pallet knife and working that into the seam, starting at the nut end. You should not have to apply heat to the fingerboard directly. An electric burner or household iron work for a heat source. Do a little at a time, re-heat as required.

The inlays are likely to be thin and easily damaged.

[Ned Knepp]

A Bunsen burner makes a great heat source for separation knives. It's instant heat and, with a little practice, it is not all that hard to judge how hot your knives are. There is on need for a big flame and it's actually possible to use only one knife and some thin wedges to remove a finger board. That said, I actually have several knives that are different shapes and thicknesses.

Of course, it's an open flame so precautions must be taken to protect against unintended fires. My work area doesn't get much sawdust and my solvents are sealed away. I also make sure that there is nothing in the "heat zone" above the burner that might not do well with concentrated heat.

Ned

[FRANK]

I HAVE GONE A DIFFERENT ROUTE WITH PULLING THE INLAY OUT AND FLIPPING THE FINGER BOARD OVER PRESSING IT AGAINST THE HEATING PAD DIRECTLY oops caps and pulling the finger board off with a floor scraper razor it is used for scraping concrete floors clean when they are dulled a bit they work great on pulling fingerboards with in 30 minutes of heating the entire finger board to over 200 degrees takes me about 5 minutes to pop a finger board if your MOTs are MOP dont even pull em just heat it up watching your finish.. this is a job for someone who is going to stand there and carefully watch smell everything going on is not a job for the beginner if you are starting out i tried my first 3 or 4 times with thrashed guitars that were not going in for repair and practice makes perfect hope this helps CHEERS PHB