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Warped Fingerboard

 
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kubasa
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Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Posts: 212

PostPosted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 11:46 pm    Post subject: Warped Fingerboard Reply with quote

I finished a fingerboard last December. Normally I do them as I'm ready for them but for whatever reason I completed this one in advance. I pulled it out to use and glue to my neck today and found out it had warped. It warped so bad that I can't use it. Well, I suppose I could use it for a fractional sized instrument - maybe. There haven't been any drastic changes in humidity or temperature in my workshop area so the only thing I can think of is that the wood wasn't fully seasoned. Does this sound possible with ebony? I suppose it is like any other wood but I've just never run into this in the 12 years I've been doing this. Maybe this is an obvious answer type of question but it really caught me off guard!

Thanks-
James
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Dave Chandler
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Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 691
Location: Mt Mitchell in North Carolina

PostPosted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 11:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe you dodged a bullet, warped fb rather than warped neck. New ebony supplier? Once, I bought a fingerboard from an unknown and it was so warped that by the time I planed it flat, not enough left to use. Never again.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
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kubasa
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 12:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Dave - I had never thought about a fingerboard warping a neck but that's probably a definite reality which wouldn't be good at all so you are correct that I might have dodged a bullet. It surprised me.

Do buy pre-cut blanks or rectangle blocks of ebony? I made my first board ever out of a rectangle block. It was a lot of work but I learned a great deal. Now I'm just lazy and buy the roughly pre-cut/shaped blanks!

James
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Dave Chandler
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 10:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you're buying from a well-known supplier, it should be better cured, and somewhat oversized anyway. Even so, you're only about half way there, with trimming it down to size, getting the scoop, removing excess from underside, thinning. I don't generally buy their cheapest grade -- like everything else, if you scriimp here, you could develop issues. This is true with any of the other constituent parts of the violin.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
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Michael Darnton
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Joined: 23 Mar 2007
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 4:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just an alert: you can bend boards just like ribs if you get them hot enough, and once you bend them, they stay. I use a hot plate or alcohol camping stove.
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Dave Chandler
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good to know, hadn't thought about that.
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Dave in the Blue Ridge
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Chet Bishop
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Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 678
Location: Forest Grove, Oregon

PostPosted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 11:08 pm    Post subject: warped FB Reply with quote

I have used an ordinary clothes-iron. It takes a while, but if you heat the board all the way through, or at least nearly so, and straighten it, it will stay where you put it.

Works fine.
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Michael Darnton
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 2:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chet, it was either you or Ken I got this tip from originally. At the time I'd never heard of anyone bending a board! I've done it quite a few times since.
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Chet Bishop
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 9:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It only stands to reason: archetiers bend bows that way, and they stay bent for many years, under cyclic stress in the other direction.

I'm glad it worked well for you.

The only caveat I have to offer is that I have frequently felt that I detected some small shrinkage in the board, as well-- that the board was slightly narrower than it had been before I heated it. Possibly my imagination, I suppose, as I did not actually measure, before and after. It simply didn't fit in exactly the same place on the neck.
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Mat Roop
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Joined: 24 Mar 2007
Posts: 911
Location: Wyoming Ontario

PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks for all that on bending FB's...
I have done it several times, but I used a hot air paint stripper gun for heating it, then clamp it to a solid board with wedges to keep it to the correct shape. I always worried about the board eventually returning to its warped shape , so I inlay a couple of strips of ebony, or whatever the board was made of, about the size of purfling, on the underside of the board in an X pattern, hoping that would stabilize it. Seems to have worked, but now I see that extra work is not necessary, .....except maybe old style boards with a spruce base and maple veneer on top?
Cheers, Mat
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Mat Roop
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Location: Wyoming Ontario

PostPosted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now that you have me thinking.... the warping of a fb is always beyond the neck... therefore why remove the board? Just rig up heat protection for the violin body and create a jig to spring the board back into correct shape....???
Cheers, Mat
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kubasa
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Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Posts: 212

PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

wow - I didn't realize there were several more replies to this. Thanks everyone. I hadn't thought about bending either. Now, I have to figure out if I can do notifications on posts so I don't post and then wander off again!
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