An old Martin 00-17 came in today needing a neck re-set. I use a 2 x 5 heat blanket plugged into a Harbor Freight router control [thank you for the suggestion, Mr. Dudenbostel] to warm the fingerboard extension so I can separate the glue joint.
Problem: The heat from the element turned a 1/8" ivoroid fretboard position dot into powder. I don't have any ivoroid dots, don't know where to get them, doubt that they are even available, and don't want to hold up the job.
Solution: I do have ivoroid binding material. I super-glued a small piece to a short length of 1/8" dowel, let it set for a few minutes in a vise, clipped the ivoroid into rough shape with my fret cutter, and finished off the edges with a file, using the dowel as my filing guide. I left the ivoroid glued to the dowel for easy handling and glued it into the fingerboard with Duco cement. After it set for a few minutes, I clipped the dowel off with the fret cutter. An unexpected surprise was that the acetone in the Duco cement weakened the super glue bond, so the residual dowel material that was left on top of the dot after I clipped it fell right off, and it only took a minute to level the dot.
Tomorrow I will pull the neck. I hope it goes smoothly. Removing a neck is always worrisome.
I hope some other repairmen will chime in with their recent unexpected problems and how they solved them.
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