Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

[shreddermon]

Alright, first off I'm a total freakin' doofus. I'm smacking my own forehead right now. I bought a new KE2T (2 yr NOS) a couple of weeks ago. And, while I thought I did a thorough inspection when it came in, I obviously missed this.

I haven't had a lot of time to play it since. So, today, thinking the fretboard looked a little parched, I decided to give it the old lemon oil lube and re-string. And that's when I first noticed...



Yep. The fretboard has cracks in the circled areas. To my untrained eye, they appear to have been caused by overly dry fretboard wood. But I'm no expert, and have never experienced this problem. Right now, this is only a cosmetic issue. The cracks do not affect playability or feel at all. If fact, the closeup pic makes them appear worse than they really are.

So I'm hoping to get some advice from those of you that are more tech experienced and/or have had this problem. My questions are:

- How serious is this problem?
- What do you think the chances are that the cracks will get worse and spread over time?
- Is it repairable? How, and is that worth it?
- WTF should I do? [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Regarding the latter, my options are:

- Keep the guitar, not worry about it and hope for the best.
- Send the guitar back to the dealer now for a refund. (An internet buy, and this condition was not disclosed. Admittedly, it wasn't easy to notice, though, so I'm confident the dealer wasn't trying to pull a fast one.)
- Keep the guitar, and invoke the Jackson warranty to have it repaired.

I really dig the axe, and would very much prefer to keep it. However, if chances are it's going to get worse, it may be best to cut my losses now. Maybe going the warranty route splits the difference? ...Also, bear in mind that this is a discontinued model. So it's basically impossible to get another like it, absent paying more than twice as much to do a custom order.

Thanks in advance for the help and advice guys. [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[sully]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

very simple fix....all you need is a new razor blade, 0000 steel wool, and some super glue.

first step:

hold the razor blade with both hands, and scrape the fretboard in the area of the crack. pull the razor in the direction of the grain, but you don't have to give it a whole lot of pressure. this will generate some ebony dust, and as soon as you have a bit of a dusting, push it into the crack, and drip some glue over it. let it dry, and scrape it smooth.

when you've got them filled in, you'll take a small piece of steel wool and work out the scrapes/scratches, and go with the grain. the area will look better, and then hit it with linseed oil, not lemon oil. (in fact, get rid of the lemon oil altogether...there's better stuff to use.)this will seal the wood much better than lemon oil ever could.

anyway, that's basically it in a nutshell, it's not too hard, and you can certainly fix it no problem! if it'd help, i'd be more than happy to walk ya through it over the phone; i've been doing a lot of this lately.

sully

[shreddermon]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

Sounds simple enough, Sully. But will this keep the cracks from spreading in the future?

[sully]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

yeah, the glue will fill the cracks and keep them from moving.

sully

[stsk]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

ok sully, what if the crack is huge and and it goes from like the 15 to the 22 fret?

[sully]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

same process, amigo. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[mm2002]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

I have used the same method Sully speaks of a million times and it does work! It's basically the same method you use to fill in around inlays too. You can use super glue or epoxy, depending on how much "finesse" you utilize! The super glue is quicker but the epoxy probably provides more strength. Either way, it'll work and the crack will not continue to grow.

[shreddermon]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

I took a crack at it today, and it turned out great! It's fairly tedious work. Took a good couple of hours. Not difficult per se, but you've got to take real care scraping with the blade to get a decent enough amount of ebony dust going, while not pressing so hard as to gouge the wood.

I pretty much got 85 or 90% of it. The 17th fret might need a quick second effort, as it didn't fill out completely. I only seemed to "narrow" the crack about halfway. But it's very acceptable now - looks more like a wide gap in the grain, rather than a "crack". That was the biggest one, and I probably just didn't fill it with enough dust and/or wore down the filler a little too much with the steel wool. If I go back at it, I'll wait until at least the next string change anyway.

If I get a chance in the next couple of days, I'll shoot up an "after" picture in this thread.

Sully, you rule again, bro! Thanks. [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[MetalMedal II]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

I took a crack at it today...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You used the term "crack" consciously as a pun, right? [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] Glad it worked out. Did you end up using super glue as the adhesive? I've got a Carvin that needs the same attention.

Hey Sully, when you say "hit it with linseed oil," do you mean boiled linseed oil or raw linseed oil?

[sully]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

as far as the linseed goes, i have the boiled variety, but only because that's what they had in the store. i don't know if one works better than the other, personally.

and mister shred, i'm glad that you did it! guitars aren't super fragile beings, and always remember that just about everything on a guitar is fixable; there's not much you can't undo.

sully

[MetalMedal II]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

Yeah, boiled linseed oil is what I have too. I've also used lemon oil in the past. Currently, I use this stuff called "Guitar Honey" by Gerlitz that I got from a local shop. It comes in a 2 oz pump spray bottle for a few bucks. It doesn't say what's in it (surprise, surprise!) but it's light amber in color and has a viscosity that's between linseed and lemon oil. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a mixture of both these oils.

I wish I could find out what Jackson put on the rosewood boards of the Model series way back when. When I got my new Model 2, I didn't put anything on the board for the 1st 5 years I owned it, and it still had an oiled/waxy feel to it, almost like it was impregnated with a wax or something. I think I actually heard of some people sealing a dark wood board by rubbing some wax on it. Anyone else hear of this?

[shreddermon]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

Originally posted by MetalMedal II:
You used the term "crack" consciously as a pun, right? [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] Glad it worked out. Did you end up using super glue as the adhesive?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Doh! No, that pun was not intended. I "crack" myself up, though. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] The super glue worked fine.

Sully - while guitars may not necessarily be "fragile", who knows what I'm capable of doing to 'em. If I were a starting dentist, I'd probably use a jackhammer. [img]graemlins/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

I almost tried the linseed oil suggestion, too, but the hardware store only had the "boiled" variety. And I vaguely remember reading in an Earlwhine (sp?) book that he recommends the non-boiled. ...I don't remember why, though. [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img] They're probably both just as good, though.

And, oh, BTW. For anyone else who may try this themselves: Tape over your pickups before using the steel wool. Otherwise, you'll get shavings sticking to the magnets everywhere. (...Yes, I knew enough to do this ahead of time. [img]graemlins/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] )

[eddiewarlock]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

Neal Moser recommended boiled linseed oil in the bcr forum, so i guess both are fine [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[shreddermon]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

Here's an "after" pic...



I decided to wait on stringing her up, and did the second effort first. So, it's all done now. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Something I learned the second time around... Use the razor to scrape off the top-most excess super glue off while it's still wet or gummy. Maybe wait a only few minutes. With the second effort, I let it harden as is overnight, figuring that might help fill in the crack better. Well, it's a lot harder to scrape off all that hardened excess, when you could've taken care of 75% of it (the stuff not in the cracks) before it dried. A lot harder this way, particularly around the frets. And it doesn't necessarily help fill in the cracks any better.

[MetalMedal II]

Re: Uh Oh - Fretboard Cracks (Please Help)

Nice job! From the photo, I can't find any trace of the cracks.

As an aside, this thread prompted me to take out my '91 Carvin which has had a similar crack to yours for that past 13 years. It hasn't grown at all, but it still bothers me. I chickened out on doing it myself, as it's a great guitar and I don't trust myself with superglue....Wood glue is one thing, where I know I can easily clean up spills/excess. But with superglue, lord knows how many ways I can instantly bond myself with the guitar! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] The local luthier I go to said he'd fill it for like $15 so I gave it to him to do. Hopefully, it'll turn out as good as yours!