Hi:
I've got a piece of red oak that I plan to use as a fingerboard on my latest build. Thing has a slight bend to it: not pronounced, but you can see daylight between it and the neck if you put them together. Should I go through the trouble of straightening the thing out, or should I scrap it and look for a perfectly straight piece? I've had one neck bow to the point of uselessness already; I don't want to go through that again.
Thanks,
Vince
Replies
It's an old piece of 1/4" red oak that I picked up a Lowes a number of years back. I found it sitting in the garage. I'd made two other fingerboards from it; one straight as an arrow, the other one bowed as I'd mentioned. The neck I'm building is made of poplar, about an inch thick. The local Woodcraft shop has rather nice pieces of bubinga and other hardwoods; I shall inquire there. The price should still be reasonable, as long as I don't have to buy the whole board. :-)
I am not sure if a Poplar Neck would be strong enough to counter the twist of Oak. It might be, I just don't know. Can you take the Red Oak down to 1/8 or 3/16? That might help, then again a new piece of Red Oak, 1/4 x 2 x 2 feet is only $1.60 or so (at Loews)
if it is thin, and you are gluing it to a nice strong straight piece of neck material, you'll be ok. Double check the straightness before stringing it up so you can correct anything if needed. No rules- learn what you can off that hunk of wood. Qgolden is right too- not much money involved to get a better piece to use and what you have can be used for bracing material or bridge or a bookshelf or a...
Good point,
My comments were based upon my presumption that his Neck and Fingerboard were one in the same.
Thx
excellent point. I had one with a slight bend once and strung it up in a way so the string tension would pull it back straight. It actually worked- lol. I have one I am in the process of building that the neck has a slight twist, but it is mostly in the box. A little nervous on this one. If it has issues I'll set the action high and use it for slide. Wish I had a planer and a table saw.
How thick is the fingerboard piece? I get the 1/4 inch thick pieces from Home Depot, and some of them have a slight bow to them, but I glue the fb to the neck, and clamp them to the workbench. They come out pretty straight all the time.
In my opinion, and that is all it is. I would scrap it. Red Oak for a fingerboard is not very expensive and it is not worth the risk of it bowing after you work with it. How old is it? Why did it bend? Oak from the Big Box stores is frequently crowned or bowed, oak from Woodworking stores seldom is. I think it is largely handling and storage. .Did it get damp after it was Kiln Dried? If it still has the moisture in it, and you plane it flat, it will likely spring back after it dries, and undo you work..
You could straighten it, cut it into several strips, alternate and revers the strips to turn it into a laminate and glue it back together, but that is quite a bit of work for the want of salvaging a piece of wood. Of course you can color the laminate layers and create a very cool effect.
FWIW:
I bought an oak table once from in back of an antique/junk/used furniture store. By "back of the store" I mean outside. It was damaged, and not good enough to sell. For the offer of a few dollars I hauled it home, and cut pieces of nice vintage white oak off of it for years. Every piece lay dead flat.
Good luck.