As someone whose hobbies are woodworking and playing guitar, I can genuinely appreciate your work brother!

That looked like a very hard job. I'm glad that it was brought to someone who takes so much care to get the details right. The end result was superb.

Perseverance and attention to detail make you a premier class luthier. A beautiful, hard faught for, result.

When I did this I removed all frets and the nut. In heated the board with a clothes iron. It came off super easy no struggle like it looks like you were having.

A meticulous approach to the detail you needed to preserve Fantastic job a pleasure to watch

I'm allways amazed when I see work done on guitars. I am quite handy, with metal and wood, but I would never be able to pull off so many up to the finest details within all the craftmanship that is involved. At one point I would make a mistake, and blow up in smoke the whole process. Very well done.

What an amazing restoration job, a delight to watch. Manufacturing quality from Fender in 1990 seemed to be not as good as it is today, they were still plagued by lot of vices from the 80's I'm guessing, and trying to regain their footing.

Fantastic work as always, David! Loved watching you work!

Spectacular job. Since losing Pasquale and Carlo on W 48, I really wish there were someone of your caliber around near me again.

Those side dot placements were odd. I checked my '88 Strat Plus (Maple Fretboard) and my '93 Tele Plus (Rosewood Fretboard) and both were perfectly aligned. I'm sure Fender line workers would have used a jig to hold the neck. But since it was a Custom Shop job, I guess it was done by hand. Very interesting. Whatever you charged for that repair was not enough. Superb job!

Absolute craftsmanship at its best David. My Strat has never played so well since the re fret last year …

Thank you for this video, David. It highlights the level and range of skill required to be a first class luthier. As an amateur dabbler in luthiery, I attempted to remove an ebony fretboard, which behaved in the same way, and resulted in the board repeatedly splintering. Possibly, the brittle nature of ebony combined with the nature of some glues makes destruction inevitable.

This is really interesting and relaxing to watch. I can tell your work is top tier with incredible attention to detail. I’ll be coming to you when I need one of my guitars improving or changing.

Welldone David, superb work

Brilliant work as always David. That ebony board really looks the business! All the best and continued success for 2024.

Superb work. Real craftsman you are. Painstaking work. Very interesting to watch this.

Hi David, looking forward to this video. Happy new year.🎸 Well that turned out pretty darn good. What an unbelievably difficult repair, you are without doubt a very skilled craftsman and a brave chap to boot. Brilliant video 🍻🎸

Many thanks it is a privilege to watch you work a happy and healthy new year to you

Thanks for taking the time to answer, I appreciate it, and I am glad you have an exemplary instrument at last

Now I know who to go to if anything needed, thank you David. Best regards from ENGLAND

The repair is amazing. Watching the video is quite relaxing also.

Thank you for a marvelous insight into your work. Fabulous!

Fantastic work David 👍

With such a high caliber of craftsmanship, do you think the owner wanted the series number to be covered so that he could sell the guitar without having to disclose the level of repair put into it? Fabulous work btw!

So good. You did an amazing job. I would be thrilled to own and play this neck. Tremendous.

Wow, I loved watching your meticulous approach and/or your attention to detail. A job well done, inspiring 👏

This video deserves some sort of award. I loved every part of this!

Beautiful work! I have an '88 Strat Plus with the locking tuners. My only comment is regarding the string wrapping. If you are using drop tunings like I do, it is better to allow for a bit more winding on the tuners so that the string bend point is not involved when the string is loosened which will cause the string to break at the bend from the bending action itself. Also, it the sting clamping device vibrates loose (which they do), you still have a a wind or two to hold the string tension. Something I learned along the way. That said, I learn way more from you than that tidbit! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Fantastic job. But I think the new fretboard fitted the body real well. It looked mint!

Beautiful work

Great work , very impressive .

Absolutely masterful work

Fantastic results and craftmanship; easily one of the best luthiers out there!

I saw another guy on KZfaq do the same thing only he used a thickness sander to remove the fretboard. But his was twice as long and not any better than the end result. He was very much an amateur at this. I could tell since I too have had to remove I don't know how many fretboards in my day. I always do them the same way that you did. Perfect results. I'm only glad that you didn't have any more problems that you already did. I make compound radius fretboards but I am a professional. I've been doing this for more than thirty years. I think this is my thirty fourth or thirty fifth year. I have two necks in the works as of this writing (2/2/2024). I make my truss rods much simpler. It's only routed straight in the channel so as to facilitate a simpler adjustment and replacement. I have no steel brad in the middle to counteract - it's the job of the neck to do that. This isn't a bi-flex truss rod that Fender touts but I make my own single action truss rods that are more dependable and durable. They don't have a separate collar attached to them or anything else welded to them. So as long as the guitar is tuned and treated properly I don't ever have to worry about warping or twisting which double action truss rods have been known to do in the past. Thank you very much for sharing this so that those who have never had to do this can see how its properly done - and by a true professional.

18:23 dude the fretboard blank i would take over the regular ebony... Great job my friend, i like that you take your time and care. Wish i was in your area I'd get you to work on my basses......

Wonderful repair 👏🏼

After seeing the number of rather difficult obstacles you needed to overcome, my respect for you went up even ANOTHER notch!!! 😅 Truly not a job for the faint of heart. Happy New Year, sir!!!

Very nice work. God bless...

Another masterful video...kudos!

Excellent job sir…..as always

Friend, you do amazing work. I love those X-rays.

Brilliant job!!

Nice job, as per your usual. I've subbed to many Channels I rarely get to your videos until they're a month or 2 old. Any way, great job!!!!

Great job. 👌🏻

Better than factory, beautiful work!

I’ve said it before dave. You are a master craftsman

Wonderful work... It´s hard to see any fretboard replacing...

MasterClass work here!!

I completely understand why the owner would want this done. However, I find it ironic that Leo Fender made these with bolt on necks to avoid the expense of requiring this kind of work.

Good job.

well done

Great Job ! What kind of bridge is on that Strat ? Also, where do you get that great Ebony from ? Also, What kind of tuners are on that Strat ? Looks Great ! Thanks

In 1990 Fender was still using glue that could withstand “the heat” of 80’s shredders. The fretboards cooled off considerably when Nirvana hit the scene shortly thereafter. 😂

EXCELLENT.

If the player does not want to keep the old fretboard at all, how about use a Japanese saw or a multi-tool to cut all the way through and then plane the neck? I guess it is easier than struggling with removing the layer of glue.

It may have been eaiser to reomove the frets an plane the fretboard away. Less risk. Fabulous job!

Great stuff .Btw is there a British version of StewMac ?it's a bit expensive paying the post from th U.S.

Great work as always. Did you put the truss rod retaining screw through the fretboard? And also, I just wondered if you have ever got to the point of needing to pull out all of the old frets and just plane off the old fretboard?

What is that metal circle on the bottom of the heel of the neck? My Dean has the same metal circle and there is a grub screw in the back plate that will hit it. I assume it's for adjusting the neck. Other guitars I have do not have that grub screw or the metal plug in the neck heel.

Wow, what a pain!! I've never seen one fight that hard before. Just curious why you didn't start from the headstock end when it started splitting like that.

Bruh….next level

Get yourself a monokote iron used un the rc airplane industry to iron on plastic covering on balsa wood. Its a perfect tool for vreaking the glue bond on electric guitar necks... Way better and wY easier than the way I saw you do it here.

a close look at ther treble side and its even @1.23 in!

That was very challenging, and you did a great job; but it looks to me like there was plenty of wood in the original fretboard, which could have simply been re-profiled and then refretted. Was this not the case?

pain in the ass Fingerboard award 🏆goes to this Strat phew.

There’s NO WAY I’d be having this done without having a custom piece of wood as the fretboard and some cool new abalone (at least) inlays. How boring to make it EXACTLY how it was. 😕 Amazing work though!

Do you mind revealing the pricerange one has to calculate if one were to want to do that aswell... for example a change from laurel to ebony ?

Remove the frets. Place cloth on fret board. Apply iron. Even heat across the fret board. Probably use lower heat as a result off even heating?

9.5” to 20” radius? Wow! That poor guitar! I could understand a 9.5” to 12” compound but that’s nuts

Never knew that screw was there below the inlay on the 7th fret.

Where do I get those bands that keep things together during gluing?

i actually thought you considered discarding the bi flex rod system, on glue up of position dots!

How do you cut the side dots down without damaging the finish?

Excellent work sir., novice question?, would it be possible to remove the frets and use a planer to remove the fretboard?, then sand the mating surface of the maple flat to accept the new fretboard?, much respect sir, I do repairs and setups, but nowhere near this level of professional work.

why not heating the fretboard while setting it under tension with the knife? I imagine it should pop off easy with that method ..

Were the fret slots cut flat or 9.5 degrees?

Weren't the original fretboard markers mother of pearl? It's hard to tell on the video but they look solid white on the new board. Maybe they're just new and bright. 😊

Any reason why it wasn’t possible just to re-radius the fretboard?

Why didn't use use an iron to heat up the fretboard?

Dude, you need to get yourself a monocote iron. It works so much better than what you're doing. You're just laid that iron on top of the frit board and it Heats it up, and it loosens all that glue up so you don't have near as much trouble. Getting those fretboards off and you won't pull as much wood up out of the neck itself

Leo Fender must be laughing his ass off. A bit like taking the tread off your tyre whilst the wheel is still on the car.

May i ask why you didn’t just take the frets off and sand it back to 9,5 again?

happy new year sir

Next time,, use white vinegar with a syringe. White vinegar is the only chemical which disengages glue !! Thank me later!!

Why og why put the truss Rod in from the rear when you’ve built a two piece neck! 🤷‍♂️ I’m guessing the conc machines were set up for one piece necks at the time.

Like others I’m struggling with the value of this repair vs using a replacement neck. I get it’s a custom shop instrument - but even those don’t really hold their value. How did you ensure proper fret slot position? I see the slotted position guide on the table saw - but it looked like they were eyeballed.

Some people need to stop using the Internet making them think they are a luthier! I've been a part time guitar repairer for 30 ish years and removing a fretboard is a very very tough job! I do love a ebony board on a fender neck they just look so so good!

You can see on the initial down the board shot that the fretting is worse than the contouring; I hope this wasn't done by a professional, otherwise dude got ripped off.

Why didn't he just buy a replacement neck? This is ridiculous amount of work, time consuming.

04:58 "he decided to have it x-rayed" ... I'd like to decide that too - where on earth can you have your guitars x-rayed?????

pretty sure I would have just use a radius block to sand original neck back down to 9.5, lotta work and now its not original, plenty of meat on that fretboard to take her back down to a 9.5, plus you wont find as good of wood today as they used back then.. watch that fingerboard wont break in like the original . . . fine repair otherwise

YOU cant do that with a maple fret board...LMAO

I can't understand why Fender still use that ugly and antiquated skunk stripe on necks with separate fingerboards, it makes no sense at all kind of like Gibson and their terrible headstock /neck method of construction! Fender wouldn't need to worry about fiddle farting around with (bi-flex) rubbish if they just routed the truss rod slot from the top on their guitars with 2 piece necks! I personally only use spoke wheel truss rods on my builds unless a client has to have an old school rod, yes I realize nobody cares!

Perhaps they used different glues on each side of the fretboard?

I wonder why dont you use hammer to push the blade under?

Heat gun and a little paint thinner