12 Fret Anniversary Model part 4

Attaching the fingerboard

Ebony fingerboard glued and clamped in place

The fingerboard has been prepared in advance, and is an exact fit onto the Wengé neck. The truss-rod is placed in its slot (padded in the centre to eliminate rattle) and the fingerboard is glued and clamped. The large number of clamps is not to exert great pressure but to spread pressure along its length.

The guitar head is clamped in a gun maker’s vise, this brought to me by guitar guru Dan Erlewine around 20 years ago. Wonderfully versatile, I now wonder how I managed previously.

The larger clamps are relatively new; the smaller ones are decades old, some distorted by over-tightening, but all are fine for this job.