My woodworking teacher used to say the best cabinet makers (we can substitute that for luthiers) don't not make mistakes but they are the ones who know how to hide their mistakes. This has stayed with me for years.
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Hopefully no-one will be able to tell there was ever a different fretboard. 
Last night I took a few minutes and planed the old one off in a router planing jig. And I also found some time to slot the new board. I'm hoping to make up the inlays this evening and get them in tomorrow some time. Then back on track.
Last night I took a few minutes and planed the old one off in a router planing jig. And I also found some time to slot the new board. I'm hoping to make up the inlays this evening and get them in tomorrow some time. Then back on track.
It's about time.
Do you know how hard it is to sit here all day, waiting for people to post pics for me to look at?
Do you know how hard it is to sit here all day, waiting for people to post pics for me to look at?
Inlays have been cut to rough shape, edges filled and stabilized and sanded smooth.
Partway finished the process of sanding the edges.
This was halfway through - the filler is maple dust and CA glue.
Okay I just had to laugh at this. I routed out the cavity for the first inlay, and the board moved so the cavity is off by more than 1/16". 
I have a bunch more of these roasted walnut boards, but I'd prefer not to use them all up with errors. I'll repair this one with a sliver of roasted walnut, but jeez, eh? 
Here's a little before that, when I was still riding high on how clean the inlays had come out. Ah, youth.
I have a bunch more of these roasted walnut boards, but I'd prefer not to use them all up with errors. I'll repair this one with a sliver of roasted walnut, but jeez, eh?
Here's a little before that, when I was still riding high on how clean the inlays had come out. Ah, youth.
On the bright side, those inlays, all clearly coming from the same piece, are going to look great when you get all the mistakes out of your system 
and finish up the board.
and finish up the board.
I don't make mistakes.
They're artistic alternatives.
Same thing with playing.
I don't hit "wrong" notes.
They are my artistic rendition of the song.
They're artistic alternatives.
Same thing with playing.
I don't hit "wrong" notes.
They are my artistic rendition of the song.
I'm racking my brain trying to remember what an old cabinet maker I used to work with called "mistakes". He had a funny name for them like "steps in the process" or something. He had a lot of funny little sayings. I do remember something along the lines of "nothing is a mistake until you mention it to a customer, so that's why we work in the shop and sales works up front".
Since nearly anything can be repaired with enough time and money, I like to think of errors as delays or unforeseen cost increases. Helps me with throwing things. 
Not that I didn't throw anything this time either. 
Since nearly anything can be repaired with enough time and money, I like to think of errors as delays or unforeseen cost increases.
Helps me with throwing things. Not that I didn't throw anything this time either.
I made the repair piece and then glued it in. I still have to scrape it flush and then reroute the cavity. The nutside edge of the cavity is also a little over-routed, but it's too small to hide with a glued in piece. It will end up being filled in by the sanding flour/glue mixture when the inlays go in.
Shaped to fit.
Dry fitted.
Glued in.
Shaped to fit.
Dry fitted.
Glued in.
This is exactly why I keep various medicine bottles full of sawdust
Me tooThis is exactly why I keep various medicine bottles full of sawdust
I made a few offerings at the altar of the mothman, and was able to get half of the inlays fitted last night. So far so good (knocks on wood). 
This is exactly why I keep various medicine bottles full of sawdust
I use pint ice-cream containers; I need a lot of sawdust...
Nice recovery @Beej ! Glad it didn't turn into a "nice fire" instead!
I like the figure in these inlays just a little better than the last ones.
These ones are maple I think, where the last ones were some kind of mushroom.
I left my phone inside with a little one playing games on it again, so I'll have to get pics tomorrow, but I finished routing the cavities for the fretboard inlays. I also glued them all in place with CA glue, ran a bead of CA around the edges of each and rubbed in roasted walnut wood flour, and sanded the whole board flat to 120 grit. I also narrowed the sides close to the final dimensions and I was sure to get the nut area down to close to 40mm centred. Tomorrow I'll sand in the radius and glue it on the neck.
All finished and ready to be glued to the neck.
Then, I glued it onto the neck. Well, rather I went through an ordeal gluing it to the neck. First I taped over the trussrod and then spread glue onto the neck with my finger. In the process, I ran my finger quickly over one of the locating pins, cutting myself and getting blood into the glue.
Then I spread glue onto the back of the fretboard. I peeled off the tape where the truss rod would go to leave a clean spot with no glue, and then the fretboard tumbled out of my hands and following Murphy's example of buttered bread, it landed glue face down into a pile of sawdust. I quickly grabbed it out of the pile, but since there was now 3 lbs of sawdust attached to the fretboard, it snapped in half right at the 7th fret.
I quickly scraped both pieces of fretboard, blew out the break, spread glue on the break and fitted it together tightly. It fit and held, so I spread glue over the back of the fretboard, aligned it down to the neck with the alignment pins and started clamping it gently. I wiped some paste wax on the back edge of a box cutter blade and slid it into the 7th fret slot so that when the board was clamped, I could ensure that slot was not lengthened, shortened or crooked, potentially throwing off the measured intonation of the whole fretboard. Those blades are 0.023" wide, so they fit right into the slot. I clamped it all up, crossed my fingers, and for good measure, worked on the mothman for a while. Here's a detail of the break post sanding/scraping. You can just see it running at an angle from the 7th fret slot towards the 8th.
This morning, I pulled everything out of the clamps, and not surprisingly, the board is no longer perfectly level at the 7th fret. I pulled out my leveling beam, which is an inexpensive 24" aluminum level, taped down some 100 grit and leveled the entire board. This also necessitated a run over the radius again with 120 and 220 before leveling the string paths again with 320. Looking along the edge of the board, you can't really see much, and I think it will disappear when finished.
Then, I glued it onto the neck. Well, rather I went through an ordeal gluing it to the neck. First I taped over the trussrod and then spread glue onto the neck with my finger. In the process, I ran my finger quickly over one of the locating pins, cutting myself and getting blood into the glue.
Then I spread glue onto the back of the fretboard. I peeled off the tape where the truss rod would go to leave a clean spot with no glue, and then the fretboard tumbled out of my hands and following Murphy's example of buttered bread, it landed glue face down into a pile of sawdust. I quickly grabbed it out of the pile, but since there was now 3 lbs of sawdust attached to the fretboard, it snapped in half right at the 7th fret.
I quickly scraped both pieces of fretboard, blew out the break, spread glue on the break and fitted it together tightly. It fit and held, so I spread glue over the back of the fretboard, aligned it down to the neck with the alignment pins and started clamping it gently. I wiped some paste wax on the back edge of a box cutter blade and slid it into the 7th fret slot so that when the board was clamped, I could ensure that slot was not lengthened, shortened or crooked, potentially throwing off the measured intonation of the whole fretboard. Those blades are 0.023" wide, so they fit right into the slot. I clamped it all up, crossed my fingers, and for good measure, worked on the mothman for a while.
Here's a detail of the break post sanding/scraping. You can just see it running at an angle from the 7th fret slot towards the 8th.
This morning, I pulled everything out of the clamps, and not surprisingly, the board is no longer perfectly level at the 7th fret. I pulled out my leveling beam, which is an inexpensive 24" aluminum level, taped down some 100 grit and leveled the entire board. This also necessitated a run over the radius again with 120 and 220 before leveling the string paths again with 320. Looking along the edge of the board, you can't really see much, and I think it will disappear when finished.
This is like some high level fumble-finger stuff that I'd do.
Good recovery. I'd have been in full panic mode.
Good recovery. I'd have been in full panic mode.