Devistation!

[samhell]

So I took a long time this weekend setting up, jointing, routing, etc a laminate guitar neck for a Rhoades V I'm building. Got a nice piece of rosewood for the fretboard and cut the fret slots. Really took my time because I want it to be perfect. Tapped in some brass alignment pins for gluing and glued that sucker up. Clamped it real good and careful. Left it there all night and when I got home from work I went right to it. Imagine Darth Vader and the NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! scene. That was me. One end shifted over 1/4" making this neck useless. One of the pins worked, I'm not sure why/how the other one failed. I was crushed. More so because I just "ruined" a neck for a Wolfgang by not using enough glue or not securing the truss rod well enough or something (it had a very very slight tick or rattle when you tapped it. Probably not noticeable by most but I noticed it so I trimmed off the fretboard and recovered the truss rod)

I ate dinner (after burning the meat on the grill from being somewhat distraught) then I sat there for an hour with a heat gun, a chisel, and listening to WTO77 and was able to "peel" the fretboard back off (I used Titebond... I'm going to have to use hide glue more for these types of mishaps). Luckily I get a 2nd chance. I chalked it up as a learning experience and now I know how to remove a fingerboard without really damaging whats underneath. I'm still disappointed in myself.

I know it probably doesn't seem like a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it kind of was to me. How does everyone else deal with stuff like this? My first instinct was to say "F this, I'm done building guitars... they all seem to go like this" but I stuck with it for for now for some reason.

[harmsdph]

I have days like this in the shop for sure. Somehow you have to figure out a way to do just what you did, call it a session go inside and think about possible solutions, the HARD part is resiting trying a quick fix or rushing into a fix without thinking it through that's when you really mess the project up or even worse you injure yourself.

All and all it sucks, but hey its just wood and you learned something.

secretly its ok to curse and throw things around though

[jgfore]

So I took a long time this weekend setting up, jointing, routing, etc a laminate guitar neck for a Rhoades V I'm building. Got a nice piece of rosewood for the fretboard and cut the fret slots. Really took my time because I want it to be perfect. Tapped in some brass alignment pins for gluing and glued that sucker up. Clamped it real good and careful. Left it there all night and when I got home from work I went right to it. Imagine Darth Vader and the NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! scene. That was me. One end shifted over 1/4" making this neck useless. One of the pins worked, I'm not sure why/how the other one failed. I was crushed. More so because I just "ruined" a neck for a Wolfgang by not using enough glue or not securing the truss rod well enough or something (it had a very very slight tick or rattle when you tapped it. Probably not noticeable by most but I noticed it so I trimmed off the fretboard and recovered the truss rod)

I ate dinner (after burning the meat on the grill from being somewhat distraught) then I sat there for an hour with a heat gun, a chisel, and listening to WTO77 and was able to "peel" the fretboard back off (I used Titebond... I'm going to have to use hide glue more for these types of mishaps). Luckily I get a 2nd chance. I chalked it up as a learning experience and now I know how to remove a fingerboard without really damaging whats underneath. I'm still disappointed in myself.

I know it probably doesn't seem like a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it kind of was to me. How does everyone else deal with stuff like this? My first instinct was to say "F this, I'm done building guitars... they all seem to go like this" but I stuck with it for for now for some reason.

Well, this type of mishap has happend to anyone that has done even one project. We all understand how you fill,, and we all deal with these situation differently. The last time it happened to me, I "Very Calmly" took a scrap piece of rough cut cherry about 1.5" x 1.5" x 46" and beat everything in my shop until I felt better. Then I went upstairs (since my shop is in my basement) and picked the splinters out of my hand for the rest of the night.

I the future, I plan on keeping some smooth scraps laying around...................or better yet...............maybe some large dowel rods.

Anyway, do not quit! Beat everything but your wife and kids, and then do it again tomorrow.

Jeff

[Pete Bennett]

Sorry never seems enough in these circumstances but what else is there? What you did was the right thing. I know it always hurts much more when you are certain you did things right, and have no way of explaining why it went wrong. At times like this I always repeat what my long dead Dad always used to say 'He who has never made a mistake has never made anything, and by definition, the more things you make the more mistakes you are bound to make.' You could add, sometimes you learn from them but, most times you do not. I think it's called life. In France they say 'C'est La Vie' for almost everything, from making love to another man's wife to falling over. Perhaps they've got a point.

At least this time the mistake only cost you your time, and you did learn something from it. You now know to use Hide glue more often and you know how to peel them off if it goes wrong again. "Life of Brian" Always look on the bright side of life.

Pete