Hello Richard – sorry for the late reply!
The board is ebony, of very nice quality, but I’ve used round wounds on it since I got the neck in the early eighties, and it’s been surfaced a couple of times since. It’s got the usual round wound divots, which can be sanded out, but the neck is at the point where it’s getting perilously thin front-to-back. And as much as I like it, the 5th-string A dead spot has gotten worse with use, so it could use some stiffening.
There’s still a fair amount of fingerboard, and it’s slab rather than veneer (e.g., flat bottomed). The process I have in mind – and I’m absolutely open to other options – is to do the following:
- Find someone with a Bridgeport to mill the face flat
- maybe mill in a couple of slots for carbon fiber reinforcement and epoxy ’em in nice and tight
- re-mill the face flat
- glue on a new ebony fingerboard blank with appropriate glue – not sure what to use
- re-radius fingerboard and (probably) put a finish on it (so it doesn’t wear out quite so fast).
I’ve thought about doing it myself, and honestly if I had more time on my hands I probably would. But I just don’t have the time, right now…..
