Can the fingerboard on Niteflys (and other models) be removed?

[ETS]

I was wondering if, like standard guitars, the fretboard could be removed with heat and if any other special precautions were needed to protect the glued on frets.

[vjmanzo]

Hi @ETS—I know that our fellow member @billy has done it, but it’s not easy and the potential for a catastrophe is great. If you asked @Ken Parker he would say no. According to Ken, at Parker Guitars, if something went wrong with more than a few frets on an instrument, they would not try to remove the existing fretboard, but instead would remove all of the frets on the existing board and simply add a new fretted board on top of the one that was already bonded to the wood. This process is, incidentally, why some Fly/NiteFly necks are chunkier than others.

Below are images of the fingerboard I have that someone attempted to remove from a Fly—it has a lot of wood bonded to it even with great efforts to remove it cleanly.

It’s not impossible, but if you’re going to do it, proceed with caution.

#FretIssues