Official Luthiers Forum!

I finally aligned my first tenor uke neck with the body, using a 10-32 allen head cap screw and steel insert. The neck did not seem as tight as I would like , an will add another lower screw. My question concerns glueing down the fingerboard. In previous builds Using either a butt or lap joint , I have glued down the fingerboard to the upper bout of the uke. Do any builders just let the fingerboard float ??. i.e. not glue it down. This would allow the neck/body joint to be taken apart very easily. but it (fingerboard) could also get knocked out of alignment if dropped . What are your thoghts and opinions on glueing down a fingerboard using screws and threaded inserts??

I've done both glued and unglued. Usually I start out unglued and play it for a while just to be sure I'm happy with the neck angle. I've gone back and glued some of them....some I just never got around to
I don't really notice any difference in tone after its glued. I use two 10-32 bolts on my tenor necks so there's no problem with the neck rotating. For one bolt I would glue it to keep alignment once I'm confident everything is ok

thanks quinne, I was wondering about that too. Do you just use an ordinary black 10-32 hex bolt ??. I/m assuming you glued the 1 st bolt in with epoxy, once you got the correct neck /top bout straight an flat ?? This is my first bolt on !

Yup, just a regular bolt....socket head cap screws that take an allen wrench. I don't glue them in but I use a lock washer and a flat washer. I usually paint the washers black with a sharpie to match

Spoke to my machinest, black cap allen head cap screw with a lockwasher and reg washer are#8 the 10-32 black bolt is #5. I went to harboring freight and got an allen head key with a 3/8in adapter on it coupled with a miniratchet and small extension let me get at the allen key through the soundhole . Thanks quinne for the input