How to remove set neck

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simso
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How to remove set neck

Post by simso » Mon Jun 05, 2017 12:10 pm

Hey folks,

Have done a few tutorials of late, but doubtful of interest here, so hence haven't published or linked them, banjo stuff etc.

Had to do a neck reset on an old yamaha the other day, so did a walk through on how I remove the neck and the tools I use to do it with.

http://www.mirwa.com.au/HTS_Remove_Set_Neck.html

Steve
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Steve
Master of nothing,

Do your own repairs - http://www.mirwa.com.au/How_to_Series.html

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56nortondomy
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Re: How to remove set neck

Post by 56nortondomy » Mon Jun 05, 2017 5:33 pm

Nice Steve. Have you ever had a problem doing that to a guitar with a stacked heel? I've done 1 very similar to the way you've done it and found that the glue started to soften on the heel stack and slightly moved which then needed to be sanded and re finished, maybe I gave it too much steam. Wayne

blackalex1952
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Re: How to remove set neck

Post by blackalex1952 » Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:33 pm

The first time I attempted this job, it was on a cheap Takamine. I steamed and steamed away, I tightened the screw on my heel saddle thingamagig, and eventually realised that the damn thing was dowelled into place as, once the glue had softened enough, the soundboard lifted suddenly from the end block as I wiggled the neck!!! Moral, always do some serious inspection of an instrument ( particularly the cheaper ones ) and take the process slowly unless you are sure that the neck is morticed or dovetailed.
The other point I would emphasise, one you mentioned, is to thoroughly break the lacquer bond between both the soundboard and the fingerboard and the heel and sides. Guilds are particularly difficult here as most Guild neck resets I have done have quite a heavy amount of lacquer in those spots. I tend to be more thorough with the scalpel on those instruments. Fixing chips and matching colours is a lot of extra work that can be avoided. I use a bathroom heat lamp and craftwood cauls covered in alfoil so that only the fingerboard is heated through. I feel the advantages are: the temperature garadient is easily controlled by the height of the lamp above the wood surface, a surface thermometer is easily watched, the heating is hands free and allows me to do something else while it is warming, the radiant heat from the lamp seems to penetrate the wood, rather than the surface heating up first...I may be wrong on the last point, but it works for me. The lamp sits on a mic stand and can be deployed for other jobs, for example, over the go bar deck to keep things warm in winter when using hhg for bracing.
-Ross
"Everything I say on the topic is based solely upon inexperience and assumption!"

simso
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Posts: 1768
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:36 pm
Location: Perth WA

Re: How to remove set neck

Post by simso » Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:48 pm

Ross, your setup sounds good, any chance next time you take a photo and upload it.

Wayne, I think you may have steamed it for too long, I can envisage a stacked heel softening if the steam was able to penetrate the join.

I have seen people try to press the neck out using bridles like the stewmac one and so forth, for me the bridle is just to apply some bottom pressure not to extract the neck, the neck is extracted by hand, left right wiggling and then removal.

Lots of necks have dowels, horrible things they are.

One disclosure I must make, which I did not mention is don't do this to a Spanish heel, I had a customer bring a guitar in once where they had tried to do a neck reset on a Spanish heel, and there were hammer marks and split sides where they attempted to pry the neck apart from the ""neck block"" which does not exist in a Spanish heel.

Steve
Steve
Master of nothing,

Do your own repairs - http://www.mirwa.com.au/How_to_Series.html

blackalex1952
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Re: How to remove set neck

Post by blackalex1952 » Mon Jun 05, 2017 7:49 pm

It's pretty simple but does the job.
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"Everything I say on the topic is based solely upon inexperience and assumption!"

simso
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Posts: 1768
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:36 pm
Location: Perth WA

Re: How to remove set neck

Post by simso » Mon Jun 05, 2017 8:04 pm

Thanks for that, makes sense seeing the cauls wrapped in alfoil now.

What wattage bulb and how far from the surface do you find is adequate to soften the glue join on a fretboard.

I for disclosure have a setup installed in my shop for removing guitar backs fitted with two heat lamps and a temperature sensor which is it on the back.

Steve
Steve
Master of nothing,

Do your own repairs - http://www.mirwa.com.au/How_to_Series.html

blackalex1952
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Posts: 776
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:36 pm
Location: North East Victoria

Re: How to remove set neck

Post by blackalex1952 » Mon Jun 05, 2017 8:55 pm

I for disclosure have a setup installed in my shop for removing guitar backs fitted with two heat lamps and a temperature sensor which is it on the back.
If you are doing that you'll understand that for heating through, a gradual heating gradient has to be set up, so I begin with the lamp further away from the work and take it gradually closer without overheating and damaging the finish, keeping an eye on the surface thermometer. The microphone boom helps here. The idea of course is to get as much heat into the glue as possible without cooking the surface of the surrounding wood and finish. Time is our friend. So slowly heating under the lamps allows the wood to heat through.
The lamps themselves that I have came out of a four lamp bathroom vent with an exhaust fan in it. There is nothing written on the lamps indicating wattage.Too expensive to leave in a bathroom with three teenage girls who never turn lights off! Those heating exhaust fans were popular in the early 'nineties-I may have got it from Bunnings or Mitre 10. -R
"Everything I say on the topic is based solely upon inexperience and assumption!"

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