Demolished Guild neck truss rod removal - how do I do THIS?

[Mark Pollock]

Okay, I'm tearing into a Guild D-35, which had a minor issue of somebody stepping on the headstock, snapping it off with lots of breakage, and then some other dipstick trying to glue it together with a c-clamp and way too much epoxy. The epoxy is all over the place, of course, including in the truss rod channel.

So, I'm going to remove a fair amount of wood, and lay in some new mahogany. Before I can make my cuts, though, I need to remove the truss rod. And, of course, it won't come out. I've tried carfeully hammering on the nut end of the thing, and it is not budging out.

My question - is the butt end of the truss rod in the heel of the guitar just stuck permanently, and therefore I just need to cut the thing out and call it a day, or is there something else I should be doing that I don't know about?

My plan is to make a couple of scarf joints, glue it all together, rout a couple channels for some carbon fiber reinforcement, and then put a new fingerboard on. This is my own personal project, so I am not limited by anything other than my desire to have a playable guitar.

[Eric Steven Johansen]

Save your self a lot of headaches and use the original board and head plate cap, assuming they are present and usable, and make a new one piece mahogany neck to the original contours. I'd add a double acting truss rod, instead of the original, and adding two strips of Carbon Fibre wouldn't hurt either.

[Mark Pollock]

Well, the board was really demolished with a large crack and a bunch of C-clamp marks, and the "cap" is just painted on the neck wood with a stencil on it. So, heck, I dunno. I was thinking double-acting rod and carbon fibre, though.

[Eric Steven Johansen]

Then I'd definitely go new. The stiffer neck is the bonus.

[Kerry Krishna]

 Mark, this looks totally unsalvagable. Mahogany is cheap, and is as close as your nearest wood store.  I think that the guitar deserves a new neck. Just my opinion though!

 So finding  someone to cut and slot a fret board for you is easy-peasy too.

[Mark Pollock]

Or, I could stop being a total wuss idiot and just use the donor neck that I was sent by a kind person, which I was resisting because the heel is a bit smaller and would require some touch up on the body - of a guitar that has all kinds of damage, and needs all kinds of help. Penny wise - pound foolish.

Thanks for the advice guys - I think I'll just use the donor neck, and do all the touch up. I needed the kick in the arse to go the easy route.

[Kerry Krishna]

Man, you are one lucky guy!    4/5 ths of the work is done then !

[Eric Steven Johansen]

You have a donor? And you weren't sure you were going to use it? I think I missed something here. Is the body that bad?

[Mark Pollock]

No, and I'm really embarrassed about this, the heel on the donor neck is narrower than the original, so I have to do serious touchup around the heel Netherlands body, and perhaps a bit on the top. For some reason, I got it into my head that it would be worse than rebuilding the original. Now that I understand the insanity of fixing the original, I'll happily use the donor.

I'll post a couple pictures when I can, and make myself even more embarrassed. Just goes to show how easy it is to get my head stuck on one idea. I'm really thankful to have this site to discuss things on.

Good news for me is that I finally get to see Gryphon music in person tomorrow, when I head down to take a class. I'm excited!