Neckblock shifted on a Gibson acoustic...
The customer brings his latest "eBay find", a Gibson Southern Jumbo, in for high action. It's from the '70's and definitely needs the neck reset. Fair enough.
Upon closer inspection, the top cracks and the neck angle all point to a bigger problem. Looking inside, I see where someone has tried to "jack-up" the neck under the tongue, and ran a bunch of glue into the neckblock area. It has every indication of having been left in a hot car at some point. The damage is pretty subtle... the top crack through the rosette has just barely staggered the rings, the treble-side shoulder has drooped a bit....but it's all painting a nasty little picture.
The neck is off now (reset begun) and my question is: how best to unglue and reset the neckblock? All opinions certainly welcomed.... thanks.
Upon closer inspection, the top cracks and the neck angle all point to a bigger problem. Looking inside, I see where someone has tried to "jack-up" the neck under the tongue, and ran a bunch of glue into the neckblock area. It has every indication of having been left in a hot car at some point. The damage is pretty subtle... the top crack through the rosette has just barely staggered the rings, the treble-side shoulder has drooped a bit....but it's all painting a nasty little picture.
The neck is off now (reset begun) and my question is: how best to unglue and reset the neckblock? All opinions certainly welcomed.... thanks.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bob Gaddis on
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I have used hot vinegar water to unbond casein-based glue. I have to fix my brother's 1973 J-50 which has a plethora of problems,not the least of which is a twisted maple neck. I'm tempted to replace it with a mahogany neck. There is a pretty severe crack beside the trebles side of the fingerboard and I have to replace the crumbling binding.. Not a big payoff on this guitar.
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Permalink Reply by Bob Webster on
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I seem to remember a thread similar to this one a few months back and that someone's referenced an article on Frank's frets,com site. You might want to brouse his luthiers' section for how to handle this.
Bob
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Permalink Reply by Mike Kolb on
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Yes sir, and this was it..... http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Technique/Guitar/Structural...
Frank had caught the situation 'in situ' and did a marvelous repair. This particular guitar, however, already had the neck block reglued (heavily and incorrectly) and the braces are tight (maybe reglued, maybe not... I'll never know). So my question is more along the lines of how to free the neckblock to begin repairs from scratch.
I'll certainly try the vinegar & hot water.... To be continued :)
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