Ouch! Taylor 110 took a hit

[Christian Johnson]

Customer brings in his Taylor 110 complaining that the action has gotten higher.  Neck angle issue.  Neck took a hit forward,as seen in heel separation from binding.  Internal neck bolt washers show signs of crushing, as they've been pulled into the neck block.  Is this a simple matter of detaching the neck, adding Taylor shims. and replacing with bigger washers to redistribute the load over good wood?  Or other matters?  The rest of the guitar seems fine.

[Christian Johnson]

Hello?  Anybody?

[Greg Mirken]

A picture of the separation would facilitate a meaningful reply. Did the owner admit to the cause of the damage? That's a strong joint and a blow is much more likely to result in a cracked heel or headstock.

[Christian Johnson]

I'll try to get an inside picture.  Greg, I think we have a mutual friend in the amazing Mark Hanson.  He lives not too far from me.  I saw him on Tuesday.

Owner doesn't know how it happened.  This is a pawn shop guitar, so who knows.  Can you see the heel pulled from the body binding in the photo?

[William F.Eden]

It is maybe just me but I can't tell what the picture is ? Bill.............

[Greg Mirken]

If you had that photo up before, sorry I didn't see it. Pull the neck and see if you can get it to seat all the way down. Is there a gap under the fretboard? Your approach of using bigger washers to spread the force is fine, as long as the bolts are solid in the heel.

Yes, Mark has been a friend for ages, from back when he was an editor at FRETS magazine and Margie and I wrote for the mag.

[Christian Johnson]

Bill, the photo is the Neck heel/back/neck block area.  Note the separation from the binding.  It's about 1/16th". The joint is stable, though.

Thanks, Greg

[Paul Verticchio]

I'm still not envisioning the complete "issue" picture.

Could you post some additional photos from additional angles?

Thx Chris (-:

[Christian Johnson]

Monday.

[Kerry Krishna]

 I would be seeing if I could get a feeler gauge under the back/endblock interface too. With damage like this, it may well be separated. 

[Christian Johnson]

Kerry, I agree.  The "neck block" on this level Taylor is pretty  weak/small.  Not much wood there.

[Guitar Fixer]

Hello Christian

The neck needs to be reset. Remove the 3 bolts and pull the neck. You'll see a Nylon washer against the heel block. Discard that, don't reinstall it. Taylor uses one laser cut spacer on this older 100 series design. You could add a little shim under the spacer close to the soundhole and retighten the bolts. That may do it or you could try to get some spacers from Taylor. They are numbered and you may have to increase to a number from 12 to 20 digits higher then the existing one. Don't sweat the gap between the binding and heel cap. It's intensional to allow for different neck angles without impeding the neck fit. When you done with the reset fill in the void with a non-hardening black putty such as "Mohawk Color Fil".

Skip

[Christian Johnson]

Thanks, Skip.  My next step was to call Taylor for the shims!