Collings Neck Reset

[anthony mas]

Hey Team, I have a Collings CW Mhg A, and the rod is pegged. I'm logging 4/32 on # 12 fret. The top end is a little stiff. I got to say she is well balanced on a G chord so I really don't want to scrape any of the saddle down. Spanning a straight edge down the neck and the ruler drops about a 1/4 inch down the bridge, yup time for a neck reset. I checked out Franks blog on a Collings neck reset and I believe it's something I might try however I have one question that was not covered on the blog. Do I need to score the varnish down the heel prior to removing the neck on a Collings? I have done a few Martins and it's mandatory to score down the heel prior to a steam off. I inspected the Collings joint and it appears to me that the neck and body may have been sprayed separately Can anybody chime in.

[Doc Rathwell]

 There shouldn't be any finish between the neck and body joint of Martin's. Collings also finish their necks and bodies separately.

Best wishes,

Doc :-)

Collings: http://www.collingsguitars.com/Tour/neck.html

[Doc Rathwell]

And you can see the Martin's going through their robot spray in the following video:https://youtu.be/DKAortw_jQg

Best wishes,

Doc :-)

[Frank Ford]

NO STEAM

Collings necks are bolted onto the body and there is NO glue in the joint!

Often enough the neck can be reset without complete removal, but if you are removing the neck entirely, you do need to heat and unglue the fingerboard extension over the body, of course. 

For some thoughts on resetting without removal, check this article on doing a similar job on an older Taylor:

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Guitar/NeckReset/...

[Kerry Krishna]

Anthony, call Mark Althans at Collings and ask. 

[Frank Ford]

Sorry, Kerry - I accidentally deleted your follow-up suggest of contacting Collings by email.  

Anthony -  If  you do contact Collings, you'll want to ask for some extra neck block plugs.  You can't remove the plugs that cover the neck block bolt holes without damaging them.

[anthony mas]

Got it. Took it to Maple Street Guitar in Atlanta. Jeff had made a truss rod wrench with a wooden handle to give a little more torque to streighten out the neck. I'm at 3/32 at twelve. I can live with that. Thanks to all the feed back.

[Paul Verticchio]

So a truss rod adjustment brought it up to your preferred spec and a neck "reset" wasn't necessary?

[Andrew]

Gotta be careful "torqueing" truss rods. They're not wheel nuts. I hope you got some lubrication on the threads first.

[anthony mas]

Paul it was kinda weird I threw a streight edge on it at full tension with med strings and she fell 1/4 inch below the bridge. That's an indication of a reset to me. Then I pulled the strings off and checked it again and the streight edge fell right on top of the bridge. I installed some lighter strings and checked one more time and the streight edge fell a sixteenth off. Very purplexed, I have never seen a neck act like this. During all this time I had the truss rod pegged. Apparently Maple Street Guitars with the modified wrench got another turn from the truss rod enough to lower the action a 32nd at marker 12. That's where she sits today. I will give her a few days to see how she settles.