Neck reset on an 1981 Gibson J 200

[alex gray]

Hi Anyone out there have any tips on getting the neck off of one of these? It has the through tenon

under the fretboard extension.  It goes right up to the upper face brace. ( the brace has a semi circular notch ). The picture is taken with a mirror through the sound hole.  So it is the underside of the top you are seeing.. The tongue look to be about a half inch thick   As I understand it Gibson stopped using this joint in the early 90's.

Other than needing the neck set . The guitar is beautiful.

Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks A. 

[alex gray]

Hi Frank   I've had the weekend to think about this one.   What I'm going to do is to  is to dermel down through the 12 th fret slot and remove that portion of the  fretboard from the top and partially up the neck.  I'll exacto the binding loose. ( It has that point on the end )   Hopefully not breaking the binding anywhere. Then at least I'll have access  to the top of the  joint.  Then I 'll be able to  get a  pallet knife around the tongues edges.

Then when I put my steam to it I can watch what happens.  The reason I'll cut the board at the 12th and not 14th fret is to leave  some gluing surface  for when I reattach the fretboard.

Hopefully the joint will give and all will be well !

How's this sound?

Thanks A

[Gary Fried]

I would go about resetting this in the normal fashion. I did one a few years back and the joint came apart while steaming the dovetail. I don't know if I got lucky but it came out rather cleanly. I saw the guitar for a setup a few months back and it is in good shape.