repairing repairs, electric neck reset
Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2016 4:27 pm
Evening folks, used to hang out in these parts back around the turn of the century, place has changed abit since those days. Anyway I got this old 65' Melody Maker that had its neck broken off the body, looks like some of the body came with it as well. Who ever repaired it just sort stuck it on ran a dowel through the neck used a fair amount of some sort of glue with gap filling qualities, I assume epoxy, and than refinished it. Not surprisingly, the neck angle is abit off, about 0 degrees or so. and I have been debating how to go about repairing it for awhile now. I had hoped some time under tension would open up the old repair, but I am not that lucky, 6 months under tension and not even a crack in the finish. So I am here to seek advice, what would you all do?
Options I have considered:
Just make a new bridge to bring the action down the 1/8" or so needed. Simple and quick but I would not be able to use the vibrola. To use the vibrola I will need to raise the bridge at least 1/4" from its current, screwed down all the way.
Pull the finger board off, throw in an adjustable truss rod and throw the fingerboard back with a wedge shaped shim between it and the finger board. But there is at least one dowel through the board/neck/body could be a dowel over screw and there could be more hiden by the finish sticking into the back of the board. This guitar also had the neck break at the headstock, there is a dowel there as well and who knows what else hidden behind finish and fingerboard. So I am not real confident about the finger board coming off in any way cleanly if at all.
Plane the finger board down to be the shim, adjustable truss rod and put on a new finger board. Once again the unkown is the rub, there could be some metal in those old joints and there certainly is a good amount of epoxy in the neck break repair, I really do not car for the effect either can have on my plane blades but this is the current beat idea.
Just go at it and do what it takes to get the neck off and set properly. I suspect this would just end in tears.
So any other ideas? What would you do?
Thanks, Adam
Options I have considered:
Just make a new bridge to bring the action down the 1/8" or so needed. Simple and quick but I would not be able to use the vibrola. To use the vibrola I will need to raise the bridge at least 1/4" from its current, screwed down all the way.
Pull the finger board off, throw in an adjustable truss rod and throw the fingerboard back with a wedge shaped shim between it and the finger board. But there is at least one dowel through the board/neck/body could be a dowel over screw and there could be more hiden by the finish sticking into the back of the board. This guitar also had the neck break at the headstock, there is a dowel there as well and who knows what else hidden behind finish and fingerboard. So I am not real confident about the finger board coming off in any way cleanly if at all.
Plane the finger board down to be the shim, adjustable truss rod and put on a new finger board. Once again the unkown is the rub, there could be some metal in those old joints and there certainly is a good amount of epoxy in the neck break repair, I really do not car for the effect either can have on my plane blades but this is the current beat idea.
Just go at it and do what it takes to get the neck off and set properly. I suspect this would just end in tears.
So any other ideas? What would you do?
Thanks, Adam