MIMF

This is going to be fun to watch. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Next step is adding some serious reinforcement to this neck. I am going to route out most of the ebony bar and install a 1/8" by 3/8" carbon fiber bar. Also installing two bars on the sides that are 1/4" high by 0.1" wide. Out comes the router jig and slots are cut.

I did a couple of modifications to my router I would like to show. I like having routers setup with a threaded feed so it works more like a vertical mill. So my Colt router in the plunge base got a Router Raizer setup. I also added a diy digital read out (DRO) that I made from a converted tire tread guage from eBay for about $7. This makes cutting a precise depth a breeze. Lower the router bit until it touches the work surface, zero out the DRO then turn the depth knob to desired reading. Let me know if you want more details on this.

So you are going for it - this will be fun - I second Bryan's post.
Questions:
- Are you not removing the neck? if not, why not?
- What are you going to replace the FB with? Braz or other rosewood?
- You are such a nerd! that router DRO is awesome!! (not a question)

1) At this point, I think it may not be necessary to remove the neck. Straightening the neck shaft may be sufficient to put the geometry right. I think it may have been reset back during the retop job in '76. After I get the carbon bars installed, I will measure the neck angle and proceed accordingly.

2) I have found some Amazon Rosewood from Allied Lutherie that is supposed to be very close in appearance to BRW. We will see when it arrives.

3) Thank you for the high complement (sincerely).

Working on getting this neck reinforced. Cutting maple splines on my binding trimmer and getting ready to glue the three assemblies into place. I use West Systems epoxy fortified with chopped polyester fiber to make it a little stronger.

Got my Amazon Rosewood from Allied Lutherie and it looks pretty good. I would think BRW if I didn't know better.

that is beautiful rosewood!! Perfect.

Yeah, I am impressed. Never used it before. But this stuff has that xylophone ring when you tap it. And the dark chocolate color of old growth BRW.

Got the carbon and filler strips inlayed and leveled. The neck feels much stiffer.

Once I started thinking about it, I realized that Chuck was onto something, "asking if I was going to remove the neck". Geometry does not require it, but refinishing and especially binding removal does require it. So out come the heat sticks. As soon as I start putting some sideways movement to the body (I have the neck elevated and secured in a vice) I noticed that one side of the dovetail is already loose! So this appears to be another cause of the floppy neck.

The other side of the dovetail loosened up in about 10 minutes and the neck came out very cleanly.

I think Chuck must have become my muse (so to speak) because I started thinking about his suggestion to replace the sides. I would really prefer to be able to save the originals but there are a number of issues:
1) Five small holes at various places. Some of them still have hanging chads but other chads are missing,
2) The crushed area at the waist with extensive spiderweb cracks,
3) A large football sized patch near the neck heel that the previous repairman did with mis-matching wood that will need replacement, and
4) Having to remove the maple binding and patch it with matching mahogany strips.

This last issue is the straw breaking the camel's back. Removing and replacing the binding will be somewhat difficult and is not likely to give satisfactory results, no matter the effort. I actually am thinking that replacing the sides will be less work than saving the old ones. Not quite ready to pull the trigger on this so I think I will sleep on the idea and decide tomorrow.

Barry, are the heatsticks the StewMac variety or did you make them yourself?

I made them. One fits into a soldering iron and the other fits into a shellac stick smoothing iron. I made them from 1/8" copper rods with brass or copper bushings on the end that fit into the irons. The copper rod is soft and it bends easily when they get hot, but I can bend them straight so it hasn't been a big problem yet.

I see that Stew-Mac has a way of hardening their copper rods, but I don't know how to harden copper.

I like that. Thank you. The StewMac one has been tempting me mostly because of the modern soldering station—my soldering tools are decades old. I have a reset coming up. It might be time to move away from steam.

I've done 3 neck removals with the heat sticks so far and they seem to work about as well as steam with the following advantages:

1) There is no finish damage created by the heatsticks, and
2) There is no need to seal up openings to keep steam from escaping, like in the photo above where the fretboard was removed and the gap between the neck and headblock was wide open.

I do, however, think that it is necessary to have two heatsticks, one for each side of the dovetail, because it is my thought that heat conduction from the heatsticks does not travel as far as hot steam does.

I just ordered a couple of these: https://www.onlinemetals.com/en/buy/ber ... gLWevD_BwE
I’m going to play.

I’ve never done a reset with steam where I didn’t have more water and moisture than I wanted in some places. I could always deal with it, but I didn’t like it.

That ought to work. Be interested in seeing if it holds up better than my soft copper rods.

Sorry to interrupt your fascinating thread (I always learn something when you do one of these), but I’ll ask one more question: Have you had any trouble making the edges of the 1/8” hole disappear? Did you plug it and sand it, fill it with sawdust and CA, or do something else?