1980 Yamaha FG-345 - Neck Reset+

Originally posted 11/4/2019.

I removed the neck Saturday evening, 2 days ago. We were out most of the weekend. I tried to fit it in when we finally got home. 

The fretboard separated fairly easily with no binding damage. That’s where the fun ended. I should have cut the finish at the heel joint FIRST. The late 70’s & later models have a thicker finish and a large lacquer radius is the heel joint. When forcing the fretboard up I cracked the finish at the heel joint, some of which fell out.

It probably took me an hour to cut the thru the finish at the heel radius with a scalpel. That is not fun. Then I removed the 15th fret, drilled the 2 holes and used steam to remove the neck. It seemed to loosen fairly quickly but the bottom seemed stuck, but not like usual. I used more pressure from the neck jig and popped it out. It seemed like all went well! Until I looked closer. I had cut thru the paint at the heel binding, and usually the steam releases the glue that holds the binding to the heel. Not this time. Note to self – Cut completely thru the heel binding next time, OR remove the heel cap. The heel binding was pulled away and mangled. I was not happy. It was getting late, and I was a bit upset, so I put it down and walked away.

Last night I started trying to reglue the binding. The problem is the heat distorted it. I used a hair dryer to heat it up and tried to push it back in place. That didn’t work so well. I ended up having to cut one large chunk off, I couldn’t get it to fit under another piece. I reglued all the small stuff, leaving the larger pieces for hopefully tonight. Unfortunately, I doubt it’s going to be pretty when it’s finished. I’m going to have to reconsider doing a neck reset for a customer on the later 70‘s bound models. There’s such a high probability of finish or binding damage. I’ll make more notes and update my neck reset guide with this new experience.

The green mystery glue.




The ugly detail.  One piece of the binding was still stuck the the heel.




Partially fixed last night.  Those are the last 3 pieces of the puzzle, but they aren't straight or flat.  I'm not in the mood to mess with this tonight.

Originally posted 1/4/2020.

After working on the customer FG-140 neck reset & refret, I'm finally getting back to this. On 11/9/19 I started the neck reset, and never touched it again.

Yesterday I checked the frets, knowing there were some divots. The frets are at full height, never leveled, and the divots aren't bad.

So today I fixed the 2 steam holes at the 15th fret and put the 15th fret back in. Then I taped off the fretboard and sanded the frets level. then filed a bevel on the sides of the frets, crowned the frets, sanded them with 3 grits, and 0000 steel wooled.

Originally posted 1/15/2020.

Last night I glued the neck on.  Tonight I removed the clamps, installed all the old strings, and tuned it to "D".  It sounds pretty good!!  The action is 5/64" low E & 1/16" high E.  About right.  The saddle sticks out .21" near the low E and .19" near the high E, plenty of room to bring the action down 1/64".  I'll let it hang for a few weeks before getting back to it.  But, now I have to find a place to hang it...

I plan on replacing the nut, but it's not too bad.  It can wait.  The whole body need a good polishing.