Customer Repair - 1966 Guild D40 Neck Reset

Last night I got the neck off. But not without a massive fight. It was even harder than I thought. It was everything I read about it and more. There’s a reason many people won’t touch Guild neck resets, the wide heel and massive amounts of glue make it impossible to get it apart without some kind of damage. FIVE steam sessions (most 9 minutes each, each time running out, except the last at about 5 minutes), each one was an improvement over the last, unlike my only failure 1967 FG-110. Between each steam session I pushed the scalpel into the heel corners to cut in as far as possible, which got easier as the wood softened. I probably got in 1/8” all around, but it didn’t soften evenly. Without that there's no way it would ever come apart. The finish around there is a little ragged.

The steam setup ready to go.




Then I turned on the steam. After the first session the top inch the scalpel was completely in, but the steam wasn’t coming out of the open end of the heel. ODD!! I expected it would be pouring out!! When I drilled the steam holes I knew I hit the pocket. After the first steam session, I ran my longest drill in, and it fell right to the bottom. And pulled out lots of liquid hide glue!! The first couple of steam sessions caused liquid hide glue to spirt out of the other steam hole!!! Like a freaking volcano!! They must have FLOODED that joint with glue when they put it together!!! SO MUCH GLUE!!!! Oddly, during the first 2 steam sessions the heel never got warm!! The steam was in the pocket, but it probably took a long time to heat the large heel.

At the beginning of the last session it looked like it was ready to pop, I'm wiggling the neck, and cranking on the jig. I couldn't figure out what was holding it!! Then it popped!!! And the side cracked and separated from the neck block!! The neck was still stuck to a patch on the treble side even though above and below it were free. And the massive amount of steam swelled and delaminated the thin heel. At least it didn't break!! The first task was to get the heel clamped because I could see it continue to swell and separate!!! Then get the pieces of the top off the bottom of the fretboard and glue that puzzle back together. Then find more clamps to get the side glued back to the neck block and glue the crack. I'll cleat it later. I took a bunch of pictures quickly, but I had to move fast while things were still warm and wet. It took about an hour to get everything done.


The neck came off with great difficulty!  Some of the top was stuck to the bottom of the fretboard.


The piece of the top stuck to the fretboard, and the heel delaminated.


The heel cracked.


And the side separated from the neck block.




LOTs of glue!!  And you can see how the maple neck lamination has swollen.




It continued to separate as I watched it!!


So I clamped it in my Stew Mac guitar vise.  I has (2) swiveling urethane coated jaws that make it easy to hold odd shapes.


Clamps!!


The side crack glued & clamped.






I put a couple of clamps in the 14th fret area.  It was swollen upward.





Today I’d like to take the clamps off and survey the damage, but the parts were wet last night, I’d rather they had 48 hours to shrink & dry before determining what to do next. But, looking at it with the clamps on it looks better than I remember. The neck heel laminations have some gaps, telling me the maple has shrunk. I repositioned and tightened the clamps. More than likely, tomorrow I’ll wipe some hide glue into the gaps and reclamp it. The mismatch of the side crack is at most .010”. It looked worse yesterday. Tomorrow I’ll use hide glue to attach some cleats to the inside to stabilize the crack. No other glue has enough tack to hold the cleats in place without clamping, even fish glue, I tried. I won’t be able to see anything else without unclamping.

Last night I glued the heel laminations, a cleat across the side crack, and the neck block crack.

First I have to add tape to only get the glue where I want it.  Then practice clamping.  The taping takes a long time because you can't see what you're doing.  Place the tape, look, remove it, replace it, etc.  The fun part is moving the tape without removing pieces already placed.

I used a magnet and a nut for locating the cleat.  You can also see the heel crack.  


I cut a block the width of the fretboard & heel so I could move the heel up in the guitar vise.


Being sure the vise can close the separations.


Taped.  I only want the glue in the crack, not all over the inside.




I forgot to take pictures of the heel taping, but it was just a strip on both sides of the center strip and one cross below.

Now that everything is secure, the first thing I want to do is try to flatten the lift in the fretboard extension.  I figured the problem was the end of the neck/fretboard swelled and the glue joint probably separated slightly.  I figured I could heat the area with steam to soften the glue and wood, and clamp it flat.  Sounds good in theory! 

I clamped the neck in my Stew Mac guitar vise, using a couple of tongue depressors to push on the fretboard.  I fired up the steam generator (didn't think I'd be using that so soon!) and sprayed steam all around that area for 3 minutes.  I noticed the fretboard extension had pushed down slightly, and the end of the heel was getting warm from the floating steam.  I stopped after 3 minutes to cool the end of the heel (glued yesterday, don't want it coming apart). I also noticed the fretboard extension had a slight bend at the open 15th fret, so I put in a block of wood & wedge between it and the clamp jaw to hold it up slightly.  Then I applied 4 more minutes of steam.

I don't think the area is flat, but it's probably better.  I'll unclamp it tomorrow and check.

I used a piece of 1/16 maple to space the blade up slightly, then cut it down flush to the bottom of the fretboard.








I bought this special narrow blade to be sure the cutter stayed in the dovetail.




Here's the lift.


And it's clamped & steamed.  It looks like there's still some lift.  I'll find out tomorrow.

I removed the clamps from the neck.  There is a very slight bend down, about .03" at the end of the fretboard.  And about a .010" bulge in the 13th &14th fret area. 

I reinstalled the 15th fret (added a slight amount of curvature to the fret & slightly filed the slot for ease of installation), and taped & leveled the 13th & 14th frets, with a little overlap on the 12th & 15th.

First I marked the tops of the frets with black marker.




Then sanded with 200 grit on a 14" radius block.




The end in the fretboard has increased to about .08" at the end of the fretboard, probably from installing the 15th fret.

Today I removed the old nut and made a new one.

I used the "half pencil" to trace the plane of the fretboard on the old and new nuts. The slots in the old nut are .015" to .030" below the line!! There's no surprise why there was paper under many of the strings!  









I filed the slots in the new nut, leaving them high on purpose. I can sand the bottom of the nut later.

Yesterday I started working on the neck angle, setting the tape on the heel at .04" and pull sanding to the tape.  The neck projection was .06" below the bridge.  Used the Dremel to undercut the heel more (faster than rasp & chisel), set the tape at .04" again, filed the heel and sanded to the tape.  The neck projects .015" above the bridge.

Time to put it in the neck jig with string tension and see where it is.  Tuned to "D", the neck projects .05" below the top of the bridge and the action is a little under 1/8" low E & 7/64" high E.  The strings are 1/32" off center.






This is with the new saddle that sticks out of the bridge .17".






The new nut is still high.