1961 Harmony H165 - Neck Reset+++

I'll be following this one!

DAY 2 – I started the evening by unclamping the crack in the heel area.  And it FAILED!! It opened right up! And doesn't take too much force to close it. I'm guessing the wood was too wet and all the glue squeezed out. I wet the crack with steam because I was concerned some of the original guitar glue had gotten into the crack and needed to be liquid to be able to fully clamp the crack closed.

OPEN!!




And I finally found the crack on the inside.  It's really odd that is goes in and turns vertical.  It must be a defect in the wood.



But before I can fix this AGAIN, I need to check the pickguard and remove the bridge. The pickguard is not loose. I removed the bridge with the spatula and a piece of paper (to protect the top). Then I removed the saddle from the bridge with the hair dryer (to soften the glue) and a tiny screw driver to pry it out. The saddle is only .069" thick!! I removed the glue/wood remnants from the bottom of the bridge by wetting and scraping, this worked MUCH better than sanding.

Removing the bridge.  The nut and washer were missing on the bass side!


There was plenty of glue surface.




The bottom of the bridge, wet, after wetting and scraping off all the glue.  Mmm!!!  Brazilian rosewood!!




The bottom dry.



I reglued the side/neck block crack with fish glue, again, using the same 3 clamps. This time it was much easier!  I will pin it from inside the dovetail slot in the neck block tomorrow.

I put tape on the side to minimize clean up.  The glue was laid over the crack (a few times) and wiped in with my finger, to force it into the crack.


The same clamps.  I clamped and unclamped a couple of times to clean up the glue squeeze out.







I undercut the top of the dovetail (with the vibrating saw) & clamped the neck heel/fretboard extension in the guitar vise, with 2 "cleats" to bend the fretboard down.







The fretboard extension is bent slightly down.  Previously this has worked fine, but none of them were Brazilian rosewood.  We'll find out tomorrow!





I opened/deepened the saddle slot (.070” wide x .090” deep) in my Harbor Freight mini-mill, starting with a .063" drill bit in the drill chuck (upside down) to line up the vise (moving the table side to side to check the centering) (ironically, it was just about perfect from the H1270 bridge), put the .094" downcutting endmill into the 1/8" collet, put a piece of paper on top of the bridge, and brought the spindle down until the paper couldn't be moved, then put a .125" gage block on the depth stop block, brought the drill head down until it touched the block, replaced the block with a .100" gage block (setting a depth of .025”), offset the cutter .010" away from the front of the bridge (.094" cutter diameter - .070" slot width = .024"/2 = .012" cutter overlap on each side, a .010" offset should possibly clean up the front side of the slot), ran the cutter thru the slot (to verify if it cleaned up the front side of the slot - it didn't), replaced the .100" gage block with a . 050" gage block (moves the spindle down another .050"), ran the cutter across, removed the gage block (full .125" depth - the thickness of the paper = about .120”), ran the cutter across, moved the cutter over about .010" (to clean up the front side of the slot), ran the cutter across. The slot is .103" wide x .120" deep, exactly as planned. It helps I’ve worked with Tool Makers for 40 years. I might have learned a thing or two.

Lining up the saddle slot to the table travel.


Ready to make the first pass.


After 2 passes.


Done!




I should mention I open/deepen the saddle slot because my saddle blanks are about .15" thick and I don't want to have to sand them down to .069", and it would be very fragile.  Also, I measure the slot with precision gage blocks to know the exact width.  Then I sand the saddle (measuring often with digital calipers) to get a perfect fit.  I went .03" deeper just to give the saddle more stability.

Unlike yesterday, EVERYTHING went as planned!  Except for the side/neck block cracked failing from yesterdays "FUN".

Drill guide plate, great idea!

DAY 4 – Made a 1/16" maple patch for top cracks (grain oriented perpendicular to the cracks). Started by making an aluminium foil (4 layers) template, cut it out, transfer to cardboard, and tweaked it to fit. Epoxied the patch in place to be able to also glue it to the kerfing.

The formed aluminum foil template.


The template cut out and transferred to cardboard.


The cardboard template.


The 1/16" maple template.


I taped a piece of tongue depressor to the bottom of the maple patch to have a surface to clamp to and not risk denting it with the clamp.


Clamped.







Leveled fretboard (10" radius), started to deepen/open fret slots.

Marked to the fretboard with pencil to see what has been sanded.


Done!  It took a while!  Lots off of both ends (mostly the first few frets), and just clean up in the middle.


Brazilian rosewood!!




Opening up the fret slots with a 3D printed saw guide I made.  The .020" saw lines it up in the slot, then it's clamped, then the .025" saw (it cuts slightly under size, .024") opens/deepens as required.  The back rib of the saw hits the top of the guide when it's at the proper depth.   Without this, opening/cleaning up the fret slot was very difficult and dangerous.  The saw will bind and eventually slip, sometimes gouging the newly sanded fretboard.  The only problem with this is being sure I don't hit the guide/clamp and very slightly move it between passes. I need to find something very thing that will grip to the guide and fretboard so there's no chance it will slip.  But that might make fine positioning difficult.

DAY 5 – Used fish glue to glue the broken top brace. Finished the fret slots, bevelled the edges of the fret slots, installed the frets, glued and clamped the frets with thin super glue and 10” radius block, taped the fretboard, filed & bevelled the fret ends, levelled the frets (less than .002”, frets 8, 9 & 10). Undercut the heel. Bought new #6-32 square nuts and #6 fender washer, for the bridge attachment, and stripped the zinc plating off in vinegar.  One set was missing from the guitar, and I somehow lost the other washer.

Glued the slightly cracked brace.  I applied Renaissance Wax to the clamp pad so it didn't get stuck to the brace.


Clamped!



Finished opening/deeping the fret slots.




How I support the fretboard extension to pound the frets in.


They're all in!


And the ends are all cut with the end cutters.  It was the first time I caught even piece in the towel below and didn't have to chase any on the floor.


I rubbed a light coat of Renaissance Wax on the fretboard, so (in the next step) the water thin super glue won't soak into the fretboard.  That's a mess the scrape up otherwise.


And glue all the frets in by wicking water thin super glue on the left side, quickly wiping up the excess, and clamping with a 10" radius sanding block and a squeeze clamp.  This makes leveling much easier, and eliminates the possibility of any loose frets.  The piece of tape is a visual that I use to know which fret is to be/has been glued so I don't clamp the wrong one.  I only have a few seconds before the glue sets, I need to be sure the fret is clamped fully in before it does.




And the fretboard is taped and the fret leveling has been started.


The fret leveling is done!



Undercut the heel with the Dremel and an 1/8" ball burr.   This minimized the mamout of pull sanding required when fixing the neck angle.







And the replacement bridge washers & nuts.  Zinc plated on top, stripped on the bottom.  I assume the stripped hardware will quickly rust and look old.

DAY 7 – Removed the clamps from the bridge and back separation. They look good. Removed the pickguard easily. The hard part was scraping all the glue off the back of it. Stuck the adhesive sheet to the back of the pickguard and clamped.

Removing the pickguard.


LOTS of glue!!


It took a LONG time to scrape all the glue off!


The adhesive sheet test fit.  I made it from 2 scrap pieces.


The first piece stuck.  I sprayed slightly soapy water on both parts before sticking the pickguard to the adhesive sheet.  That allows some repositioning.


Both pieces stuck.


And clamped.


The adhesive scraped from the guitar top.  MUCH easier than the pickguard!


A few hours later I unclamped the pickguard and stuck it to the top.

Testing the clamping arrangement.




Sprayed the water the pickguard, but brushed it on the top of the guitar.


Final clamping.