1967 Yamaha FG-150 - Neck Reset+

DAY 1 – Removed the old strings and the saddle.  Used the hair dryer and spatula to remove the pickguard. Removed and stored the truss rod cover in a small plastic bag. Put a piece of tape on the headstock, behind the nut, and used a scalpel to cut around and under the nut to remove it. Took some internal pics.

As usual, the bridge plate is a bit chewed up, mostly from when they drilled the holes.  The braces look normal.


You can see some cracks in the bridge plate from the top bulging.






There looks to be a tiny separation at one brace where it meets the X brace.










The date code.








Removing the pickguard, first heating it with the hair dryer, and getting under it with the spatula.


It's off with little difficulty.  But it's a mess!!  LOTS of scraping will be required!!







Removing the nut.


Getting under it with the scalpel.

DAY 3 – Glued the bridge area of the top. First, I clamped the top behind the bridge with a parallel strap clamp, with a 1/8” gap on both sides. Then the fun part of figuring how to clamp ALL the pieces to be glued in one shot. It took many trials, with a few clamps, and many pieces of wood and cork, to eventually find a combination that should clamp everything flush. The problem is the top isn’t flat, due the top being bulged, and the bridge area being tipped forward. The parallel clamp takes some of that out, but I don’t want to risk clamping it completely flat and possibly popping a brace. I actually took THREE sets of trial clamp pictures, thinking I was done but finding an area that didn’t looked to be clamped flush. Then I removed everything, added Fish glue under the flaps and the area where the 2 pieces will go, Pressed the pieces in by hand, wiped up the squeeze out, pressed again, wiped the squeeze out, added some wax paper, and reassembled the wood/cork/clamps. This took an hour and a half!!


Testing the clamping.  For the third time!!




I drew circles around where the 3 clamps should go on the flat piece of wood.  


The glue and clamps.  I used fish glue because I know there will be squeeze out, and it cleans up with hot water on a paper towel.


The actual clamping.

DAY 5 – I did a layout to figure where to install the Bridge Doctor, which is being installed to tip the bridge area back. I’ve installed more than a few of these. What makes this different is I’m installing the screw UNDER the bridge, not thru it, to hide it. I’ve done a few of like that, but the difference is, this time I installed a bridge plate patch. And the previous ones I reinstalled the bridge by lining it up the existing holes with tapered plugs. This one has no holes in the top to line up the bridge. BUT!! That’s not the biggest problem. Normally, after the bridge has been reglued, I drill thru the top and bridge plate patch, using the holes in the bridge as a guide. These holes need to be backed up, otherwise the drill will blow chunks of wood out of the bridge plate patch, just as Yamaha did when drilling the original pin holes. I press a block of wood against the bridge plate patch with a scissors jack. In this case, I can’t do that because the Bridge Doctor is in the way. Also, I need to be able to taper ream the holes after drilling. Is there enough clearance, with the Bridge Doctor installed, to do that?? Putting the tapered reamer thru the bridge I see it only sticks out ¾”, that’s plenty of clearance, since the Bridge Doctor has (2) 1” long spacers. To drill the hole thru the top I will use a 3/16” center drill. It has a small diameter tip, to get the hole started, then a steep taper up to the 3/16” diameter, that should keep from blowing out the bridge plate, I hope.  I ordered a longer (1-7/8") version, since the standard center drill is only 1-1/4" long, and there won't be enough of it sticking out of the drill chuck to drill thru the top & bridge plate.

First, I did a layout, determining the Bridge Doctor mounting screw should be 5/16” in front of the centerline of the pin holes. I also found the pin holes are about .10” off center, in relation to the center seam of the top. I used a #19 (.166”) drill to make the hole thru the top, starting with a 1/8” center drill, then a #27 (.144”) drill. Looking inside I find the hole is about 2/3’s in the bridge plate patch!! But, thinking about the forces, the twisting motion of the Bridge Doctor has the forces at the screw pulling down, while the other standoff is pushing up. The partial hole doesn’t matter. I mount the Bridge Doctor, insert an 8” long piece of ¼” oak dowel thru the Bridge Doctor, and push it until it hits the end block. Using a light and mirror, I turn the Bridge Doctor until the dowel is centered on the end block. I use a short pencil to mark the dowel where it enters the Bridge Doctor, remove the dowel, make another pencil line to make the dowl a ½” shorter (the length of the set screw that adjusts it), cut it off and square up the end on the belt sander. I put the dowel thru the Bridge Doctor again, pulling it to the end block, check/adjust the centering, install the set screw until it’s flush with the block, check/adjust the centering again, and start cranking on the set screw in an attempt to flatten the top. This can’t completely happen because of the stiffness of the plywood top, and I don’t want to risk popping any braces. The end result is the bridge area is tipped much less, and the top bulge has been reduced, with about a 1/8” (.13”) gap on both sides of the straight edge, a huge improvement over the original 7/32” (.22”).

Now the fun part will be reinstalling the bridge. The top isn’t flat, and neither is the bridge. They need to be reasonably close to the same shape to glue the bridge back on, and not risk the mismatch tension helping to pop the bridge off later. But first, I have to make a 5/16” diameter hole in the bottom of the bridge to clear the head of the Bridge Doctor screw. I put the soft jaws in the vise, in the Harbor Freight Mini Mill. The head of the screw sticks up about .09”, so the hole needs to be .11” deep. I use a brad point drill bit, which makes centering the bit by eye easier. But I have to be sure I don’t drill too deep and break thru the top of the bridge, which is .34” thick. The point of the bit is about .13” long + .11” drill depth = .24”, which is plenty short of the .34” bridge thickness. This may sound a little paranoid or dramatic, but with vintage guitars you may only get once chance to get it right, replacement parts are not available. Having to make a new bridge because I screwed up sucks! And it won’t look original. So, I drilled the hole. It is .105” deep. Perfect!!

Next, I have to get the bridge to sit flush on the top. After a long time sanding the top, it’s very close. Time to practice the clamping. I put 5-6 layers of tape in the rear corners of the bridge. That locates the bridge and makes clean up a little easier. Then take pictures, to be sure I get the same setup, then do it for real. I brushed Fish glue on both surfaces, put the bridge on the top, installed one clamp, rechecked the location, installed the second clamp, rechecked the location, and installed the last 2 clamps. There is glue squeeze out all around, as there should be. Then the fun of cleaning up the glue squeeze out, first starting with a toothpick, to get most of it, then a wetted pointed Q-tip, remove the tape, used another Q-tip, and a final cleaning with a wet paper towel. Any remaining glue will be cleaned up after unclamping tomorrow, with a wet paper towel.

The layout and the Bridge Doctor body, spacers and screw.


The center drill (in one of the bridge pin holes), that I will be using later to drill thru the top.


The mounting hole is drilled.  Notice how it is off center from the center seam of the guitar.


The block is mounted.


You can see how part of the front spacer is off of the bridge plate patch.


The confusing picture of the installed bridge Doctor reflection on the bottom, and the actual Bridge Doctor on the top.


Getting ready to clamp the bridge in the vise.  You'll see those cork & wood blocks again a little later when regluing the bridge to the top.


Getting ready to drill.




The hole is drilled.






The layered tape nest.


Practicing clamping.








Applied Fish glue to both parts.


Clamped!  And the glue & clean up tools.




The glue squeeze out.


More squeeze out.


You can never have too much glue squeeze out!


And if you haven't had enough!!


The squeeze out cleaned up.

DAY 7 – Scraped the shellac filled pickguard area on the top flat. Drilled thru the bridge plate patch, piloting in the bridge pin holes with a #2 (3/16” diameter) x 1-7/8” long center drill. There is a piece of cork on the center drill as a depth stop. Because of the Bridge Doctor, I was unable to back up the holes.

Only (2) of the bridge pins are original, 5 degree and .207” diameter under the head. The other (4) pins have a while dot on the head, are longer, 5 degrees, but only .202”/.204” diameter under the head. Oddly, the smaller pins sit higher in the bridge. The original pins sit flush and possibly loose. If all (6) were the ones with white dots I’d use them. I opted to use the Stew Mac 5 degree .220” diameter black pins, and ream the holes to fit. Cleaned up the existing “ramps” out of the pin holes with the saws and files, and slotted the E & D holes so the string windings don’t bind with the pins.

Taped the fretboard, marked the top of the frets, and levelled the frets. It initially seemed this could be the fastest fret level ever, but as I lowered the highest ones I found 2 lower ones, requiring additional levelling. It still maybe took only 20 minutes.

Sanded the inner and outer dovetail surfaces and got the joint back together. Put tape around the heel area on the body. Scraped the small lacquer radius and filed the bottom of the heel area flat.

Made black center marks at the 1st, 12th frets, and the bridge. With the 25” straight edge, the neck is about centered and projects about .09” below the top of the bridge. Undercut the heel with the Dremel and 1/8” ball burr.

Set the tape on the heel at .05”, filed & sanded to the tape. The neck is centered and projects about .06” above the top of the bridge. Check the depth of the neck pocket and the neck dovetail to find 5/8” and 9/16”. Since they will soon interfere (as the neck heel is sanded), I marked a 1/8” triangle on both sides and sanded to the marks.


Scraped the shellac flat.


Drilled thru the first pin hole.


The center drill sticking thru.


The chips from the last 2 holes.


All the holes drilled.  Some burrs pushed thru.


Reaming the pin holes.


Ramping & slotting the pin holes.


The srtrings installed.


The ball ends flush.


Sanded the burrs on the holes.


Slotted the E & A holes.



Taped and marked the tops of the frets.


Levelled the frets.




The shims in the neck pocket are mahogany, instead of the normal spruce.




Undercut the heel.  That makes the pull sanding much easier.


Put tape around the heel area and scraped the small lacquer radius.


Pull sanding the heel.  That remove a triangle of wood off of the heel, tipping the neck back and fixing the neck angle.  Greatly simplified, of course.


Marked a triangle on the neck dovetail.


Sanded to the mark.  This provides clearance between it and the back of the neck pocket as the face of the neck heel is sanded.

DAY 9 – Retuned to “D”. The action is 7/64” low D and a little under 3/32” high D. Tuned to “near E” (G & E 2 steps low, the rest a little high) the action is a little over 7/64” low E and 3/32” high D. Set the tape on the heel at .02”, filed & sanded to the tape. Tuned to “near E”, the action is 5/64” low E and 1/16” high D. Done!!

Super glued .022” thick x 3/8” x 1” maple shims to the neck dovetail, placed carbon paper into the neck body dovetail, inserted the neck into the joint, removed the neck to find the tight (dark) spots. Sand the dark spots, check the fit, try again, until the fretboard sits flush to the top and the neck joint is still tight, but not forced.

Used the hair dryer to attempt to remove the finish blushing on the body, with a little success. Used Meguiar’s Fine Cut Cleaner to remove most of the blushing and dull areas around the heel area. Used the Dremel and a polishing wheel to polish the neck heel, and the body heel area and fretboard extension area. Touched up any bare wood with the mahogany marker. Polished again.

Applied fish glue to both sides of the dovetail and fretboard extension, inserted the neck into the pocket, clamped the neck jig on the heel, installed the 4 outer strings (to pull the neck into the body), clamped the fretboard in 2 places, slacked the strings, checked the heel is tight to the body, for the next 10-15 minutes check for glue squeeze out around the fretboard.

Making the dovetail shims.


Glued the shim in place.


The carbon paper in the neck pocket.


The high spot.  


The top blushing, mostly on the bass side.


The side blushing, a little on the bass side.




Glue on the 2 parts.


Clamped.  The neck is on!!

DAY 11 – Unclamped the pickguard and removed the pieces of tape. Polished the pickguard and the top of the guitar.

Checked the fret level. It looks good. Marked the tops of the frets with black marker. Crowned the frets with the Stew Mac Z-Files, leaving a thin black line in the middle of the frets. Filed the sides of the frets with the Stew Mac fret end file, to remove any marks made by the crowning files. Sanded the sides & tops of the frets with 600 grit sandpaper, to remove the filing marks on the sides and the leveling marks on the top. Used the Stew Mac Fret Erasers to polish the frets. Removed all the tape from the fretboard.

Found the 15th fret was loose on both ends, waxed the fretboard around it with Renaissance Wax, clamped the fret with the 14” radius sanding block, wicked water thin super glue under the fret, let it dry for a few minutes, unclamped.

Oiled and scrubbed the fretboard with Howard Feed-N-Wax and 0000 steel wool. Oiled the bridge.


About to remove the alignment tape.






Getting ready to finish the frets.




Crowned the first 2 frets with Stew Mac's Z-file.


All the frets crowned.




The first fret sanded.


All the frets sanded.


Polished the first 2 frets.


Trying the show the difference between polished (left) and sanded (right).


Can you see the loose 15th fret??


Pulled the tape off the fretboard.


Waxed around the 15th fret to keep the super glue from sticking to the fretboard and causing a hard to clean up mess.


The 15th fret clamped.


And glued.  The only clean up was wiping up the excess glue.


The fretboard cleaned and oiled.  I forgot to take a "during" picture.


The bridge oiled.