1971 Yamaha FG-180 - Neck Reset+

DAY 1 – Remove strings, took a few more exterior pics, and some interior pics. The bridge plate is one of the worst I’ve seen, a large strip of wood is missing from the middle. Had to use the .035” nut file to cut a slot in the head of the small screw holding the broken strap button in the bottom of the heel.

Put 3 layers of tape on the inner heel corners (to try to protect from a scalpel slippage), Didn’t need to cut thru the heel binding since it’s already separated. Cut thru the heel lacquer radii and the fretboard extension corners with a new scalpel blade. Put the heat shield on the fretboard, used the halogen light to heat the fretboard (about 45 minutes total), and separated the fretboard from the top with a few spatula’s. The bass side was a little crunchy. Wet the 15th fret area (to soften the wood and prevent chipping), pulled it with the Stew Mac fret removal pliers (had to use a chisel to get under the edge), and drilled the steam holes.

I put the guitar in the neck jig and turned the steam on. Putting the tip in the hole, it felt very flexible. The steam tip is about to break off! I turned off the steam and replaced the tip. This is the second time I’ve replaced it, since I had 2 bags from the previous 2. I think I started using that size tip when I built the steam trap, which was May 28,2020. So, it’s probably 1 to 1-1/2 years old. Not bad, my list says I’ve done 52 neck resets in nearly 3 years!! WOW!! I restarted the steam, (alternating holes every minute), and turned it off after 6 minutes. This is to prevent overheating the heel, and cracking or separating the heel lamination. The neck is loose on the bass side, but the treble side is still a little hung up. I let it sit for 10 minutes, but it felt like it was more than the joint hung up, it felt like the face of the heel was glued to the side of the guitar. I took the guitar out of the neck jig, put the tape on the sides, and dug into the heel corner with the scalpel. The wood was fairly soft, but solid. I put the guitar back in the jig, turned on the steam, started wiggling (with end pressure) at 2 minutes, and at 4 minutes the neck popped.

There was some of the guitar side stuck to the bass side of the heel face, but most of the treble side was stuck. A piece of the bass side of the top was stuck to the bottom of the fretboard, as the crunchiness hinted. It was difficult to separate the piece from the fretboard because very little steam went up to the fretboard, it was coming out of the heel corner cracks at the bottom. I had hoped the cracks meant this would be any easy neck removal. It was not. What the cracks did was allow the steam to escape instead of releasing the glue, and it caused blushing on the side and back. Blushing is moisture getting into the lacquer finish. I see it as heat put it there, heat will take it away. I used the hair dryer to heat the lacquer and cook the moisture out.

I glued the 2 pieces of the top back to the top, clamping in 3 places. After 15 minutes I removed the clamps, cleaned up any glue squeeze out, and reclamped, using a new piece of wax paper.

There are some divots in the first 3 frets.


Many of the middle frets are flat topped from being leveled, there's not enough left to crown them.


The upper frets are original and haven't been leveled.


The middle frets are very low, .023" to .029" high.


The bridge has many cracks.  I will humidify and fill the cracks with water thin superglue.







The faint date code.


47.5.22.  5/22/1972, which is when the sides were made.  I was unsure what the first digit of the serial number was.  NOW I know it's a 2!!  












The top bracing.


The messed up bridge plate!  I took a few pics, trying to show the depth of the damage.




The depth must be more than halfway thru.


Because I found the internal date code, now I know the serial number is 20608089.  It was made 6/8/1972!


The back bracing.




Cutting the heel corners.




And the fretboard extension corners.






Used a .035" nut file to cut a slot in the screw holding a broken strap button to the heel end.


Heating the fretboard.


Separating the fretboard.


Wetting the 15th fret.


Using a chisel to get under the 15th fret.  I think they used a press to set them, and sometimes the edges of the frets are completely flush with the wood and the fret removal pliers can't get under them.


The 15th fret removed.


Drilled the steam holes.  Hit a bit more light colored wood than expected.  Drilled at a steeper angle to find the neck pocket.


The steam setup.




The steam tip nearly broke and I replaced it. Notice it's going straight into the hole?? The old tip had been bent for as long as I can remember.


The neck is out!!  Notice how the treble side hole was too downward and hit mostly the neck block.  I drilled another hole and hit the pocket.


Not much glue visible in the joint.


A shim tore out on the bass side.  That can make getting a neck off tough!!!  The shim had to be torn before the neck would release.


The mising pieces of top.


The piece of shim, and some of the guitar side stuck to the face of the heel.  Here you can better see the brown glue on the dovetail (where it should be!), and on the face of the heel, gluing it to the side of the guitar.


Lots of the side of the guitar stuck here!


The pieces of top stuck to the bottom of the fretboard.


A view showing the blushing on the side, binding, and back.


The back blushing.




Getting ready to glue the pieces of top back to the top.


Glued and clamped.

DAY 2 – Checked to see if the bridge cracks have closed, not quite, give them another day with the sponge.

DAY 4 – Used a 3D printed saw guide with Stew Mac’s .025” saw (cuts .024”) to open the fret slots. The saw guide is lined up with the .020” saw, which most times fits into the existing slot, clamp it to the neck, and open the slot with the .025” saw. The saw guide prevents the saw from jumping out of the slot after it gets stuck. Trying to open a .020” slot to .024” causes the saw to quickly bind. Pulling hard typically results in the saw jumping out of the slot and possible across the newly sanded fretboard. The saw guide keeps the saw in line. I used the piece of bent fret wire (with the tangs filed off) to be sure the slot is deep enough. I broke the corners of the slots with the 3 corner file, this makes it easier for the fret to enter the slot, and cleaned out the slots with the .016” saw.

I cut the frets individually and banged them in. I’ve found there are occasional lose frets (due to possibly opening the slots possibly unevenly), so I glue them all in with water thin super glue, just in case. I wipe Renaissance Wax on the fretboard (to keep the super glue from sticking to it, and it makes clean up much easier), clamp them down with a 14” radius sanding block, wick the glue under the fret, wipe up the excess, blow on it (moist air cures super glue quicker), and unclamp after a minute or so. Then cut all the frets ends off with the fret nippers.

Back to the bridge. There is a piece of newspaper inside the guitar, just in case. I put tape on the bridge plate (so nothing gets inside the guitar), and put tape on the bridge around the area to be glued (being sure I leave the fine ends of the cracks exposed). Then I put a plastic shield over the bridge, and tape it in place over the first layer of tape. The water thin super glue is actually thinner than water, it will find the finest passageway and run thru it, you don’t want it finding a way to the top of the guitar. This is also why it is great for gluing these cracks. As I apply it, I see it wicking into the cracks beyond where I thought they ended. I continue to apply glue until no more is absorbed. After it sits for a few minutes I sand the exposed part of the bridge with 80 grit, to remove any extra glue. Then I removed the shield and tape, retaping the shield around the outside of the bridge, and sand the bridge with 120 grit and 240 grit. I will taper ream the pin holes later.

Then there’s the final part of the bridge repair, the bridge plate patch. I trace on a piece of 1/16” thick maple, using a template I previously made, cut it out, sand the edges, place it against the existing bridge plate until it feels centered, clamp it in place, inspect the location with the lighted mirror, mark the location of the pin holes on the batch with a pencil, remove the clamp and the patch, and darken the pin hole locations with black marker (it makes locating the patch during gluing much easier). I apply epoxy to the patch, putting extra in the pin hole area (so it gets into the defects in the existing bridge plate), put it in place by hand (lining up the dark dots in the pin holes), add a wax paper covered caul, and add 2 clamps, being the sure the patch isn’t moving (it will!!). Once it is clamped, I leave it for 10 minutes for the epoxy to set, remove the clamps and caul, clean up any epoxy squeeze out with denatured alcohol on a paper towel, and reclamp.

The saw guide.


All the slots opened to .024".


Checking the depth using a piece of fret wire with the tangs filed off.


Breaking the slot corners.


Cutting the fret wire.


Supporting the fretboard extension to bang in the last 6 frets.


They are all in!!


Waxing the fretboard before gluing in the frets.


The fret clamped before wicking the glue under it.


Have to reverse the block at the 10th fret because of the neck heel.


They are all glued in!


The fret ends are cut off.  It helps collect the cut off pieces when wearing an apron.




The first layer of tape on the bridge.


The plastic shield and the second layer of tape.


Larger view.


Adding the glue.




The first sanding.


Removed the tape.

Sanded!




Getting ready to install the bridge plate patch.


The epoxy.


The patch clamped.

DAY 6 – Sanded the neck & body dovetail surfaces, undercut the heel with Dremel and the 1/8” ball burr, and got the neck joint back together.

The saddle slot is .115” wide on the bass end, and .119” at the treble end, and is .09”/.17”/.09” deep. Made the saddle. It sticks out .22”/.20”.

Put center marks on the bridge and at the 1st & 12th frets. The neck is slightly off center (take off the treble side). The neck projects .09” below the top of the bridge.


Sanding the internal dovetail.


After undercutting the heel.  That makes pull sanding the heel much easier.


The joint is back together.


Made the saddle.

DAY 8 – Put the capo on the third fret and checked the gap at the 1st fret with the feeler gages, finding about .013”. Sanded .015” off the bottom of the nut. Reinstalled the nut & tuned to “D”, the nut action is still a little high, as expected. Used the nut files to get them very close. Retuned to “D”, the action is now a little over 9/64” low D and 9/64” high D. Set the tape on the heel at .04”, filed & sanded to the tape, taking a little off the whole bass side to center the neck. Put back in the neck jig, tuned to “near D#”, the neck is now centered, and the action is a little under 7/64” low E and a little over 3/32” high D. Since the saddle is a little high, I’m going to split the difference and take only 1/64” off the action at the heel, setting the tape at .01”, and take the rest off of the bottom of the saddle (.03” bass & .045” treble). Strung up to “near D#”, the saddle sticks out .21”/.17”, the action is now 5/64” D# and 1/16” D. GOOD!! Let it sit until tomorrow, then shim the dovetail, clean up the heel area, and glue the neck on.

Using the tapered half pencil to lift the strings up (after slacking) to remove the nut to sand the bottom.


The second stringing.  Almost there!


The third stringing!  Done!  Glue tomorrow!

I would love to watch you work!

DAY 10 – The action is a little under 5/64” low D# and 1/16” high D#. The fret level is good. The nut action is good.

Remove the strings and put the nut & saddle in the guitar's parts bag. 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.

The tools.


The fret tops marked.  And my messy work table.


The 1st fret crowned.


All the frets crowned.




Getting ready to sand the sides and tops of the frets with 600 grit sandpaper. This will remove the marks from crowning and the initial leveling.


The frets are sanded.


Up close of the sanding.




The first 2 frets polished with the Fret Erasers.  The difference isn't visible in pictures, but they are shiny.


The frets polished.