Vintage tone and volume

I've completed 68 vintage FG neck resets, the sides are definitely 3 ply, mahogany for the outer layers, and I assume spruce inside.

The bracing is amazingly light, compared to modern guitars. I assume that, with the dry old wood, must be the reason they are so loud. I assume the stiff plywood top doesn't need anywhere as much bracing as they put into modern plywood guitars. They are probably building them for durability and looks more than sound.

I've heard people say they sounded pretty good when they were new. You have to wonder what 50 years of aging has done to the sound?

Torrification seems to be popular these days, but they are doing it with solid tops.

I have a newish FG3, which I someday need to do a good comparison with my FG-110. A rough comparison had the FG3 sounding better, a little more clarity, but not enough to justify the big cost difference.

But the vintage FG's have very narrow string spacing at the saddle, which is the one thing I don't like about them, it makes them difficult to fingerpick.

My current favorite guitar is a 1958-61 Harmony Sovereign H1260. A deep, dry, loud vintage tone. They came stock with a 1.75" nut, 1.48" string spacing, and 2.25" saddle string space. A HUGE winner for me! But in direct comparison with a FG-180, the H1260 sounds a little thin. I think some custom light strings will fill out the midrange. But I love the tone for fingerpicking. And it takes nothing to get any sound out of it. I have a few sunburst Silvertone versions of the H1260, but they need work to make them playable. I don't like any other Harmony models. The OM size bodies have the nasty midrange peak around G that I can't stand, and the thinner body has no low end punch. I'm currently working on a H162 that I picked up cheap for the purpose of saving another one.

WHY do insects have such incredible high details, probably for no reason??

Good luck finding a H1260 cheap!!  I got my first for $25 (beat to hell!), and the second for $125 (minty), but those are rare local finds from people who didn't have a clue what they had, but they both had very high actions and where obviously unplayable.  Harmony neck resets are much easier than Yamaha's.

I use 1/16" maple for the bridge plate patch.  It's cheap and easy to work with.  And the epoxy fills the defects in the original bridge plate.

The neck pocket is between the 14th & 15th frets.  Thos pictures aren't from a vintage Yamaha.

I've only removed part of the fretboard on a 1981 SJ-180, when I couldn't find the neck pocket.  It turns out the dovetail was much thinner than the vintage FG's.  The problem with removing the fretboard is now you can't hold the steam pressure to force it into the neck joint, it's just going to blow out the top.  And expect to find bluish green epoxy, if you get it apart.  Maybe the epoxy will be impressed with the heat, it sure isn't impressed by the steam, eventually the wood shears since the epoxy doesn't soften much or dissolve. The hide glue isn't impressed by heat, it needs liquid to soften. 

I designed and 3D printed a drill jig to drill thru the 14th fret into the dovetail joint, and use the heat sticks, hoping it might work.  I haven't been impressed with them with a vintage Harmony, it took about 13 minutes before I could force the neck off, leaving all hard glue still in the joint.  The steam softens it quickly (maybe 2 minutes) since the joints are so loose, and makes scraping off the glue easy.  The H162 I recently took apart had massive steam blushing, far worse than I've ever seen.  ODD!!  They usually come apart fairly cleanly.

COOL!!! I mean HOT!!!

I can't see the full size of any of your pictures, it says "Bad Gateway".  Use the "Add image to post" button in the upper right.

This must be a FG-335II, since it was the truss rod in the body.  Depending on how off the neck angle is, the truss rod could be a problem when tipping the neck back.  The fretboard extension must be tipped down, but the truss rod is rigid and under it.  I ended up cutting the sides of the aluminum C channel and bent it slightly to allow the truss rod to be bent down.

You first said 45 minutes, then 15 minutes? 45 minutes is A LOT!! I'd expect other things to come apart! I'm guessing you meant 15 minutes?

Is the glue the bluish green epoxy? I'd hope heat would soften that. The old hide glue will be much harder.

Did the neck stick on the sides of the guitar? I see that A LOT!! They tended to glue that too, and the steam can't get there. I cut into it with the scalpel.  I'm curious to see i heat along will loosen that.

I'm definitely interested in seeing how it goes with the FG-150!!

Removing part of the fretboard is kind of cheating, to find the neck pocket.  Getting it flush on the sides might be fun when gluing it back on.  It did the same thing for my SJ-180 when I couldn't find the pocket.

I'm going to try my drill jig and heat sticks with a Red label FG eventually.  I verified it works here.  yamahavintagefg.boards.net/thread/637/1970-yamaha-230-convert-bolt  But that was a previously removed neck.  I have too many guitars taken apart, I need to finish some.

Hmm..  Maybe they only used the blue/green epoxy for a few years before going back to hide/brown glue??  The ones I've taken apart (1975 to 1981) that had epoxy varied, some had a lot, some didn't, but I don't remember if they glued the heel to the side of the guitar.

The FG-150 not going as well is what I'd expect. They glued the face of the heel to the side of the guitar, and the glue doesn't seem to soften with heat alone. Injecting water in the heel corners is probably required to get the neck off. AND, the neck joint is very tight, so getting water into it would be very difficult. But I'd assume the high heat will evaporate the water quickly, so I don't know if injecting water helps much. Even the steam can take a while to finally loosen the neck, with many times the softened wood shearing vs. the glue.

I have a FG-140 I'd like to try my drill jig & heat sticks with, but I rely on the moisture to eventually soften the heel corners and allow me to cut into them with my scalpel so the neck will finally come off.

Yes, extended pushing on the heel will distort it, even more when you use steam.  I only have pressure on it when I need it, not continuous, to hopefully prevent that damage.

I really need to finish a couple of projects before taking another one apart.

The F335 is a modern Yamaha.  They have a messed up serial number system.  I think it is 12/14/2020.  I=2, Q=0, Z=12.  Don't ask!!  So you removed a modern neck that shouldn't have needed a neck reset.

The FG-150 20417127 is 4/17/1972.  The "K" is probably an inspection mark and is very common.  Does it say YAMAHA in gold letters on the headstock, or 3 tuning forks?

I worked on some where the neck projected BELOW the bottom of the bridge!!  The action was 3/16" or more!!

I only use the neck projection as a starting point.  I clamp the guitar in a neck jig and measure the action will all the strings installed tuned (2) steps down.  Some necks or bodies are more flexible than others.  You will certainly see a change in the neck projects with string tension.

YAMAHA on the top of the headstock is an exported model.  The non-exported ones had 3 tuning forks.