Archtop Neck Reset (scary) (Now w/ Pics)

Any chance you could post pics?

Maybe this guy worked on it:

but he might make it look something like this:

Fun taking stuff apart and getting a nice surprise, isn't it?

I can post some pics a little later. I have the neck fit to the body again almost. I'll be starting my action measurements now that it's close to actually fitting again. I couldn't really do any with the neck half broken off. :-) I'll let you guys know tomorrow with some pics.

This is the guitar as it sits now.

I am starting to work the heel back into the body here. You can see that only the very bottom still needs work (1/64th or 1/128th...) Note the AWFUL fingerboard fit near the binding. I hope I can avoid using wood filler here.

Same thing, just the other side. This side is in much better shape.

Here is the scary one, though. This is the dovetail!!!! I am flattening the sides where the edges brok off, and am going to glue two pieces of mahogany there as squares and do some fine file/sanding/chisel work to make it a dovetail again.

Any hints on that fingerboard extension? If I can lose a 32nd or maybe 3/64ths of fingerboard height I can hide that gap and fill in those notches quite nicely. Then just set the neck angle back a little further to compensate. BUT, I would like any advice from others more experienced here.

TIA!

I've no more idea than fly, but couldn't you cut the underside of the neck flat and replace the lost wood with layers of different coloured veneer - maybe black/white/black or something?

Thinking along the lines of what Greybeard suggested I would shave the underside of the neck extension to make it flush. I would then fit it in place temporarily, put some strings on and see if you can get the relief and action adjusted correctly. If it works then lock it in. If it won't adjust properly then veneer shims will work just won't look as nice unless you add the special touch like Greybeard said and alternate colors or atleast match either the neck or the top as close as possible.

My guess is that you can afford to lose a little of the underside and will just have to match the saddle height.

I had planned on using the sandpaper pull method of fitting the extension to the body. That way I could get the curvature correct.

Essentially, you put down masking tape on the top of the guitar, and then slide a piece of sandpaper between the top and the extension. Press down on the extension, and go at it. Only pressure points will be sanded, then. It's a thought, at least, and the guitar is getting refinished anyway. :-)

Any more thoughts?

Sounds like that will work just may be a little slow going. However, slow going is better anyway. Once you get the contour of the top, veneer can still be used as long as it is thin and flexible.

I once helped someone shim a neck with brown paper bag material by wetting the paper with watered down water based wood glue. We then fit each piece on top of the other kind of like decoupage until we got the height we needed. Easy to trim afterward also. Simple fact is that paper is wood and brown paper bags are the closest to the original.

That is actually working great on this guitar so far. You do have to make sure you are keeping the fretboard as level as you can versus the body plane. This can be dealt with using nut/saddle mods...but why not make it perfect the first time?

Most of the awful chisel gouges are gone from the fingerboard shim now...We'll see what we see soon. :-)

I'll post pics when the job is done, guys. At least this part.

The tortoise shell binding is dead on this thing in about 10 places. I'm thinking of just dumping it and putting a rosewood binding on it with abalam purfling. I've never bent binding before, so... Man, I sure feel in over my head, but at least this was a really cheap guitar. :-)

Thanks for the help here, guys. This is definately a friendly forum.

probably a bit late here but if you need to shave down the wood I don't think you find a better faster tool than a wood scraper.

http://www.tools-for-woodworking.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=832

It works almost like a plane, it can get into spots a regular plane can't, better and faster than sand paper. When I looked at the picture of the underside of the neck joint I immediately though of this.

Takes a bit to get the knack of burninshing the edge but well worth the effort.

Michael