Bolt on Neck issue.

[tnt2002]

Hi, New member here, in need of advice.

I bought this fairly cheap kit of 'Martin' rejects parts. I'm pretty sure the Bolt-On neck was not made to go with the rest of the guitar, but I'm trying to make it work. It only had a hole in it, so I bought these 'grommets' from Home Depot, that you drill to size and hammer in.

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I've had the neck on and off the guitar tight several times while setting the neck, so last night I went for it and glued the fretboard to the soundboard and clamped it down. The heel pulled away from the body, I fear that the tenson is pulling the grommet out of the hole. Now the fretboard is attached, and I'm not sure what I can do. I tried tightening it again, but a small bit of pressure on the neck pulled it away again, it'll never hold strings.

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Any thoughts? Should I think of trying to un-attach this from the soundboard and find a better bolt on solution? I'm afraid of doing that, I had another mishap where I had to try to remove braces from the back and had to use a chisel and sandpaper to fix that mistake (Gorilla white wood glue).

Or should I hope I have the angle set right and try to glue the neck on? This is my first build and I'm afraid of ruining it (more).


Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[tippie53]

they are not the best , but the joint is designed to be screwed and also glued. I fear you may have gotten these parts from a supplier on ebay that may no longer be in business. He was known to sell martin reject parts and mismatched parts.
The grommet you got is so not what martin uses but with glue it may work. See if you can take a picture of the joint mated , and what is the height at the bridge with a straight edge on the fretboard . I think we may be able to help you salvage it.
You can get the fretboard free easy enough with an artists pallet knife and a heat lamp , protect the top with some cardboard and apply the heat from the iron be careful not to harm the finish . Tape the bindings on the guitar and after a few minutes the glue will start to release.
I carry the insets that you need , you should be able to drill out that insert and replace it. contact me and we will get you fixed up.

[tnt2002]

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Thanks for the reply.

It's hart to measure, but it looks like a .054 inch gap or between 1/16" and 1/32?


Tom

[tippie53]

that looks very good. At this point you need to get things tight. Call me and we may be able to help over the phone

[Kevin Sjostrand]

How did this turn out?

Kevin

[tnt2002]

Good and bad, actually bad before good.

I went ahead and glued the heel to the body, just injected some glue where I could. But the final result was that I had a 14th fret hump, and some ski jump issues from 12 up.

I went to a local luthier, Bernie Lehmann (very nice guy). He looked at it and said. The necks gotta come off.

He gave me some tips (BTW, an iron on the fingerboard worked wonders), got it off, no problem. Did some more adjustments, re-glued it, still had the ski slope, took it off again, and I did some carving/chiseling/sanding on the body where the fingerboard goes, and the back side of the fingerboard. I put it on again, and althogh I get some buzzing at the 12th - 14th, this can be fixed, the action and playablity in the lower 12 are fine.


Tom