SS Stewart

[Phil]

Hey guys, got this guitar at a yard sale the other day cheap. I'd love to find some info on it but its hard to find info on the web about this brand. I'd love to be able to figure out how old it is. It has pearl inlaid headstock instead of the silkscreening I've found on most 1940s or later guitars so maybe this guitar is 30s vintage, I have no idea. If anyone knows anything about these guitars please let me know.

It appears to be all original and in decent shape. It needs a neck reset because the neck angle is horrible but other then that its a pretty cool guitar. The neck has a really big deep V shaped neck that feels great. Can't wait to hear what it sounds like after a little TLC.

[Ben-Had]

http://theunofficialmartinguitarforum.y ... NlO-KxrRlJ

[tippie53]

good for you

[Phil]

Just a little update on this project. Plan to do a neck reset on this guitar to try to get the action playable. I worked slowly and carefully using the tools at my disposal and managed to get the neck off today.

I attached a couple pictures to show some potential issues I will have to solve. Where the fingerboard extension meets the body, it almost appears that the top is sunken at that point. I'm thinking that once I get the neck angled back to the right amount I could end up with a gap between the extension and soundboard. Maybe have to make up a wedge or something to go under the fingerboard? Is there a way to reform the top?

The neck itself is pretty much dead straight. Turns out this neck has a piece of rectangular steel reinforcement so its obviously done a good job over the last 70 or so years! However the fingerboard appears to be warped. Some of the frets are quite worn, so I've already pulled the frets. I'm thinking if I take a plane and radius sanding block to the board I can level the board prior to refretting and I should have a nice straight neck.

Any input is always appreciated as always guys!

[tippie53]

you can place a wedge under the extension to level it

[B. Howard]

Based on the picture, that neck appears to have a but of a twist to it.

[Darryl Young]

I think Brian is right......in the last pic there appears to be some twist to the neck.

Is there any way to straighten a twist? I guess the fretboard could be removed and the neck planed level.......but this would mess with the neck profile. Maybe you could glue a thin strip of mahogany (veneer?) to the top of the neck and after the glue has dried, reglue the fretboard in place. Would that work?

[Phil]

I managed to solve part of the twist problem... as I mentioned before when I was looking down the neck the shaft seemed pretty straight but the fretboard surface seemed twisted.... I didn't notice before, but part of the fingerboard was separating from the neck at one of those highspots in the neck. After removing the frets, I reglued this spot in the fingerboard which straightened out the neck quite a bit. There still were a few flaws in the fretboard surface so I did lightly true up the fretboard with a radius block, as well as CA glue'd a small crack in the fretboard. Next will be fretting and the neck reset.

I've watched the Bluescreek youtube vids on dovetail necks before but I think I'm going to watch them a couple more times before I tackle the reset!