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Neighbor brought this Martin Shenandoah over for me to look at.
He's had it hanging on the wall since it became unplayable.
At first glance from the side, it looked like the neck might need to be reset.
Then I looked down the neck...... I've never seen a neck so twisted.
It has gone so wonky that it has pulled away from the fret board: Note the gap between the fretboard and neck.

I've seen folks heat & twist necks back into shape - but I've also seen reports that the necks just move back. Which is what I think it would do.

I have seen one luthier heat/twist a neck back into shape then machine it for CF reinforcing strips. I like this idea, as at least there is something keeping the neck straight, preventing it from just returning to the twisted state.

Or there is just replacing the neck.

This isn't a very valuable guitar, and it's had a rough life. Guy would just like it playable for campfires and such, and it does have some sentimental value to him. It's only worth fixing as a favor, because I'm pretty sure a realistic cost for the repair is more than the guitar is worth.

Opinions?

You should also assume that the truss rod is bent. It should not be hard to pull off the fingerboard and have a look if there is an internal split as well.

rcnewcomb wrote:You should also assume that the truss rod is bent. It should not be hard to pull off the fingerboard and have a look if there is an internal split as well.

Yup. Exploratory surgery is on for the weekend. Owner is on board.

Looks like a fine candidate for an 'offshore' neck and fingerboard. Especially considering the value of the guitar when it's all done. Take a picture of the headstock so somebody can print a new logo. Be nice to salvage a decent guitar back to playability.

Although, it would be a good learning experience to try to fix it.If the fretboard were off and the truss rod out, what would it look like to flatten the top surface of the neck, re-cut the truss rod groove, and glue the fretboard back on. It would make the neck thinner, but by how much? I think it would be pretty simple to do.

Ed

My first step would be to contact Martin. If I was them, I would not want my name on that neck. What sort of guarantee is on that grade of guitar? If they determine that it has been misused or abused, then you could think about rescue options. They might even offer a good price on a replacement neck if you say you can do the work yourself. Maybe John Hall can offer some insight as a Martin repair facility . . .

they don't have the same guaranty of the martin you may call and maybe you will get lucky. I had gotten a neck like that once. I pulled the neck and took off the fretboard ,I used 2 carbon fiber rods and epoxied them in . I glued it up on a granite plate to get is as flat as I could.
I then manged to take some more off the fretboard. It was playable. It is still being played. I used 1/8 by 1/2 in and set them in following the taper to add some structure to it.

Wow. I think I would just carve a new neck. It would probably take less time than you would spend fooling around with that one.

I wouldn't trust that one to stay straight no matter what I did to it. You could take off the fingerboard and cut it flat, etc., but the act of taking off wood could release more internal stress and 6 months late it could be winding again.

I agree that you'd be better off with a new neck. Maybe you could get one from Martin ... send them the old neck so they can give you one that's a pretty good match, and that has their logo on it. They might want to see the old one just for grins.)

It might be a good time to convert the guitar to a bolt-on neck, so that repairs like this will be simplified down the road. And a conversion would be easier than trying to match dovetails, etc.

You probably already know about these, but in case you don't:
https://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and_S ... Necks.html