Old Takamine neck Re-Set

[Zen]

My friend found an old takamine that was about to be thrown out by its owner because the neck had come loose and its in pretty bad shape. He asked me to have a go at re setting the neck and basically sprucing up the guitar so that it plays again. I've never done a neck re set before but I would like to try this one to get some experience.
I managed to steam the neck off and cleaned up the old glue etc. Its a neck joint I have not come across before with 5 dowels that keep the neck attached to the body.
My problem is that when I put a straight edge on top of the frets and theres about 1/8th of a gap over the bridge so I assume thats far to much ? What measurement should I be aiming for? Is there a video on line that would help me work out where to start or does this involve shims instead of taking away material with a chisel.
Any advise would be appreciated
Regards to all
Rusty

[tippie53]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNcbA1P95KE
while this is a neck set on a dovetail the geometry is about the same.

If you have not reglued that neck I would take the dowels out and put 2 bolts in . You can carefully drill through the neck block. You can get threaded brass inserts in a 1/4 20 thread. They will hold well enough that you won't have to reglue the neck though you will need to glue the extension.

[Phil]

I would love to see pictures of the neck joint on your old Takamine. I have one built in 1981 that has a neck angle that is getting low and may need to be reset in the future. Would like to see what I would be facing if I ever tackle it.

[ruby@magpage.com]

Rusty

If you do what John says, then it is a simple neck set - you can bolt it, unbolt it over and over again til you get it right. I just did my first dovetail neck set on an 80 year old Gibson and I overset it on purpose because it had been unstrung for quite a while and I didn't know what the neck would do.

I set it for 1/8" over the bridge with a straightedge on the new frets. After about 3 weeks under string tension, it is about 1/16th over the bridge, so the saddle is a bit high, but I am happy with that.

Ed

[Zen]

I will post pics later as my camera is out on loan to a friend who was at a wedding this weekend so hopefully it comes back in one piece.. Or, I may try one or two with my son's Iphone which is probably as good as any camera.

I did as john said and cut off just one dowel, then drilled a hole through the neck block and one bolt should be a big help.
Rusty