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I have a 50+ year old Goya. It was my first guitar not purchased at Sears. Its top is now warped so the bridge is out of line and the strings buzz. Although it is was not a "fine" guitar, I made pin money with it as a teen and would like to get it back in shape (or at least playable). Is there a way to remove the top? How about using moist heat? I don't need to be concerned about the braces since I will replace them when I install a new top. Has anyone ever removed a top? What kind of trouble am I getting myself into? :)

I used an old clothes iron to remove the top off of a vintage Silvertone.

First, I used an X-Acto knife to cut through the finish, completely around everything I was removing, being careful to stay on the seam.

I removed the fingerboard first, by placing the iron on top of the fingerboard, using 2 putty knives to gently remove the board, little by little, until it popped off. I made a protective collar out of cardboard, which fit around the fretboard, to protect the soundboard from the direct heat of the iron.

Then I removed the top the same way, except I used a heavy cotton towel between the iron and guitar. The guitar had no binding, so I placed the iron on top of the edge of the soundboard.

I used a little steam. The iron I used is an older professional Rowenta steam iron, which has separate heat and steam settings. I used high heat combined with the lowest steam setting. I was careful not to allow a lot of water to condensate on the wood. While doing the fingerboard, it had a tendency to condensate, so I turned the steam completely off.

The heat will make the finish tacky, so be prepared to refinish the guitar.

I'm not a professional, so please bear that in mind. The Silvertone was a guitar I picked up as a project guitar to learn more about guitar construction. It needs a lot of work. The water stains you see in the photo were present when I got the guitar.

I'm sure others on the forum will have a better method, but this is what worked for me.

I just finished taking the back of a Dreadnaught guitar in preparation for converting it to a "tenor bass" (yes, that's oxymoronic, but bear with me). I did it pretty much the way Diane described, although I first removed the binding that was on the guitar. I couldn't see a way to save it, so I just trashed it and will replace it with new binding.

To melt the glue, I used three things:

A little iron such as I've described elsewhere in another post, something model airplane hobbyists use to shrink the coverings. Before I applied the iron, I wet the top with a spray bottle so that the water would steam as the iron hit it, in the hopes that the steam would penetrate through the wood without the actual finish (Tru-Oil in this case) being damaged or scorched. I don't see why a regular iron wouldn't work, or even a smaller travel iron. You might want to spend a few bux and buy an iron from the thrift store rather than use the household one.

Four putty knives kept in a pot of hot water and used in rotation. I'd use it to force a gap between the plate and the lining of the rim. As it cooled, I'd plunk it back into the pot and grab the next one. I had to stop at the places where the braces were set into the lining. There, I used an Xacto knife to cut the brace's side from the lining, and then a chisel to cut the brace's bottom from the lining.

A kerfless saw was used to separate the plate from the neck and tail blocks. I used a cheap one that I got from Harbor Freight.

Lots of swearing and praying.

Result: the plate itself wasn't damaged. The linings got a bit trashed, and I'll have to replace some of them.

I am also not a professional, but a friend of mine is, and this is more or less the way he described the process. I find it interesting that there are a bazillion books on how to build guitars but none on how to take them apart. Trade secrets?

Here is one way of replacing a top keeping the bindings but not the old top.

http://www.grevenguitars.com/retopping-demo.html