Neck reset questions

[Stray Feathers]

I have strung up my fifth and sixth guitars that were in the works, and I am happy with both, a redcedar and bubinga "mongrel" OM, and my first rosewood and spruce dreadnought. BUT unfortunately both have unacceptable "speed bumps" where the neck joins the body. The saddles are both higher than I would like, and setup is touchy. I've learned along the way that it is sometimes better to back up and redo things to get it right, and I am pretty sure I am going to do neck resets on both. I did one on my first guitar for a slightly different situation so I am okay with doing it (bolt-on necks). But here is my question. I am one of those who finishes guitars (lacquer on these two) with necks installed (I know, I know . . .) so will have to score the finish around the fretboard extension and neck joint. On my first guitar I touched up the finish (water-based) when the reset was done and it looks fine. On these two I am thinking I might remove the necks, level the finish on the body around the neck joint, adjust the heel to correct the neck angle, and then reassemble them as though they were finished separately in the first place. Does this sound doable? When luthiers build this way, what do you use to sand/scrape the finished heel for a perfect joint to the body finish? Any suggestions for the fretboard extension? Bruce W.

[tippie53]

I finish separate but the is besides the point. if your geometry is off you need the reset.
this is doable , Here is what I do with finished guitar necks.
A mix thinner and retarder and brush the joint
B take a sharp blade like an exacto blade to score the finish. Control the finish chipping
that should help.
if you need to talk to me you can call

[carld05]

For flossing the neck joint, put poly packing tape on the back of strips of sandpaper so it slides over the finished sides smoother and wipe the dust off frequently. You'll still need to buff the finish on the sides again but that makes it a lot easier.

[Stray Feathers]

I removed the neck from the first guitar today - the redcedar and bubinga OM. The neck came through it pretty well, but there is a little gouging of the cedar top under the fretboard extension. I may have been a little aggressive there. So I routed a shallow gain and thicknessed a piece of cedar about 1.5 mm thick to sit there. I left the binding intact. The cardboard is there as a shim because the tip of the pickguard was interfering with the path of the router. It's now glued and I hope it will provide a more solid base when I reglue the fretboard. John, your idea of using thinner and retarder was helpful. I will try a little heavier application on the second guitar, as I still got a little flaking, but not bad. Carld05, thanks for your clever tip - I was wondering how I could do that without scratching the sides. I'm not that far along yet but will give it a try.I will have some finish touchups to do for sure. Bruce W.

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[Stray Feathers]

After a somewhat heavy-handed neck removal, I set up a sort of sled, a piece of plywood with a shim under one end to raise it, and ran some thin cedar through the thickness sander on it, to get a thin test wedge to change the neck angle on this guitar. It took a few tries but I improved the angle.

I also discovered that I think the truss rod end block had been slightly proud just past the end of the neck, and this was pushing up the fretboard. I managed to carve a thin gap between the truss rod and the underside of the fretboard (tedious and messy) and it improved things.

I also realized though, that it would be better to lower the free end of the fretboard extension rather than elevating the end at the neck join with a rosewood shim. It would lower the whole string geometry by the equivalent amount, and that ( I reasoned) might also allow me to reduce the angle otherwise required to lower the saddle height. I had done this on my first guitar, using a homemade sandpaper-faced plywood sanding disc for the drill press. I now have a Safe-T-Planer and decided to use that. I used the same sled for the angle and fastened the neck to it, with thin shirt cardboard strips taped to the edges so it would sit flat. I took a tiny bit off and checked the angle - now too much. So I changed the shim on the sled and tried again and got a good angle. I finished the tapering with a chisel and sandpaper. I have done some cleanup and a small cedar patch, fixed the heel/body joint and reglued the neck and am now building up lacquer coats on the repair. Neck angle looks good for good saddle height; I will do a little fret dressing. The fretboard extension is now about 1.8 mm thinner at the free end than at the neck/body join, and lies lower too. I have another guitar that will get the same treatment soon (do you see a pattern here . . .?) but I am getting a little heat blanket to try for a cleaner job. No wonder I am a slow builder! Bruce W.