spottydog Posted June 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 Many thanks for advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted June 19, 2019 Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 It sounds like you just don't have the neck angle required. I'd also take a careful look at your nut height / string height off the nut. You've put a lot of work into the guitar, and would like it to be super playable. The best way would be to remove the neck, recut the angle and reset it. I think many would recoil at that idea, but it's not really rocket science and more than anything takes patience and a gentle persistence. It would require steam, some form of way to inject it into the joint and a lot of time spent slowly working it until it moves. Once out, you can clean up the joint and reshape it to get the angle you need. Once finished, it would have excellent action as long as you the fretboard was flat before fretting, and the frets were leveled and dressed properly. You may consider setting it aside for a bit to read about that more (there are lots of online articles or videos on steaming joints, fretboard removal, neck resets, etc), and gather up the courage. As with any major operation, there is a chance of complications or catastrophic failure, but I guess my point is that it's totally doable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted June 20, 2019 Report Share Posted June 20, 2019 Jerry Rosa has done several neck resets on his Rosa String Works Youtube channel. Here's one on an acoustic. What I like is that he uses a lot of basic tools anyone can afford. Quote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
komodo Posted June 20, 2019 Report Share Posted June 20, 2019 I recently pulled a mandolin neck, so it was a dovetail joint, not a longer tenon. After reading a bunch of stuff on injecting steam I decided to try it with an iron which was successful. I did it similar to how you would remove a fretboard, using lots of slow heat, a very thin bladelike tool (more blunt, like a putty knife) and working several areas until it finally started to move. If you do steam injection just be careful, it involves a pressured container and superheated vapor - don't underestimate the danger. This all assumes your neck was level before the fretboard was applied, and then the frets were leveled and dressed. Thats also critical to getting a lower and playable action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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