Unusual Neck Crack

[dalandser]

I wrote about my mistake on the "Oh ****" thread, but it's about six pages long so far so not too many people may get to the end of that one. Yesterday I put some threaded inserts into a Wizard II neck and they did not go in straight so I attempted to drill them out. I forgot to step down in drill size to begin with and ended up jamming the threaded insert into the neck even further and it's threads started to crack open the neck in a couple directions and lifted the fretboard off of the neck in a few places above the screw holes.

I then drilled out all the inserts the right way and dowelled the mistake hole after filling it up with titebond II so that glue would squeeze into the cracks as I tapped the dowel in. The cracks didn't close up on their own after drilling out the insert because there may have already be debris holding them open slightly. I clamped the glued up neck over night and took some pictures. I ordered some Satellite City Hot Stuff - the thinnest formula they make - and I'll squirt it into the cracks when it gets here.

Here are some pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/An_IJ...feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XN3vl...feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LiZQ2...feat=directlink

Two Issues:

1. After I dowel the rest of the holes and smooth everything out even again, I want to try putting the inserts in again. I put some into another neck, but it was a one piece and I think that going against the grain in the Wizard neck made it more difficult for me to get the inserts in plumb. I'm thinking that as I drill out to 9/32" dia x 1/2" deep I'll drill about an extra 1/8" at the point where a machine screw can sit in the cup made by that hole and then go back to drilling 1/2" for the rest of the diameters. Then I'll take a 1 1/8" machine screw and thread the insert up to the head. I'll slowly use a screw driver to turn the screw that should be locked into the cup in the middle of the hole at the bottom and drive the insert in plumb. I'll add lock nuts as needed drive the insert to the final depth of 1/2".

2. Since the cracks have some height to them, this might affect the levelness of the frets especially on the treble side high frets. Should I just put the neck on after I'm done as is and get a professional fret level (I know a guy that does it for $40 because I offer to set up the guitar myself after) or should i get everything locked into place in the pocket and measure to see if both sides of the neck butt up to the top of the neck pocket with the same height exposed and then sand down with a hand block sander held at an angle to adjust accordingly?

Any advice for these two items or other advice in general is welcome.

Thank You,

Anthony

Edited August 30, 2010 by dalandser