Neck Repair

[430pm]

hello, i'm new to these forums and was wondering if anyone can refer me to information on repairing an acoustic guitar neck. i'm thinking of buying one that has a damaged neck.

at the base of the neck, where it meets the body, it has cracked slightly (about 1/8th inch) on the back side. i'm concerned that the truss rod will have been affected.

any advice for a newbie?

thanks!

[Tim37]

post pics

and welcome

[430pm]

haven't bought it yet. looking for some perameters. (will titebond glue work? is there something that would indicate a repair larger than replacing the neck?)

[430pm]

so what i've learned is that, for slight adjustments a truss bar should do it. for more correction, remove the fret board and sand the high spots. and if it's really bad, replace neck.

i'll get the guitar in a couple of weeks, should know more then.

is there something to try if the truss bar isn't enough, but before the trouble of removing the fret board?

fret filing?

[Southpa]

Lets just wait until you get the guitar, take pics and voice your concerns here and we can take it from there. Don't worry, be happy, pretty much every problem you will encounter has been discussed on this forum at one time or another.

[NatoWright]

If the crack is creating a space an 8th of an inch wide between the neck and body then the neck should be removed and reset. If the actual heal is cracked it should still be removed, repaired and then reset. I have had good results with titebond, make sure you clean out the dovetail joint of all the old glue ofcourse. I would look up a number of different repairs on youtube or even google for pictures of the process, from removing to fitting the neck and how to clamp it. As for removing the fretboard, dont do it unless the truss rod is not functioning. with highspots you can see what filing frets does, or just remove the frets and relevel the fingerboard. Another thing to keep in mind is some acoustics have bolt on necks like taylors, seagulls and various others. You may be lucky and just have to tighten 2 bolts through the soundhole..Pics will be really helpful. I hope this made some sort of sense and best of luck to your project. -Nate

[430pm]

thanks for the help. i got the guitar and it's in pretty good shape. it's a brand new washburn. the neck was 's' shaped, curved in at the top, curved back at the 5-6th frets. i released all the tension in the truss bar and put on light strings and now it has a nice graceful bow. i had to lower the saddle a little, but it's great. the majority of the board plays well.

i have one small problem: on the high 'e' i don't have distinction on the 11, 12, & 13 frets. it's good before and after that. buzzin on the b string at the 13th only, and no distinction on the low 'e' at the 12th, 13, & 14th frets, on the 'g' string the 14, 15, & 16th, on the 'd' string 13, 14, & 15th frets is the problem.

does this sound like warped fingerboard or a filing issue? how do i troubleshoot?

thanks a ton!

[Southpa]

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Te.../buzzintro.html

Great place to start and narrow things down. With buzzing in those areas I would suspect loose fret(s) somewhere and not worn frets as the guitar is an acoustic. A couple of straight edges (3" & 12") are useful. My motto is "when in doubt, throw it out" That said, if I find frets are too weird and too many to manage individually, I adjust the truss rod as flat as possible and level / crown all of it. That way you can't miss!

[430pm]

excellent resource, thanks for the link. using a straight edge i identified the 14th & 16th frets as the problem. i'm assuming there's nothing significant about the fact that they are too high in different places? (one is high on the tremble side and the other is high on the bass side.)

so regarding correction, take off all the strings? won't this affect the curvature that i am measuring?

otherwise i would assume to tape off the fingerboard, and proceed with standard hardware store file, going slowly.

this is a $60 muscian's friend.com slightly damaged guitar that i figured would be a good project to learn about this stuff. i think it's a good sounding, cheaply made guitar (the tuners are terrible), as most of the reviews were complaining about this very issue. sounds like they tried to over-compensate w/ heavy strings, but the guitar couldn't handle it.

[Southpa]

I'd figure the fret ends have popped up on one or 2 frets. Easiest fix is to pull them out and reradius a little tighter and then reseat, provided your fret slot is still good.

[430pm]

uhhhh, 'reradius?' i was thinking i would just file down while the fret is still on the fretboard. is this wrong?

[Southpa]

uhhhh, 'reradius?' i was thinking i would just file down while the fret is still on the fretboard. is this wrong?

I don't know, you haven't revealed exactly why you have buzzing. Go back to frets.com and start reading. If the fret ends have popped out of the wood, (no brainer, look for gaps between the wood and the fret) then the last thing you want to do is start filing.

Edited December 11, 2010 by Southpa

[430pm]

well, when i play down near the 12-15th frets, i don't get any distinction in the notes (they're all the same.) so i took a straight edge and the 14th and 16th are raised enough to interfere w/the next few frets. so by filing down, it should provide enough clearance for the not to ring true.

i've just never filed down a fret before and was wondering if i could do it on the guitar. taking off the frets sounds a little hard. but if that's the only way , i'm game.

[430pm]

so if the fret is so high on one side that it interrupts the 2 higher frets, does that mean it's beyond filing?

[Southpa]

Why is it high?

[430pm]

Why is it high?

i don't know. i bought it new, but was listed as a warped neck. i put lighter strings on it and the only part thats a problem is reallly low on the neck. i was wondering if the description of the problem can be cured by filing. (or is it a warp, and the neck needs to be re-leveled in that area, which will be tough since it's on the body of the guitar.)