Busy-B Neck Repair

[sunday_luthier]

I built this guitar a few years ago. I installed a homemade aluminium "U-channel" trussrod.

After a few years, the neck had acquired a significant up-bow. Adjusting the trussrod did nothing. In fact, no matter how tight I turned it, it would rattle... not good.

The plan : remove the fingerboard, change the trussrod, glue the fingerboard back on.

The plan is simple, but reality is not.

I started by defretting.

Then, I drilled a bunch of small holes in the fingerboard to make way for the steam that would loosen the fingerboard glue joint, and started ironing the guitar :

I started peeling the fingerboard off with a metal spatula and and angle caul (with a little help from a big hammer).

When I was able to remove the trussrod (which was in a sad state), I injected more steam with a piece of electrical shielding hooked to a kettle of boiling water. That helped a little :

With the trussrod and fingerboard removed, I was horrified no see this :

[pauliemc]

Happened to me a few years back. Is there much of a bow along the lenght of the neck ? & is the truss chanel wider in the middle than the ends ?

[sunday_luthier]

The problem was actually that the steam deformed the wood. I should have waited a bit before rushing forward, but I didn't. I planed the neck flat again, and this is what I discovered a few days later :

Had I waited, it probably would have gone back to flat.

To avoid planeing again (and reducing the neck width, I glued a mahogany overlay strip onto the center line and planed that flat :

The olf fingerboard was obviously only good for burning now, so I made a new fingerboard (BTW, did I mention it was a fanned fret guitar? All the more fun!)

My new fingerboard blank was very slightly too short, so I made a small setup to glue an extension piece :

[sunday_luthier]

Got the new trussrod in the mail. Luckily, it's the same length as my channel, so I only need to widen and deepen the channel very slightly for the adjustment nut :

Widening the channel at the nut with a chisel :

If the rod fits... The nut is even aligned with the former rod's adjustment hole I had drilled through the head. Could things finally be going my way? :

Slightly scraping the upper "horn" free of sanding marks :

I made a dozen angled cauls to support the neck while glueing the new fingerboard :

The angled cauls allow me to somewhat adjust the bow of the neck. I hope this setup will help me get a decent, straight glue joint :

Fingerboard glued and clamped :

[MiKro]

Yep I was going to say give the neck time to lose the moisture from the steam.

[bob123]

Wow what a bunch of headache on this one! hopefully the rest of it goes smoother boss!

[Shelvock]

The angled cauls for adjusting neck bow prior to gluing is a great idea, good for fingerboard/fret levelling too.

[lobo]

cool shape. like a rik toone

[sunday_luthier]

Glue joint turned out pretty nice... Not perfect but close enough, considering the neck I had to work with.

Neck is straight and the trussrod works, hip hip hurray!

After scraping and sanding the neck and fingerboard sides, sanding the top of the fingerboard with a sanding stick, 80-grit to 400-grit.

Brushing the fingerboard and sanding stick often to prevent dust build-up and premature sandpaper wear :

Cleaning and deepening the fret slots :

Cheers,

[sunday_luthier]

Fretting :

Fixing a chip with a mixture of ebony dust and super glue :

I felt the flat triangle behind the nut was a bit strange as the neck-head transition. So I gleud a small piece of ebony veneer to make it look rather like ax extension of the fingerboard :

I had to scrape and sand the guitar top slightly as I had made saw marks while deepening the last fret slots :

I also made a new, bigger jack hole for a new jack plate :

Cheers,

[sunday_luthier]

Oiling her back up. It's a real joy to see all sanding marks magically disappear with just a little oil, the guitar immediately looks like it did before starting the repair :

Back view :

I glued the same nut back onto the neck :

New jack :

It will be soon

Cheers,

[sunday_luthier]

Done !

[verhoevenc]

Power to ya! I can't stand going BACK and working on stuff. Drives me nuts. Congrats on the self control! Not to mention that guitar is funky and cool as heck! Looks slightly Zachary Guitars influenced... but I'll bite my tongue there hahaha.

Chris

[Pestvic]

wow!