Yep. I realized that just last night while watching Bob Ross. There is a link in the description to two places to buy the same knife. One is much cheaper.
...Yup.... Stewmac are gouging bass-tards... All their stuff is overpriced. I’m super cheap, and hey, people in China need to buy food too. So that’s where I get 95% of my tools from... :)
Hey Brad, I just wanted to let you know really how much I enjoy watching your videos. Between you and Crimson Guitar, you're my favorite channels on guitar maintenance and building. You both teach and inspire me to try new things on my own, instead of having someone do it for me.
There's a simpler method: heat the neck up (I use an iron on the fretboard to get it going, then wrap an electric blanket round it), clamp it up so it's straight or slightly too far the other way, then let it cool off and see where it's at. I normally take a couple of swings at it but it DOES work, despite the naysayers. I don't get on with the planing method myself- you end up with a skinnier, narrower neck.
This helped me ID the make of this little guitar I have The headstock, string bar and paper thin rosewood veneer were the giveaways. Its a cheaper model with only one pickup though
I did pretty much the same thing on an Egmond Lucky 7. The fretboard was even worse: a paper-thin veneer of rosewood on a PLYWOOD fretboard. My first idea was to remove the frets and plane the board directly. I'm glad I didn't go that route. I did drill aligning holes for pins to align the board when re-gluing. Makes the job a whole lot easier.
Loved the Video - I have a similar era Kawai bass and it has exactly the same 'economical' use of rosewood frettboard facing. I found that out when the side binding dropped off one day. Loved the method but had a thought based on an Earlewhine picture. How about instead loosening off the truss rod, putting some washers under the nut, then clamping the neck down into a backbow (cutting a reverse bow board shape in say 2 by 4 to clamp it to) then tightening up the truss rod. The idea is that 'helping' the truss rod in this fashion may enable it to hold the neck straight from then on.
Man, I just got the neck straight on my Squire vintage modified Jaguar HB (humbucker) special bass..Still buzzes on certain notes. Next order is a fender hi-mass bridge and a graphtech nut. It's amazing what an 8th of a turn does really! Just did my Classic Vibe Squier too.. No buzzing anywhere! just need some new pickups now.
Dude, I collect old Japanese guitars, Teisco, Guyatone, etc. Several need fret jobs, I several spares, think I'll just switch fretboards. Thanks a million.
Some good ideas here. I have always used dry heat but it can easily trash the binding so your hot water idea might be a bit safer in that regard. Norrmally you want to clamp that board once it is off the neck as it cools. Also good to scrap off the glue while hot. Lastly popping two frets (1 and 14) and using two steel pins (finish nails) to re-register the position the board when gluing it back on is a big help with a fixed bridge type of guitar like this. Thanks for the video. Great to see some other ideas for those of us set in our ways. :)
Hi ! I'm new here. Thanks a lot for showing me how to remove a fretboard. I recuperated my youth bass guitar from my late much talented but deeply depressed nephew who killed himself 4 years ago at 40. :( Anyway, I gave him my Japanese copy of the fame Höfner violin semi-acoustic bass when he was 14 years old. As he got in heavy metal rock with his kid friends, he destroyed it real good, he badly tweeked electronics, smashed body & repainted it in white. :(( Anyway, I decided to restore the thing as a memorial, stripped all the paint and had to remove the top since he re-glued at some time the sides using some kind of heavy stuff. I ordered a new set of electronics, controls etc. The neck now shows a serious bow so your vid couldn't be more helpful, thanks to you ! I still miss the rosewood, adjustable bridge... Hell, a site asks 75$ for a copy ! You wouldn't have used one in stock ?? Would be of great help of course, I'm now now retired - an old 68 year old fart - with limited $$$ of course... Oh and, the hum buckers test resistance ok but are numb. Any idea ?? Thanks for helping me out!
I removed a fret board on a Dean years ago.I used a flat Iron. On top of the frets.Don't tell my wife.But i was shocked it did not take long and off it came in perfect shape.Your way seemed to work fairly well also.
An easy fix would be to take off the bridge, remove the two adjustment screws, put the bridge back without the screws, and this will lower the action suffiently to make it play much easier. I know because i did this to similiar electric guitars back in the 70's.
Great video sir.I need to do the exact operations on an old Ibanez hollow body and a coply of 70s harmony strat copies.You made it look pretty easy.I am grateful indeed.
My dad's old tesico also has just a strip of rosewood also, it's corroded away and you can see ply wood as the true fretboard. Also nice joke from your wife haha
Thank you for posting, great job. The big block is expensive ? To use the smaller sanding block you can use a black Sharpie to color the frets and the high points on the frets come shiny first after being planed by the sanding block. Remark the frets and keep using the sanding block to plane the fretboard until all the frets come uniformly shiny then recrown the frets.
Oh boy! All due respect, but so many things overlooked here: no indexing nails for the fretboard, so you can put it back exactly where it was before removal; no scoring the finish between neck and binding to prevent lacquer from chiping; planing wihtout proper support and without protecting the body and headstock (the planer is literally thumping against the headstock!); clamping the fretboard from the ends towards the center (again without indexing nails); did you clean old glue and true up the fretboard's lower surface before gluing?; crowning the frets without protecting the fingerboard... and the action doesn't really seem all that much lower after all. Then again, it's just a quick camera shot so maybe I'm wrong. I think trying a heat press to remove excessive relief would've been worth a shot before going through all this work. They're usually pretty good for these kinds of situations.
in all fairness ,the instrument was unplayable, as it was, so the work carried out was always going to be an improvement ,has rescued this individual from the guitar graveyard, and considered economy of effort, don`t you think !
Hi Brad, As always a great video of resurrecting the dead. I don't agree with some of the ways you tackled this project but that's just me being one of the old farts of my generation. The one tip that I'd like to share with you to "antique" plastic binding is by taping off the surrounding surfaces and using a small paintbrush soaked in hot 3 day old coffee to stain the plastic to the desired effect. For sure it can be labor intensive at times to get it correct but that's how us old dudes did it back in the day. Outside of scraping all the binding back to the same color it seemed like a cost effective alternative. On top of it there was always a reason to tell the boss why you were still on "coffee break"... LOL
I'm skeptical on the coffee on plastic trick. :D You'll have to make me a video sometime showing that. I've always used lacquer to accomplish that blending.
File is OK if you're going to dress the frets anyway. I don't understand how, after "rough planing" the kick up at the top (did it kick up at the tongue?) you didn't full-length sand the neck while checking for any gaps. Am I just being "Trained" by Stew-Mack to buy more tools? Otherwise, I think this is a helpful video. Thanks!
I am very gung ho in my repair approach. You can get as fiddly with this as you like. If it was a really high end guitar, I'm sure I would have taken more precautions and been more precious about it.
Question: if you have a neck with a bow like that, and you plain the fretboard side, doesn't the back of the neck still feel bowed? Meaning, isn't there a "humpy" feeling that it gets fatter in the middle but thinner again up towards the neck joint? Did you ever try fixing the bow by using clamps to introduce a backbow force, with or without applying heat? There are a few videos using varieties of that approach, but I always wondered about long term results. I also think, like other people mention, I wouldn't be plaining the neck without something to support the back, that's why you get surface inconsistencies and then gaps after regluing the board. The plainer is basically bending the neck as you work, more so towards the headstock.
I notice you used carpenters glue. I was always told to use luthiers resin glue because it gets like glass when hardened and that makes the parts resonate better. Am I just being old fashion. I seen a you tube video where a guitar shop used super glue on a very expensive martin and the guy did not even use yellow or blue tape to protect the finish while doing the repair. maybe just to old and and don't keep up with speed and slight differences in sound.
Cool trick with hot water I have not tried that before. But I really don't understand why you desided to plane down the neck, loosing material from the neck is not a good thing it makes it weaker and you end up with a mismatched fretboard. Surely the best thing would be to bend the neck straight and replace the truss rod.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, and some valid points! I could have removed the truss rod, and placed the neck under steam and backward pressure for a time and maybe gotten it straight again. If this was a 30s Martin or something like that where every effort would pay dividends, you're right, it's worth doing that. But there's no real guarantee it would even have worked on this neck. These early Kawai guitars, and all the early Japanese stuff was hit and miss on wood curing. They didn't do the best job building with fully cured woods that would not warp with climatic change and time. So really, in this case, I'm kinda doing what they should have done at the factory - shaped the neck AFTER proper curing time. In this case the curing time was 50 years. :) As for the concern over weakness, the neck is mahogany. THere's enough material left that with the fretboard laminated on, the neck is still plenty strong.
I have use a heat / bend / pressure to straighten both a real bad back bow and using the same deal on a normal bow. With the finger board off, I tie down the body to my table with a ratchet strap and a couple shims where needed, move the neck with pressure (maybe 5 to 10 pounds) in the desired direction and heat (I switched from a heat gun to an clothes iron with a steel bar underneath). The wood transmits heat very slowly into the neck. Heat for a couple hours with the iron on high, let cool, release and check straightness. If it is not enough, repeat with more clamping tension. I have not done this with the fingerboard still on the neck, I suppose much more heat time is required. It really bothers me to plane down the neck as you are removing strength therein and bowing may come more readily later on. Mike
My first electric guitar was almost the exact model, but with only two pickups, but exact same shape, tremolo, chrome plates, neck(thick as a tree), but it was called a "St. George" I was torn between a Gibson Melody Maker and the St. George, and stupid me took the St. George because it was "flashier" Shows you how naive I was. This was back in 1965, started my first band with it. It would really help to show the changes by measuring before and after the string heights, etc. and showing it on the video.
Actually, this is a SEVEN BOLT neck! I have a Lindell-branded two pickup model very similar to this, and after taking off the plate(and discovering that two of the holes were stripped), I found two flat head screws, one I could remove, but the other lacquered or glued in, plus the neck itself apparently glued. This instrument obviously was designed to withstand Godzilla! I'm going to attempt clamping the neck to adjust the truss rod, but adding a shim seems to be out of the question. I'm not quite ready to go "Nuclear" yet.
Thats a very cool looking guitar I was hoping you would demo the sound. Great to see you saved it from the bonfire. Have you ever looked at any of "Rosa String Works" repairs? that man is the most amazing instrument repair guy I have ever seen. He really does bring instruments back from the dead. Truely amazing knowledge and problem solver.
Nice video, but one thing is not clear to me. The neck was bowed, so the action was too high. I expected the neck to be unbowed, but apparently the neck is not un-bowed (straightened), but (instead) eventually made thinner to make the action lower? I once brought an old acoustic, 'famous' among friends for it's playability and low action to a shop for restringing, new tuners and a clean-up. When I got it back the neck was bowed (high action) and the truss-rod couldn't correct it anymore. The shop said you could never predict how old guitars (old glue) respond to cleaning fluids, so this can happen (I wasn't warned in advance this could happen), so my bad. The guitar wasn't valuable, but I lost a dear friend. So I was very interested in the bowed neck.
Not sure Id use original titebond,- I dont think youll ever be able to remove the fretboard again . Hyde glue looses with heat. Then again if you got it straight - it may never need removing. I have a similar issue with a guitar and am considering all the options and your method looks like it would be a much better and permanent fix than heating and bending the neck with pressure. I love the working in the kitchen thing- real life all the way ! thanks
So you don't need a wire brush?? I was planning on cleaning my Strat and have the brush here. Some other Southeast Asian channel suggested that is the best tool for the job. I also plan on going to locking tuners so I have taken my current tuners completely apart.
I'm surprised you didn't pull the first and last fret, and drill a little pin whole for alignment. It makes gluing them back on so much easier. Nice repair overall. Did you force the neck into a slight backbow when gluing the board on? I had to do that with a Spector Rebop 5 bass I have. Good times.
Yes. And I actually have several of those rubber bands for that purpose. Not sure why I didn't use them here. I guess I just forgot about having them and went with my old method of doing it. If I had it to do again, I'd use the bands! Well spotted! The only problem with using those is cleaning the excess glue becomes a bigger chore because you have to mess with the rubber bands.
Instead of removing all that material, why not heat and bend the neck? Looks like the bridge is still bottomed out and would have benefited from this. Is there any chance the truss rod nut was just running out of thread and just needed washers added to assist in that end? Any idea how they anchor the truss rod in the heal of that neck?
It took you half an hour to get the fret board off??? Mine just came off with a putty knife without heat or water in 2 minutes! They must have used the fancy glue on yours ;) Mine's a Kawai S70 without a trussrod but with a big piece of iron T-bar down the middle of the neck. My fretboard is plywood with a beautifull rosewood veneer. I'll de-banana the neck tomorrow and put it back together, thanks for the video!
With the fretboard off would their be a different way than planing to straighten the neck? Perhaps steam/hot water and clamping it with some back bow? Then washer on the truss rod?
I have an odd question that I have not figured out yet... What would make the tone change when picking the strings. The harder the lower the tone, and as the string volume goes down on this electro-acustic the tone goes up. It is impossible for me to tune it.
Using hot animal hide glue would be my choice. It dries crispy hard for better tone, and farther down the road, it steams or hot-waters apart easier than modern yellow acrylic glues. Other than that, love this video. Made a player out of a wall hanger! Would have enjoyed hearing it... Don’t get to experience these rare oldsters often..
I've got an old harmony acoustic with the steel reinforced neck that needs just a slight bit less relief. Is it possible to clamp it down somehow and reduce the backbow, if it's just a small adjustment that's needed?
You're saying the neck has TOO MUCH backward relief? That's an unusual problem on a Harmony. Most of those need a neck reset or, the easier thing is this: ua-cam.com/video/VYLI5dQ1g8w/v-deo.html
Good question. Yes, I did back off some. Over time, the neck will want to go back to the banana shape so I gave the neck a very slight backbow to compensate for that future movement and to further improve the angle. The alternative was to remove the neck, and no way I was attempting that maneuver.
As for removing set necks, use a pressure cooker. Attach 2 ft of fuel line with screw down hose clamps. At the steam out end clamp in one of those air inflation needles used on footballs and basketballs. I use a clothes iron to soften glue under any fretboard extension glued to the top (on steel string flat tops and classical guitars), then putty knife to pry it up. Remove a couple frets and drill down through the fret slot to get the needle all the way into the dovetail joint or whatever. On a flat top you can use flat pieces of maple under the heel and on the top (both sides) as cauls to distribute the pressure, and gently (just a couple pounds at a time) apply downward force to the body with iron C clamps. Be gentle, be patient, and that neck will just back right out in about 45 minutes. No damage, no fuss. As for gluing the fingerboard back on, use a staple gun. Put one in each end of the fingerboard underside and cut the staple off close with end cutters. Carpenters glue is slippery. Makes holding it in place easier. Then you can clamp the daylights out of it with Cast Iron C clamps. Use at least a half inch of newspaper or phone book between the back of the neck and the clamp. No dents, no finish damage that way. You may get newspaper glued to the finish, but a washcloth and warm water will work it off even 24 hrs after you let it set before taking it out of the clamps.
Dude, you are a lucky man. Not only does your wife have a sense of humor, she allowed you to plane the neck, and use spray paint in her kitchen. Brilliant minds think alike. "That's what she said" was on the tip of my tongue just as she said it. Awesome. Oh yeah... Interesting video too.
Yes, watching channels that scrub all mistakes is not good for your learning anything. Don't get me wrong, Dan is great, but that Stew Mac channel is too sterile. When you possess every gadget and specialty tool known to man, of course things are going to be a little easier - fuck ton more expensive too!
@@TheGuitologist Thanks for getting back to me. I didn't really expect that. Point taken about Stew Mac's sterility and having every gadget known to man. Another channel that I enjoy watching is Rosa String Works. He's pretty real. When talking about different model guitars he'll say, "I don't know what it is, I don't need to know what it is. It's wood. I fix wood." And that's what he does.
I need to straighten and old Silvertone Faux Tiger 15 Dollar Parlor guitar strings left on this 1963 made. It has no truss rod. Is it possible to straighten.
Very cool. I got the guitar and amp from my father. It came with an airlinr model 6000 that buzzed so loud i couldnt hear any notes. It had somr funky 35w4 and little 12au6 and t6 tubes. Once i get everything rounded up ill have to contact you
You should...if its not too much extra trouble. People who watch this type of thing don't get tired of it and you often have very eclectic specimens...so its interesting
i have a model similar to this one, on the back of the headstock i found chrome sticker listed as "VN-4". still not quite sure if its a norma,or a kay, or a who knows what. if your interested shoot me a message dude. would love to know what it is!
That knife is a pallet knife used in oil and acrylic painting. All artist supply places should have them relatively cheap.
Good vid.
Yep. I realized that just last night while watching Bob Ross. There is a link in the description to two places to buy the same knife. One is much cheaper.
God Bless Bob Ross.
Yes sir, Hombre. Bob Ross was a Zen master.
...Yup.... Stewmac are gouging bass-tards... All their stuff is overpriced. I’m super cheap, and hey, people in China need to buy food too. So that’s where I get 95% of my tools from... :)
Don't pay stewmac 40$ for a putty knife
Hey Brad, I just wanted to let you know really how much I enjoy watching your videos. Between you and Crimson Guitar, you're my favorite channels on guitar maintenance and building. You both teach and inspire me to try new things on my own, instead of having someone do it for me.
I love seeing these old Japanese guitars inside, would love to see more videos like this!
There's a simpler method: heat the neck up (I use an iron on the fretboard to get it going, then wrap an electric blanket round it), clamp it up so it's straight or slightly too far the other way, then let it cool off and see where it's at. I normally take a couple of swings at it but it DOES work, despite the naysayers. I don't get on with the planing method myself- you end up with a skinnier, narrower neck.
how long do would you leave in the heated blanket for
It doesn’t always work especially with maple. I’ve fixed hundreds necks over the years. There’s many many methods.
How much time does it lasts?
I love the humble DIY nature of this all - LOVE IT!
I miss that sound in my house. All my kids are grown now, well both boys 20 and 16. Thanks Brad. i'll email you about the Pioneer mixer.
This helped me ID the make of this little guitar I have
The headstock, string bar and paper thin rosewood veneer were the giveaways.
Its a cheaper model with only one pickup though
I've got a Univox Scroll Headstock Violin Bass with a broken trussrod...this I good inspiration to pop the fretboard off and fix it!
Cheers!
I did pretty much the same thing on an Egmond Lucky 7. The fretboard was even worse: a paper-thin veneer of rosewood on a PLYWOOD fretboard. My first idea was to remove the frets and plane the board directly. I'm glad I didn't go that route. I did drill aligning holes for pins to align the board when re-gluing. Makes the job a whole lot easier.
Loved the Video - I have a similar era Kawai bass and it has exactly the same 'economical' use of rosewood frettboard facing. I found that out when the side binding dropped off one day. Loved the method but had a thought based on an Earlewhine picture. How about instead loosening off the truss rod, putting some washers under the nut, then clamping the neck down into a backbow (cutting a reverse bow board shape in say 2 by 4 to clamp it to) then tightening up the truss rod. The idea is that 'helping' the truss rod in this fashion may enable it to hold the neck straight from then on.
Why have you not masked off the headstock front to prevent it being damaged when you were planning the neck?
Man, I just got the neck straight on my Squire vintage modified Jaguar HB (humbucker) special bass..Still buzzes on certain notes. Next order is a fender hi-mass bridge and a graphtech nut. It's amazing what an 8th of a turn does really! Just did my Classic Vibe Squier too.. No buzzing anywhere! just need some new pickups now.
Dude, I collect old Japanese guitars, Teisco, Guyatone, etc. Several need fret jobs, I several spares, think I'll just switch fretboards. Thanks a million.
That's an idea. Just ensure the scale lengths are the same and widths, etc. Might be less work in the long run.
Some good ideas here. I have always used dry heat but it can easily trash the binding so your hot water idea might be a bit safer in that regard.
Norrmally you want to clamp that board once it is off the neck as it cools. Also good to scrap off the glue while hot.
Lastly popping two frets (1 and 14) and using two steel pins (finish nails) to re-register the position the board when gluing it back on is a big help with a fixed bridge type of guitar like this.
Thanks for the video. Great to see some other ideas for those of us set in our ways. :)
Hi ! I'm new here. Thanks a lot for showing me how to remove a fretboard. I recuperated my youth bass guitar from my late much talented but deeply depressed nephew who killed himself 4 years ago at 40. :(
Anyway, I gave him my Japanese copy of the fame Höfner violin semi-acoustic bass when he was 14 years old. As he got in heavy metal rock with his kid friends, he destroyed it real good, he badly tweeked electronics, smashed body & repainted it in white. :(( Anyway, I decided to restore the thing as a memorial, stripped all the paint and had to remove the top since he re-glued at some time the sides using some kind of heavy stuff. I ordered a new set of electronics, controls etc. The neck now shows a serious bow so your vid couldn't be more helpful, thanks to you !
I still miss the rosewood, adjustable bridge... Hell, a site asks 75$ for a copy !
You wouldn't have used one in stock ?? Would be of great help of course, I'm now now retired - an old 68 year old fart - with limited $$$ of course... Oh and, the hum buckers test resistance ok but are numb. Any idea ??
Thanks for helping me out!
Ha, doing some reruns tonight.. It already has a thumbs up from me so I guess I enjoyed this lat year too. Great job..
That was strangely soothing to watch, a bit scary, & then soothing. That guitar & your videos are the poodles plumbs!
I removed a fret board on a Dean years ago.I used a flat Iron. On top of the frets.Don't tell my wife.But i was shocked it did not take long and off it came in perfect shape.Your way seemed to work fairly well also.
An easy fix would be to take off the bridge, remove the two adjustment screws, put the bridge back without the screws, and this will lower the action suffiently to make it play much easier. I know because i did this to similiar electric guitars back in the 70's.
Great video sir.I need to do the exact operations on an old Ibanez hollow body and a coply of 70s harmony strat copies.You made it look pretty easy.I am grateful indeed.
Just go slow and carefully. Don't get in a hurry.
My dad's old tesico also has just a strip of rosewood also, it's corroded away and you can see ply wood as the true fretboard.
Also nice joke from your wife haha
The knife is an artist's palette knife!
Hey Brad, i wish i found this good videos like 15 years ago or so. I'd probably become a luthier and amp repair guy rather than a software engineer.
Whoever you are, you're a beast!! Kudos to you!!
Thank you for posting, great job.
The big block is expensive ?
To use the smaller sanding block you can use a black Sharpie to color the frets and the high points on the frets come shiny first after being planed by the sanding block.
Remark the frets and keep using the sanding block to plane the fretboard until all the frets come uniformly shiny then recrown the frets.
great job Brad. I'm about to embark on a similar project myself. hopefully turns out as good as yours did.👍
Good luck, John! Let us know how it turns out. Just take it slow. That is the key. Never get in any rush. Stopping and thinking costs nothing.
So that's what fretboard "binding" is for; it hides things like the rosewood just being a veneer.
Good catch. I bet that's true. Unrelated: Why didn't he use the StewMac tool to add more thread to the truss rod?
Oh boy! All due respect, but so many things overlooked here: no indexing nails for the fretboard, so you can put it back exactly where it was before removal; no scoring the finish between neck and binding to prevent lacquer from chiping; planing wihtout proper support and without protecting the body and headstock (the planer is literally thumping against the headstock!); clamping the fretboard from the ends towards the center (again without indexing nails); did you clean old glue and true up the fretboard's lower surface before gluing?; crowning the frets without protecting the fingerboard... and the action doesn't really seem all that much lower after all. Then again, it's just a quick camera shot so maybe I'm wrong. I think trying a heat press to remove excessive relief would've been worth a shot before going through all this work. They're usually pretty good for these kinds of situations.
in all fairness ,the instrument was unplayable, as it was,
so the work carried out was always going to be an improvement ,has
rescued this individual from the guitar graveyard, and considered
economy of effort, don`t you think !
Was not expecting such an "awww" moment in the middle with the wife comment
Hi Brad,
As always a great video of resurrecting the dead.
I don't agree with some of the ways you tackled this project but that's just me being one of the old farts of my generation.
The one tip that I'd like to share with you to "antique" plastic binding is by taping off the surrounding surfaces and using a small paintbrush soaked in hot 3 day old coffee to stain the plastic to the desired effect.
For sure it can be labor intensive at times to get it correct but that's how us old dudes did it back in the day.
Outside of scraping all the binding back to the same color it seemed like a cost effective alternative.
On top of it there was always a reason to tell the boss why you were still on "coffee break"... LOL
I'm skeptical on the coffee on plastic trick. :D
You'll have to make me a video sometime showing that. I've always used lacquer to accomplish that blending.
Not the way I would have done it but if it worked, well done...
Less than 2 minuets for the next 10 inches... that's what she said!! Bahaha!! Omg I died laughing!! 😂😂😂
File is OK if you're going to dress the frets anyway. I don't understand how, after "rough planing" the kick up at the top (did it kick up at the tongue?) you didn't full-length sand the neck while checking for any gaps. Am I just being "Trained" by Stew-Mack to buy more tools? Otherwise, I think this is a helpful video. Thanks!
I am very gung ho in my repair approach. You can get as fiddly with this as you like. If it was a really high end guitar, I'm sure I would have taken more precautions and been more precious about it.
Question: if you have a neck with a bow like that, and you plain the fretboard side, doesn't the back of the neck still feel bowed? Meaning, isn't there a "humpy" feeling that it gets fatter in the middle but thinner again up towards the neck joint?
Did you ever try fixing the bow by using clamps to introduce a backbow force, with or without applying heat? There are a few videos using varieties of that approach, but I always wondered about long term results.
I also think, like other people mention, I wouldn't be plaining the neck without something to support the back, that's why you get surface inconsistencies and then gaps after regluing the board. The plainer is basically bending the neck as you work, more so towards the headstock.
I notice you used carpenters glue. I was always told to use luthiers resin glue because it gets like glass when hardened and that makes the parts resonate better. Am I just being old fashion. I seen a you tube video where a guitar shop used super glue on a very expensive martin and the guy did not even use yellow or blue tape to protect the finish while doing the repair. maybe just to old and and don't keep up with speed and slight differences in sound.
carl talbot nah dats knowledge... something's we need to retain... thanks for the tip..
Cabinet scraper for the binding, always.
Makes it super quick and easy :)
Cool trick with hot water I have not tried that before. But I really don't understand why you desided to plane down the neck, loosing material from the neck is not a good thing it makes it weaker and you end up with a mismatched fretboard. Surely the best thing would be to bend the neck straight and replace the truss rod.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, and some valid points! I could have removed the truss rod, and placed the neck under steam and backward pressure for a time and maybe gotten it straight again. If this was a 30s Martin or something like that where every effort would pay dividends, you're right, it's worth doing that. But there's no real guarantee it would even have worked on this neck. These early Kawai guitars, and all the early Japanese stuff was hit and miss on wood curing. They didn't do the best job building with fully cured woods that would not warp with climatic change and time. So really, in this case, I'm kinda doing what they should have done at the factory - shaped the neck AFTER proper curing time. In this case the curing time was 50 years. :)
As for the concern over weakness, the neck is mahogany. THere's enough material left that with the fretboard laminated on, the neck is still plenty strong.
How did the fret leveling block exactly work...it wasn't in the video..good stuff!!
really cool vid !!! you made it look do able not like its something you cant tackle on yourself
That is the most cyberpunk guitar I think I have ever seen, and possibly that I ever will see outside of some custom job.
I have use a heat / bend / pressure to straighten both a real bad back bow and using the same deal on a normal bow. With the finger board off, I tie down the body to my table with a ratchet strap and a couple shims where needed, move the neck with pressure (maybe 5 to 10 pounds) in the desired direction and heat (I switched from a heat gun to an clothes iron with a steel bar underneath). The wood transmits heat very slowly into the neck. Heat for a couple hours with the iron on high, let cool, release and check straightness. If it is not enough, repeat with more clamping tension. I have not done this with the fingerboard still on the neck, I suppose much more heat time is required. It really bothers me to plane down the neck as you are removing strength therein and bowing may come more readily later on. Mike
My first electric guitar was almost the exact model, but with only two pickups, but exact same shape, tremolo, chrome plates, neck(thick as a tree), but it was called a "St. George" I was torn between a Gibson Melody Maker and the St. George, and stupid me took the St. George because it was "flashier" Shows you how naive I was. This was back in 1965, started my first band with it. It would really help to show the changes by measuring before and after the string heights, etc. and showing it on the video.
Nice save
Actually, this is a SEVEN BOLT neck! I have a Lindell-branded two pickup model very similar to this, and after taking off the plate(and discovering that two of the holes were stripped), I found two flat head screws, one I could remove, but the other lacquered or glued in, plus the neck itself apparently glued. This instrument obviously was designed to withstand Godzilla! I'm going to attempt clamping the neck to adjust the truss rod, but adding a shim seems to be out of the question. I'm not quite ready to go "Nuclear" yet.
Thats a very cool looking guitar I was hoping you would demo the sound. Great to see you saved it from the bonfire. Have you ever looked at any of "Rosa String Works" repairs? that man is the most amazing instrument repair guy I have ever seen. He really does bring instruments back from the dead. Truely amazing knowledge and problem solver.
What's up w/ the "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" BG music? Good video. Thanks.
Man with a set of Lollar or TV Jones pickups, that thing could be a weapon..
My first electric guitar was a Teisco Del Rey 4 pickup model. A real twanger.
I have one of those two right now.
My first geetar along with a tiesco cm30 round amp!
Could have used indexing pins
can also go to any artist supply source. ask to see their ' pallet knives'. have fun .
My knife still works well, but that's probably where I'll buy my next one.
Nice video, but one thing is not clear to me. The neck was bowed, so the action was too high. I expected the neck to be unbowed, but apparently the neck is not un-bowed (straightened), but (instead) eventually made thinner to make the action lower? I once brought an old acoustic, 'famous' among friends for it's playability and low action to a shop for restringing, new tuners and a clean-up. When I got it back the neck was bowed (high action) and the truss-rod couldn't correct it anymore. The shop said you could never predict how old guitars (old glue) respond to cleaning fluids, so this can happen (I wasn't warned in advance this could happen), so my bad. The guitar wasn't valuable, but I lost a dear friend. So I was very interested in the bowed neck.
1:55 “I don’t know if this is going to show up in the video?” ... as we look down to see an awesome “ski jump” .... LOL.. :)
Not sure Id use original titebond,- I dont think youll ever be able to remove the fretboard again . Hyde glue looses with heat. Then again if you got it straight - it may never need removing. I have a similar issue with a guitar and am considering all the options and your method looks like it would be a much better and permanent fix than heating and bending the neck with pressure. I love the working in the kitchen thing- real life all the way ! thanks
Titebond absolutely will let go with heat. Always does.
So you don't need a wire brush?? I was planning on cleaning my Strat and have the brush here. Some other Southeast Asian channel suggested that is the best tool for the job. I also plan on going to locking tuners so I have taken my current tuners completely apart.
Jimmy Hendrix first guitar was kinda like this one.his was just like the other one you have a video of that has the lines in the pick guard.nice
After the broom Jimi graduated to his first guitar which was a Danelectro I believe.
I'm surprised you didn't pull the first and last fret, and drill a little pin whole for alignment. It makes gluing them back on so much easier. Nice repair overall. Did you force the neck into a slight backbow when gluing the board on? I had to do that with a Spector Rebop 5 bass I have. Good times.
I like your work bench, wish I could do it like that.
You're very talented very nice work
Cool looking guitar.
Mate that was awesome. Good job.
Just did this to a dean ML, except the truss rod went through the back of the neck, so I'm replacing the truss rod and fixing the hole
More content like this please.
Aren’t you supposed to wrap the neck completely with the rubber band straps? Or is that just for binding installs?
Yes. And I actually have several of those rubber bands for that purpose. Not sure why I didn't use them here. I guess I just forgot about having them and went with my old method of doing it. If I had it to do again, I'd use the bands! Well spotted! The only problem with using those is cleaning the excess glue becomes a bigger chore because you have to mess with the rubber bands.
Makes sense, those bands would make glue cleanup a nightmare. I had a very similar Teisco model. Great video, peace Brad👍🏻🎸
Instead of removing all that material, why not heat and bend the neck? Looks like the bridge is still bottomed out and would have benefited from this. Is there any chance the truss rod nut was just running out of thread and just needed washers added to assist in that end?
Any idea how they anchor the truss rod in the heal of that neck?
Ah stuff it, i guess after half a dozen vids I'll sub. nice work mate, really enjoy your content.
For a "noob" these not-so-valuable guitars are a good place to start learning repair.
"not-so-valuable"? Not so much anymore, be very careful some are being sold for well over $300!!
tallthinkev
>$300
>valuable
Pick one
@@thevideosinc back to 4chan with you hahaha >;^)
@@versnellingspookie >cuckchan
Naw, im actually straight
It took you half an hour to get the fret board off??? Mine just came off with a putty knife without heat or water in 2 minutes! They must have used the fancy glue on yours ;) Mine's a Kawai S70 without a trussrod but with a big piece of iron T-bar down the middle of the neck. My fretboard is plywood with a beautifull rosewood veneer. I'll de-banana the neck tomorrow and put it back together, thanks for the video!
Yeah man! The first two inches too half and hour. The rest of the board came off in about 2 minutes.
With the fretboard off would their be a different way than planing to straighten the neck? Perhaps steam/hot water and clamping it with some back bow? Then washer on the truss rod?
I have an odd question that I have not figured out yet... What would make the tone change when picking the strings. The harder the lower the tone, and as the string volume goes down on this electro-acustic the tone goes up. It is impossible for me to tune it.
good work but you should of used some stronger clamps for holding down the fret board more pressure applied .....
Ouch..That neck looks like my favorite guitars neck,but mine is neck-through .
what an amazing guitar!
So, how did taking the fret board off and put it back on straighten the neck? was the shaving/plaining you did just on the high ends?
why not add a new improved truss rod? just curious
i hope you clean that stuff growing on the pickups and frets off too...
What else are kitchen floors for?! :D
Using hot animal hide glue would be my choice. It dries crispy hard for better tone, and farther down the road, it steams or hot-waters apart easier than modern yellow acrylic glues. Other than that, love this video. Made a player out of a wall hanger! Would have enjoyed hearing it... Don’t get to experience these rare oldsters often..
you can here it here, it's the last of the 4 guitars he plays: ua-cam.com/video/vsq1fs97fEY/v-deo.html
I've got an old harmony acoustic with the steel reinforced neck that needs just a slight bit less relief. Is it possible to clamp it down somehow and reduce the backbow, if it's just a small adjustment that's needed?
You're saying the neck has TOO MUCH backward relief? That's an unusual problem on a Harmony. Most of those need a neck reset or, the easier thing is this: ua-cam.com/video/VYLI5dQ1g8w/v-deo.html
Very nice video
did you back off the truss rod so you have something to play with in terms of adjustment after or did you leave it fully tensioned?
Good question. Yes, I did back off some. Over time, the neck will want to go back to the banana shape so I gave the neck a very slight backbow to compensate for that future movement and to further improve the angle. The alternative was to remove the neck, and no way I was attempting that maneuver.
As for removing set necks, use a pressure cooker. Attach 2 ft of fuel line with screw down hose clamps. At the steam out end clamp in one of those air inflation needles used on footballs and basketballs. I use a clothes iron to soften glue under any fretboard extension glued to the top (on steel string flat tops and classical guitars), then putty knife to pry it up. Remove a couple frets and drill down through the fret slot to get the needle all the way into the dovetail joint or whatever.
On a flat top you can use flat pieces of maple under the heel and on the top (both sides) as cauls to distribute the pressure, and gently (just a couple pounds at a time) apply downward force to the body with iron C clamps. Be gentle, be patient, and that neck will just back right out in about 45 minutes.
No damage, no fuss.
As for gluing the fingerboard back on, use a staple gun. Put one in each end of the fingerboard underside and cut the staple off close with end cutters. Carpenters glue is slippery. Makes holding it in place easier.
Then you can clamp the daylights out of it with Cast Iron C clamps. Use at least a half inch of newspaper or phone book between the back of the neck and the clamp. No dents, no finish damage that way.
You may get newspaper glued to the finish, but a washcloth and warm water will work it off even 24 hrs after you let it set before taking it out of the clamps.
I'm assuming there is no truss rod ?
Dude, you are a lucky man. Not only does your wife have a sense of humor, she allowed you to plane the neck, and use spray paint in her kitchen. Brilliant minds think alike. "That's what she said" was on the tip of my tongue just as she said it. Awesome. Oh yeah... Interesting video too.
so did planing the neck return this guitar to playable ?
Oh yes. Played nicely.
Thank u for the reply i have a silvertone 1445 mosrite copy with a roller coaster neck ,thinking this might be the only hope for this neck.
Should have turned it on and played it at the end!
I guess I've been watching too much Dan Erlewine. Watching this video had me holding my breath and silently screaming, "No! No! No!"
Yes, watching channels that scrub all mistakes is not good for your learning anything. Don't get me wrong, Dan is great, but that Stew Mac channel is too sterile. When you possess every gadget and specialty tool known to man, of course things are going to be a little easier - fuck ton more expensive too!
@@TheGuitologist Thanks for getting back to me. I didn't really expect that. Point taken about Stew Mac's sterility and having every gadget known to man. Another channel that I enjoy watching is Rosa String Works. He's pretty real. When talking about different model guitars he'll say, "I don't know what it is, I don't need to know what it is. It's wood. I fix wood." And that's what he does.
It's an artists pallet knife . Get it at an art store.
I've gone nuclear one a 1900s mando. It's a lot of work. Yours was neater than mine.
Your exuberant planing was hitting the neck. Your nut slot isn't deep enough on the low E methinks.
I need to straighten and old Silvertone Faux Tiger 15 Dollar Parlor guitar strings left on this 1963 made. It has no truss rod. Is it possible to straighten.
Just saying that is a cool looking guitar man! I love chrome.
Did you ease the truss rod before gluing the neck to the fretboard?
I really felt you should've gave the neck support during hand-planing.
Take a drink everytime he says "tool".
I have a teisco audition. Same deal. To do this to mine, what would it cost me? Id obviously cover shipping costs.
It's probably around a 3-hour job in total with a setup. So in the $180 range, probably.
Very cool. I got the guitar and amp from my father. It came with an airlinr model 6000 that buzzed so loud i couldnt hear any notes. It had somr funky 35w4 and little 12au6 and t6 tubes. Once i get everything rounded up ill have to contact you
The Guitologist i really love the channel. Thanks for taking us along with you
..wish you would've played that one at the end..
I have another video with it in there: ua-cam.com/video/vsq1fs97fEY/v-deo.html
Amazing work!
Thanks. Hope it helps someone. There are a lot of good lutherie videos on the net already, so I rarely bother filming this kind of stuff when I do it.
You should...if its not too much extra trouble. People who watch this type of thing don't get tired of it and you often have very eclectic specimens...so its interesting
Thanks for that. I know you're probably right.
Really great video, keep em coming! What's the tool you're using at 12:15?
It's a plane: amzn.to/2hUyy3W
The Guitologist Thank you!
ua-cam.com/video/USfKJYZcUmI/v-deo.html
How much do you charge for this?
i have a model similar to this one, on the back of the headstock i found chrome sticker listed as "VN-4". still not quite sure if its a norma,or a kay, or a who knows what. if your interested shoot me a message dude. would love to know what it is!
Love the Soundtrack, what is it?
Not sure, but sounds like I was rockin' the Glenn Miller.