Gibson Acoustic Neck Reset – Disassembly

This Gibson nylon string was brought to me in need of serious repair.  The angle of the fingerboard relative to the bridge was off by almost 3/8″, and most of the braces were loose.  The top was starting to cave in because of the loose braces, and the action so high as to make it unplayable.  It is also a cosmetic wreck, and not a high-end guitar although it, like any guitar regardless of finish, can sound good.  It has a nice Fishman pickup in it, a plus.  I consider neck resets risky, but there wasn’t much to lose if this went awry, and everything to gain.

IMG_7144
Loose brace ends causing top to sag

A quick look inside confirmed the loose braces – these would get re-glued after doing the neck.

First I pop the first body fret off so I can drill into the dovetail joint to insert the steam needle.   IMG_7146Then, loosen the  fingerboard overhang with heat applied to the fingerboard and a heated knife worked slowly between the top and fingerboard.    IMG_7147Then, after drilling two holes through the slot of the removed fret, I put the body in a jig that gives leverage pushing up on the neck heel and inject steam into the dovetail joint.  IMG_7150It is never certain that the holes drilled through the fingerboard will hit the cavity between the neck and the neck block, but this one was spot-on.  It takes about 15 minutes of steaming to soften the glue, then the neck pops off.  IMG_7151This one came off kind of messy – the glue on the upper body brace had failed and part of the top came with the fingerboard extension.  IMG_7152The pieces were easily recovered, however, and glued back in after fixing the looseness of the body cross brace.  IMG_7153It is now a relatively easy job to reset the neck angle and put it back together.  Luckily, cosmetics are not a big issue.