GURIAN Neck Replacement or Reset: 3 Expert Luthiers

[BothHands]

An AGF member kindly sent me a link to THIS THREAD.

See Post #19, 4th photo down depicting the edge of the neck with the extension glued in place and finished. It appears to be exactly what I had in mind. The cut even terminates in a rounded end due to the rounded cutter used to remove material and create a flat gluing surface.

In general woodworking and/or architectural millwork terms, this operation would be called a 'dutchman'. Do luthiers use that term?

I'm not sure widening the neck makes the best sense in terms of cost/efficiency/playability, but clearly it is an option and can render excellent results.

[Frank Ford]

Originally Posted by BothHands

An AGF member kindly sent me a link to THIS THREAD.
I'm not sure widening the neck makes the best sense in terms of cost/efficiency/playability, but clearly it is an option and can render excellent results.

While you may be unsure, I am certainly not.

Jeez - the guitar in that illustration had wood added to repair damage, and neither the contour or width of the neck was NOT changed. And, NO, I don't think you can widen the neck on your Gurian with "excellent" results, no matter what technique you chose. I'd say the best you could hope for is a neck that might serve for an individual player, but that nobody else would want. I did one that way, with a new fingerboard, etc., and that's precisely what happened. The player liked it, but nobody in the shop did.

I've seen some others that were widened, including a 1920s 000-45, and it was done very neatly, but the edges of the fingerboard were so sharp they all felt terrible to play.

[John Arnold]

I've seen some that were widened, including a 1920s 000-45

That guitar would most certainly have had a vee neck, which is not a good candidate for widening.

[BothHands]

Originally Posted by Frank Ford

Jeez - the guitar in that illustration had wood added to repair damage, and neither the contour or width of the neck was NOT changed. And, NO, I don't think you can widen the neck on your Gurian with "excellent" results, no matter what technique you chose.

To clarify, what I should have said is that the work that appears in that photograph looks (to me) to be an excellent result. I'm particularly surprised at how well the round end of the cut was interfaced with the new wood.

As for creating the potential for "no buyers", if the modification were to suit me really well (which is a crap shoot, admittedly) I'd gladly keep it til I croak and then they can bury me with it.