neck separation repair

[slimpikns]

Hi all, looking for some advice on how to fix an old guitar that belonged to my father. The neck is coming apart from the body near the bottom as you can see in the pics. There's not enough space to get much glue in the crack but the crack is prominent enough that the neck wobbles when there are no strings on it and I worry the extra movement is bringing me out of tune and raising the action (which is very high). So - should I try to put a bolt at the heel of the neck into the body to stabilize it? This isn't a great guitar and I just want it to be playable, thanks for any advice you have,

[redir]

Can't see the images for some reason. A bolt is a viable fix on a cheap guitar. You might also be able to inject some thin CA in the joint and clamp it shut too, another viable fix for cheap guitars.

[H165]

This is about the most common malfunction of any modern steel string acoustic guitar - the glue or other fastener at the neck/body joint has failed.

The most common remedy is removal of the neck, adjustment of the joint to make sure the neck angle is correct, and re-fastening the joint (a neck reset).

In your case, the guitar appears likely to have more sentimental value than anything else. Probably the optimum professional repair would result in more expense then the guitar is worth.

A much-frowned-upon but very practical field repair is a bolt going right through the lower 1/3 of the heel all the way through the inside neck block, tightened to close the gap. I DO NOT recommend this. It's permanently ugly.

But, since you have hinted you might do this yourself, I recommend trying that. If you separate the glue joint between the top and the fretboard extension, the neck may come right out. This would expose the joint and allow you to make a less-offensive-looking repair.

There are tons of Youtube and other internet sources listed under the the term "neck reset" that will educate you on some aspects of this process. You'll have to be practical and just use the info that applies to your guitar.

There are many; here are a few:

http://www.bryankimsey.com/necksets/...20out%20(to%20.

https://www.google.com/search?q=guit...id:GPqdZtoJLrs


https://umgf.com/harmony-h165-mods-t...--t159258.html

[Fathand]

A friend brought me an old low quality classical guitar with steel strings on it. The heel was in similar condition. He's done me a lot of favours so I wanted to help him out.

I was able to put a bolt through with a washer and nut on the inside. This is usually an ugly repair so I camouflaged it. I first drilled a pilot hole through with a 1/8" bit, then used that to start a 3/8" forstner bit, going in until I had a flat area about 1/16" deep. I then drilled through big enough for a #10 oval head 3" stainless bolt I had laying around. I drilled out a metal strap button (Ernie Ball) for the bolt and mounted it to the guitar through the hole with the washer and nut on the inside. The oval head worked nicely in the strap button countersink area. The whole thing just looked like a strap button mount from the outside. I wish I took a picture.

The other advantage was the neck angle changed enough to fix the action that was messed up from the steel strings.