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#1
04-30-2018, 04:57 PM
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Neck Reset
I have been following different threads re neck resets in particular for early Yamaha FG models,IE how difficult they are to do in respect to the glue that was used.
My question: is there any reference to the Washburn brand eg WD 10S model? how they were constructed/glue used in relation to neck removal and resets. Brian 
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#2
04-30-2018, 07:38 PM
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I once owned a music store and we sold many Yamaha FG 140's, FG 180 and a few Asian Washburns, Yairis and the like. While it's possible that some of them at some point in time may have been built with steam-soluble glue, my experience on doing things like replacing cracked bridges was that they were fitted with some sort of epoxy and they don't come off with heat. I used to plane them down to very thin and then peel them off and replace them with a new, shop-made bridge.
Whoever attempts to reset the neck on your instrument would start by loosening the fingerboard extension with heat. If it loosens, you are good to go, otherwise it's no cigar for a neck reset. It might be necessary to cut the neck off and modify it to bolt back on. That's not for the faint of heart. I'm sure that someone out there in the guitar world may have a different experience. It all depends on the particular series. All I can say is that my experience with Asian guitars was not good with regard to loosening the glue with which they were assembled.
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#4
05-01-2018, 12:12 PM
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Quote:
My many, many Yamaha neck resets have all been bolt-on conversions.
__________________
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#5
05-01-2018, 01:44 PM
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The question arises as to why many of the companies building guitars in Asia would use glue that is essentially non-removable. The answer is that they are building for a world market, one that often has semitropical or tropical climates.
I'm talking about extremely high humidity, like 90-100% most of all of the time. Guitars have to be able to stick together. In climates like that, epoxy is King. Just my take on it.
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#6
05-01-2018, 03:57 PM
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The thing that has always puzzled me is why anybody would even contemplate paying for a conventional reset on an instrument whose value would end up far less than the cost of the reset.
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#7
05-01-2018, 05:19 PM
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Quote:
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#8
05-03-2018, 06:52 PM
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As an experiment to learn about resets, I tried to do a reset on a FG75 (found on roadside dead) using steam with the needle hole for the steam drilled over the 15th fret. The hole didn't line up with the South end of the dovetail and things went bad after that. I don't know if all models were built like that. If you want to try this, you probably need to take off the entire fret board to see where to inject steam or heat to loosen the glue. I still use that neck for a pattern if I'm building a single action truss rod style. Just liked the feel of that neck.
 
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#9
05-03-2018, 09:14 PM
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When we had our store, my brother and I would buy freight damaged Yamahas from the distributor. Some had cracked bridges, others had chipped finish here and there. Some of the work was easy and straightforward and we fixed the guitars up and sold them as used instruments at good prices.
The worst ones had broken or stripped truss rods. These were generally where the original owner decided to mess around with the truss rod nut and tighten it up to lower the action. Those rods are quite fragile and really were only intended to keep the necks reasonably straight and possibly add or remove a small amount of neck relief. Too much tension and they would either break or strip the threads. Getting those rods out on a Yahama guitar was no easy task with the epoxy that they used. We finally developed a process where we would remove two frets, 12th and 14th, and then cut the fingerboard down to the neck with a razor saw at those two frets. Then we were able gently to chisel the fingerboard section off without breaking it so that we could get at the end of the truss rod. Once that was exposed we did what we had to do to repair or replace the rods. Once the fingerboard section and the frets were replaced, a bit of touch up would finish the job. People should be careful with truss rods. I have some guitars that are 50 years old that have never had the truss rod touched.
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