Official Luthiers Forum!

I remember that beauty you brought it to class and worked on it with us. Very cool guitar.

A well done neck reset should be invisible so much so that sometimes we have to use UV lights to detect the finish touch-up to know. It's entirely possible to reset a neck on a dovetail multiple times and keep the instrument singing AND looking unscathed fairly indefinitely. Patina will happen but evidence of the repair need not be noticeable or negatively impact the instrument in any manner. Well done neck resets are done all of the time you never hear about them though likely because there is no associated drama.

Guild necks are not appreciated in the trade and some Luthiers do avoid them, I did so much so that I sold my 77 D-25 when it needed a neck reset because I didn't want to be the one to do it.... The two issues are Guild finishes their guitars with the neck on which I had several of mine done that way when I was learning and it was in my view now a mistake on my part that I remedied and never did it again with my production models that I finished myself as two pieces.

The second problem with Guild neck resets is the heel shape. It's so small and flat they often break in the removal process. Although not overly difficult then you are left with a heel repair AND a neck reset. Finish touch-up is your friend with Guilds and scope creep, when a project keeps getting bigger... are common with Guild neck resets.

Builders should not in my view be attempting to do the best quality design and work for repair people, far from it. Both builders and repair people should be endeavoring to to the best quality work and employ the best possible practices for criteria such as value and even heirloom potential not for each other but for our shared customers. That's who matters, that's why I exist with being a Luthier to provide value to my customers and we all should feel this way if we are commercial in our Lutherie activities. That's my personal belief and how I do business my North Star so-to-speak it's for my clients.

Martin guitars and guitars built in a similar fashion for an acoustic steel string can be kept in service I would suggest indefinitely and so far it's possible for a warranty on a Martin to be honored during a person's entire life span. This company has stood the test of time historically with four generations of Martins AND, most importantly a very strong customer centric business model. There are others too but this is only possible and that is my entire point with a serviceable design and serviceable methods used to construct the instrument such as reversible glues, etc.

Let me highlight the relevant words in my statement:

I agree with you on Spanish heels in general, but with these provisions, the most difficult part is separating the back from the heel, and no more so than separating a fingerboard extension from the top.

If you have to deal with recutting binding/purfling channels while strips are partially unglued and in the way, that makes it more difficult.

If you have to get all the glue residue out of the joint before regluing, that makes it more difficult.

If you have to spend more than 5 minutes to wipe some more shellac on it, then you probably should have used a different neck joint.

But it is a valid concern that you could have trouble finding someone who will recognize that it's a special case easy heel slip, and not jump to fingerboard planing or bolt-on conversion out of habit.

I have done the "loosen the back and slip the heel" on cheap guitars. It works, but usually not pretty. For an old cheap Stella it can make the thing somewhat playable, but most real luthiers wouldn't want their name on it. The worst part was separating the back from the neck block without cracking it or damaging the finish IIRC - it's probably been at least 20 years since I've done one that way.

We know an example that I speak of here from time to time of one of the most talented Luthiers in the country slipping a neck joint on a doweled neck joint and distorting the body so much that the owner sued the store and the store had to settle out of court.

"Not pretty" is right it's a poor practice and what makes it unrecommended the most is the outcomes are not predictable.

Yep, you guys showed me how to properly compression fret that one. It’s still a sweet guitar.


Steve

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"