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I am going to be resetting the neck on a 1973 Guild D40. I have been able to find information about resetting Martin necks and Gibson necks, but nothing about Guild. It has a dovetail neck joint and it appears to be very similar to a Martin joint.

Does anyone know if there is anything unusual about Guild neck joints?

Do I still use the 15th fret as the access point to get steam into the joint?

Is there anything else I should know?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim 

Uggh. Guilds and Gibsons are a drag to reset because the necks are glued on before finish.   There's practically no way to do a reset that looks as clean as original.   Add to that tendency for the laminated Guild necks to start to delaminate at the heel from exposure to steam...

You may be best off cutting the neck off with a very thin kerf Japanese pull saw or sending it to Frank Ford for his surgeon's bone saw operation. Then you can shave the heel to the correct angle and bolt the neck back on. If it were my job, I'd send it to Frank.   

Guild neck resets. What fun. Aside from the post-assembly finishing, they
often have that massively wide heel glued not only in the dovetail, but
heel to shoulders. Why, nobody who understands the mechanics of a
dovetail joint has ever been able to figure out.

If you steam it off I've found it useful to pop the heel cap to come at the
shoulders from behind, as well as steaming the dovetail from through the
15th fret. Like a Gibson, make sure the truss rod is tight and feel the back
of the neck while steaming to make sure steam isn't flowing in to the
truss rod slot. it will take a lot of heat and steam, finish work, and even
with great care and preparation some can be quite difficult to keep the
heel in one piece during removal. I charge more for a Gibson than a
Martin, and more for a Guild than a Gibson.

Occasionally you'll get a cooperative one, but consider that as
compensation to make up for the lost time on others. Cross your fingers
and hope you got an easy one. If not, the biggest key not to rush it when
steaming it off. If it doesn't want to move just keep working steam in
from different angles, and try your best to figure out exactly where the
dry spots are as it starts to loosen. They're not fun, but if you decide to
steam it off it'll give you a chance to be creative with steaming.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Thanks Rick and David. I also have to change the bridge on this thing.

Jim

The bridge should be pretty straight forward hide glue for a '73. I don't
know what years (sometime later, perhaps the early 80's), but I've run in to a
terrible bridge glue on some. It looks like it could be resorcinol with a blue
or purplish color to it, and does not soften with heat or moisture. Those I
will sometimes come at with sharp wacks on from a dulled chisel, trying to
take advantage of it's inflexibility and weaker impact resistance. There's
really no good way that I've found for those, though you shouldn't have to
worry about it.

Have fun.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I did a 73' Guild Mahog. top and It was a very easy to remove. I got lucky ,this one did not have the heel glued down. Just a little steam thru the 15th fret.The only minor problem was finding the slot under the dovetail to steam. It was so small. I hope yours is this easy Jim.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Oh dear.

I have a '76 F212 Guild 12 string to do at some stage.

It is my own that I have had from new, any difference for the 12s.

BTW , I already reglued the bridge which had slid forward about 2mm. It had close to 1/4 inch of lacquer unscraped around the edge.