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Hey everyone!

So I bought my first guitar kit, which is a flying V. I thought it was a bolt on neck, but I goofed and got a set neck instead, which I wanted to avoid with my first few builds. Anyway, I watched dozens of videos going over the process to glue the neck and all, so I grew the confidence to give it my first shot... and I'm afraid I screwed the pooch.

I did some fit tests of the neck first (which I'm glad I did) as the neck doesn't sit all the way back in the pocket, otherwise the humbucker and pick guard won't fit. I pencil mark the body for alignment, take a huge breath, and get the wood glue out.

I applied thin coats in the pock and on the base of the neck, get it lined up, and go to put it in. All is going well until I can't push the neck in any further. The front is flush, but the back is raised by about 1/8th of an inch.

I know I probably won't be able to tell until I get the tailpiece and bridge set up, but did I royally screw up this kit?

Any help/words of encourage would be greatly appreciated

Uh... did you use any clamps?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I did.

I even tried hammering it down (using a piece of wood to drive the butt of the neck down), but it just wouldn't go any further.

The tenon of a set neck guitar should be tight against the bottom of the neck pocket, and snug against the sides. When its correctly set the sides of the neck will be equal distance from the sides of the bridge (ie the strings will be the same distance from the sides of the board) and the fret plane will just touch the tops of the saddles when they are at their lowest adjustment. Ideally you would have done multiple dry runs to make sure the neck geometry was going to be correct before you got glue anywhere close to the joint.

Its been a while since I worked on a flying vee but as I remember the neck to body joint is at 18 or 19 which means that the tenon is relatively short. It should extend into the neck pickup cavity and be below the pickup (if I remember).

Yeah, I know it should be flat, but my issue was that I couldn't get it down because the glue dried way too fast (or I just went way too slow, but it didn't feel like I went that slow). It's about 1/8th of an inch off from being flush in the back. I tried to use a wooden post on the heel that slides under the pickup in an attempt to hammer it down, but it just wouldn't budge.

It's flush on the sides and in the front (well, at least it looks flush - there's no gap).



If the heel went all the way into the pickup cavity, the pickup wouldn't fit + the pick guard wouldn't align properly. I discovered this during a fit test, so I'm glad I didn't just glue it all the way back. This is also a kit from China, so it's not going to be 1:1 to something like a Gibson/Epiphone, no matter how hard it's trying to be. The pick guard either needs to be replaced or re-drilled because the adjustment screws where the pickup is supposed to mount to it are off by nearly an entire screw pole - at least for these pickup rings.



I can't tell if this is snark or not, but...



everything you pointed out was explained in the first post lol

Look, I'm just trying to build some guitars with my son as he's shown an interest in mine and he likes building things with daddy, and I'd like to at least have these be decent enough to play. I'm trying to figure out if I'm totally boned here and need to remove the neck, or if it should be fine enough with minimal issues.

I'll post some pictures shortly, maybe that'll help with my question.

Here’s the images:

The neck joint:




Pick guard alignment:


And for grins, the pickup ring with the badly spaced screw holes:

Okay... Provided you used a proper glue such as Titebond or hide glue, you can steam the joint apart and then do some adjustments, etc.

PLEASE tell me you didn't use a permanent glue.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I did use titebond.

So I take it that little gap where it's not sitting flush on the bottom of the pocket is really going to throw it all off, right? The actual position of the neck is workable (the bridge sits far enough behind the bridge pickup, only need to drill holes in the pick guard), or do you feel that's completely off as well?

What kind of Titebond? I ask because Titebond Original can be taken apart but Titebond II and III, not so much.

I'm not being snarky, I'm trying to help you. And yes that little gap is a major problem. What I want you to do is put bridge on at the location where it is suppose to be, put it on some small blocks of wood that are about the thickness of the adjuster wheels and studs on your bridge - what you are trying to do is simulate it being in the lowest possible adjustment. Then put a 24 inch straight edge on the frets and point it to the bridge - it will look like this



Ideally the straightedge will just barely touch the tops of the saddles at their lowest adjustment.

The idea here is this gives you the best range of adjustment to get playable action

An alternative is to just measure vertically from the top to the bottom of the straightedge. Post the picture or the measurement.

I appreciate that, thank you



Will do. I don't have a straight edge at the moment (I used a tailors tape measure) but I have one that should be arriving on Thursday or Friday, but as soon as it comes in, I'll follow your instructions. Thanks again!

As a quick follow-up, if I do have to steam the neck, do I need to remove it entirely, or can I loosen the glue to sit it flush (assuming it's in the proper position)? If it's not, then I'll obviously need to remove it. Can I use a heat gun, or does it need to be steam?

It should be steam, and you should completely remove the neck.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Okay. I figured as much. And going back to look at it, I’m almost certain I did it wrong.

What’s the best way to steam it? I’m assuming just a standard electric kettle under the joint and keep trying to wiggle it free?

You could do that. Most of us have some sort of rig where we can apply steam through a hose and a needle that fits in a hole we drill in the joint. Of course, once the joint is apart it will need to dry for awhile before attempting glue up again. One step at a time.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

As Chris said, most of us who do this very often have rigged up a way to inject the steam right into the joint. I made mine out of an old espresso machine, a piece of rubber hose and the needle to put air in a basketball



You really don't want to flood the joint with a lot of boiling water but you may be able to drip a small amount right into the joint itsefl while applying pressure to open the joint. If you are in a city with a good guitar repair shop they should have a steamer

That's a neat and clever setup.

I'm going to avoid pouring boiling water, but I did just order an electric kettle this afternoon that'll be here tomorrow, so I'll start giving it a go when it arrives. About how long should it take? I know there's probably not an accurate time based on many variables, but just to get an idea if possible.

There's absolutely no guitar shops around here except for Guitar Center about 40 minutes away, otherwise I would just bring it to them. There used to be one I'd frequently visit, but they closed down 15 years ago and a donut shop moved in. There was one gentleman about 20 minutes from me that I had asked to do some fret repair on my warlock, and he wanted $300 to do it (just needed 3 frets replaced and to adjust the truss), but I ended up finding a replacement neck for $30 on craigslist that matched (has the widow headstock).

Anyway, thanks for the help. I'll report back tomorrow evening with the results

Taking it to a Guitar Center would be a huge mistake. You never did answer my question about what type of Titebond you used.

Guitar Center is a good place to go if you want your guitar screwed up even more. There is no such thing as qualified guitar repairmen at Guitar Center because they don't pay crap, and they treat their people like slave labor. The internet is rife with horror stories about Guitar Center. They are no good stories.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Sorry, I missed your question. Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002YQ3KA)



I would've given them a chance 20 years ago (I had them do a pickup upgrade in one of my guitars and they did a great job), but about 6 or so years ago I went there to buy some stuff, and their customer service was terrible and their manager was a dbag, so I try to avoid them whenever possible. I'm not surprised by the disdain towards them these days.

Kettle will be here in about 10 minutes (Amazon driver is 2 stops away), so I'll start attempting the disassembly shortly.

Got the neck off:



I was about to give up at the 15ish min mark. The kettle I got automatically shuts off, so I had to use something to weigh the power lever down (pliers took care of this), so I didn't want to risk causing damage to it or possibly start a fire. I then took a butter knife (dull side) and was able to get a gap large enough to slide under the neck, and once I did that, the thing just popped right out.

Now to let it dry. I'll see what it's like tonight, and if it's dry, I'll lightly sand/strip the glue away from the pocket and neck, and then make sure both are smooth and then seat it all the way back on the next gluing. If I need to order a new pick guard or modify this one, then that's what I'll have to do.

There is a chip on the side of the neck pocket (body came with that damage) - what's the best way to fill it in? Bondo? Wood putty? It's about the size of my pinky nail.

Good job. Again your goal is to get it to seat tightly against the bottom of the pocket AND have the geometry that I describe. Clamp the neck to the body leaving a space in the center, do the straightedge test (you can use a yard stick or almost any straight piece of metal but a 24 inch metal rule should cost you five bucks at Home Depot). You may need to sand or chisel some wood from the pocket to get it to fit right but the geometry has to be correct.

After that deal with the pick guard and everything else.

I feel the same as Barry and Chris about GC.

Thanks. It dried a lot faster than I thought, so I gave it a quick sanding to remove the excess glue. It fits snugly into the pocket.

Here's the pic you requested:


There's a tiny gap above the bridge. The neck is clamped to the body ask recommended. I think the bridge shifted slightly forward by a 1/4 of an inch. I had to use pieces of cardboard, but the thickness was nearly identical. I see in the picture that the right side got knocked out a decent amount, but the gap was still there before I bumped it while taking a picture. If you want, I can retake it.

Nut to 12th fret is 12 and 3/8th inches, so this should be sitting around 24.75"

Here's the pick guard pics and why I thought I needed to set the neck further up:




Even the screw holes won't line up (they fall right into the pocket). I guess maybe they expect you to dremel out a neck slot.

And here's the holes for the pickup ring:

That is much better and the geometry should work fine. I'm going to bow out at this point and let you deal with the pickguard and all the rest of your build, but I think you've dodged the bullet.

Thanks for all of your help!

Sorry, I missed your question. Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002YQ3KA)

Please avoid using this type of Titebond, it has no place anywhere on a guitar. Use Titebond Origjnal.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay