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Is anyone familiar with how Dean Guitars does their neck joint? I've got a steel bodied resonator on the bench with a loose neck joint. It appears that the neck is joined to an internal long support block that runs from the neck to the tail of the guitar. Possibly with the mortice in the neck and the body block acting as the tenon. So is the neck and long body support supposed to be one piece that is inserted through the upper bout of the metal guitar body and then attached at the tail block area? There is no movement of the long body support. And there is no internal neck block.

This is not an expensive guitar and not in great shape so I don't want to create more work than the guitar is worth. But it might be a fun repair to do on the side.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

If it's anything like a real Dobro - RUN AWAY.

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

Generally I agree to run away! But I do this work mainly for fun and to support my building, so I'm always interested in something different.

I did do some more digging on the guitar and actually don't think it is all that big an deal to get this neck off. Right now I believe it is essentially being held on by five, yes 5, screws through the fretboard extension through the metal top. Unless you are looking you hardly notice the plugs in the fb that are covering the screw heads. If I drill out those plugs and remove the screws, I bet the neck will come off. Then some fresh glue, probably epoxy in this case in the neck joint, replace the screws, plug the holes, and bob's your uncle. In theory anyway! I'll probably offer to do the work and - if it works - charge him a nominal fee. If it doesn't work, he gets the parts back. He knows it's a bit of a long shot, so he'll probably be ok with it.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

Check and see that the screw that holds the end pin on doesn't go into the longitudinal bar.

And I still advise running away.

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

I tried that, Chris. Here's a shot where yhe longitudinal bar goes into yhe neck. You can see one of fb screws past yhe pickup adjustment screw.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

That looks horrifying inside, doesn't it?

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

Make sure that you don't ever break a screw using too much force! My horror story was a long screw from the bottom into the neck heel holding a strap button (in the wrong place). I broke that screw tightening too much, and it locked the neck, so it could not be removed. I had to cut the stick from the neck, make a new one and glue it in the pocket in the neck. A major operation with a lot of wasted time and anguish.

So. Take care, don't use too much force and predrill any new holes.

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New will change the old,
turn to ashes or gold

http://www.gammelgura.se

Back to the original question - traditional resonators have a neck stick very much like a banjo. There are usually two or maybe four flat head screws under a couple of the fretboard dots that will release the extension from the upper bout. The neck stick usually extends all the way to the butt of the guitar on metal resonators, it might stop at the cone well on woodies. You set the neck angle which then sets the playing action but shimming the neck stick (like a banjo). There might be a couple of little round wood mushroom looking things under the neck stick.

Take your time to understand how it all works and its really pretty easy to dial in just the action you want. You have very little wiggle room at the bridge.



I'll add that a few modern PacRim resonators do not have neck sticks and have bolt on necks, but it sounds like yours is traditional. The secret is the screws under the dots.

Perfect! This is exactly how the one I have looks. Though the fb extension screws are under wood plugs. The problem with this one appears to be that the neck and neck stick are no longer connected, so that has to be addressed first.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

Where I always jump in here on the OLF over repairing a one off instrument with construction methodology that is non-standard is that if you are looking for a learning experience you will never do one of these again and what you learn is likely useless.

We've never had one of these in over 10,000 guitars now so I don't think that you will ever see another one Tony So I'm in the Monty Python Run Away fast camp too AND remember if you start it and take it apart you own it..... And when you own a repair that has gone south not much fun to have either.

Tony and Hesh, it is exactly the same process as setting the neck angle on a banjo. I had to think about what I was doing the first time I did one of those. For that matter I had to think about the first dovetail neck joint I set.

The important thing to remember is that the neck angle is what sets the playing action on a resonator - you have very little room to remove material at the saddle. But it is not rocket science.

I hear you, Hesh. And ultimately I am going to pass on this one. I've got too much else going on right now to have the cluttering my work bench. Plus a huge landscaping project on my plate.

I will say that not relying on this stuff as a business gives me the freedom to take on projects that I find interesting. And I learn something new or refine a skill every time. This one is interesting because i want to know what's going on. But not interesting enough.

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

Great post Freeman, thanks man!

Yep I can relate completely.

When I apprenticed for Dave Collins for three years one of the first things we did was get an old Harmony Sovereign. Did my first neck reset, first refret and first bridge reglue on that "mule" and in all efforts the methods were exactly the same as working on a Martin or conventional guitar these days. And I now had a nice old Harmony that played better than when new since it was precisely intonate and had great action and uber low nut slots.

While we are talking about resonators and neck angles, here is the insides of my 1932 Dobro spider bridge. It has a neck stick but it stops at the cone well. Once again there are flat head screws under f/b dots and the angle is adjusted by shimming the end of the neck stick

Very cool!