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I've owned this Jersey City made 12-string/drone 'harp' guitar for a few years and want to get on the repair. I've taken the necks off many dozens of Schmidt-made guitars but never one with two necks. I've searched the web looking for harp guitar neck removal and didn't find anything of use. Asking for any tips/aids/experience from the loothers. My plan is to make a custom neck removal jig that fits the necks, and then drill the typical…

Thought fellow looths might enjoy this geekery. I've often wished for custom size heating blankets, but didn't even try uploading the file to get a quote from some of the major manufacturers. I was looking to spend countless hours of my life on something and save a hundred bucks. So I did some research, a little bit of head scratching, a slight bit of math reckoning, and made this '70s Martin bridge plate remover. Pretty slick, nice…

This guitar appears to have been assembled with urea formaldehyde glue, which is insoluble in water and doesn’t melt at any reasonable temperature. It is definitely not hide glue or resorcinol.The neck pocket is not under a fret slot. Luckily, very little glue was used to assemble the neck and it was all on the cheeks of the tenon and the neck came off rather easily using a combination of the StewMac heat rod and foam cutters, with smal…

Have an electric archtop that has a .012" backbow strung with 12-48s with truss rod completely loosened. 3 piece maple neck with a Ziricote fingerboard... Any tips or recommendations to straighten this neck would be appreciated... Currently trying humidity (in the case). Thank you! David O'

I'm using hide glue on this 1st build. So far I've glued up the kerfing, back braces, and the top "X" brace. I'm using the 190 grade glue. Working time is short at best. I heated the top "X" brace surfaces (brace & top) with a blow dryer and that seemed to help, a little. How can I get enough working time to glue the top, and then later the back, without having to rush and creating a real mess in the process? Suggestions and reco…

I am working on a neck reset on a Washburn Parlor - SN 283552. I have read that the 28 in the SN indicates that is was built in 1928, but the owner thinks based on her research that it was built before 1920. I am assuming a dovetail joint and that I can get into the neck joint for steaming by drilling into the 13th fret slot, but if anyone knows differently please let me know. The fingerboard extension has already separated slightly…

HEy FOlks. Ive Been using a really old timer and reostat control, with a separate thermometer, on my heat blanket set up for a while. Its worked, but id like to be a bit more mindless about it if possible. Does anyone have suggestions for heat blanket controllers that have a digital readout and built in temp control sensor?

Hello again folks, how is everyone! So I'm curious about what people here think about re-tops, who's done them, and what sorta ballpark rates you've charged for past completed jobs. I've got a bit of a wild one here, so strap in if you've got a couple minutes for story time! Back in 2012, I traded an HD28V of mine for a cool 1966 D-35 that needed some work. Basically, the body and neck of the guitar were fine apart from…

A framus 501. It is not a guitar of any value, I only used it as a training object. They are old and good looking, very popular on fleamarkets. But there is a german saying: "You 'll never get famous with a framus" Keep that in mind. I think they have been exported worldwide, so maybe you will find the pictures useful, despite the lack of value of the plywoodguitar. The removal was so fast and easy, maybe kung fu reset is not necassary. J…

Here are some pictures. Removal was not too hard, but took some patience. Laquer is weak against heat. Do not use a fan! Do not ask how I know!

I have a set of bubinga for an acoustic back, but one piece had a slight cup that made it difficult to work with for joining together. This is pre-thicknessed, with the piece at 4.5 mm thick. I tried wetting and heating it, as I do for sides, and pressed it flat during the process. I heated it to 300 degrees F, and then let it cool while pressed, and the cup got substantially worse. I then pressed it into a reverse cup using a radius…

I added measurements for the Yamaha FG red label FG 75's some time ago. I Keep getting these in for neck resets. I wanted to add photo's from the first one because they show that the dovetail joint does not align with the first fret beyond the neck/side to make folks aware so that one knows to slightly angle the drill to hit the pocket. I do the same on the holes drilled at the fret at the side/neck fret. I slightly angle the drill…

A Gagliano Jumbo probably made by Kay in the 1950's. It looks like this had a previous neck reset based on the shims and some sloppy chisel work. I removed the 14th and 15th frets because I had read that these might have a straight tenon. I didn't need to drill any holes for heat, as the spruce shims both split in half after the fretboard extension was released. The dovetail is about 11mm long, the pocket is 14mm deep, and the 15th fret…

I just pulled the neck off a Vega Arthur Godfrey Solo Lute baritone ukulele. It was pretty easy. First I heated and loosened the short fretboard extension. I already knew the neck was attached with a glued butt joint and small straight tenon. The picture show where I drilled three holes for foam cutter heaters. I only used the two on either side of the tenon, at the 16th fret (Note: neck joins body at 16th) and didn't need the hole at…

It's that time of the year when I start to get all paranoid on the humidity levels of my shop. It happens at this time as the heating seems to send my hygrometers out of whack and it's quite difficult to keep things stable. So far i've been relying on keeping a 45% constant humidity in an automated system I built on Domoticz (similar to Home Assistant), which control a humidifier and dehumidifier. I'm not that confident i got this nailed…

Hello All! My first post and I'm very happy to be here and share the highs and lows of this pony ride. After years of bending sides on a hot pipe or bending machines belonging to 'other people', I finally built myself a bending machine. Functionally it is great, but the result on some test material was far from great. See pictures attached. What you see here is a doug fir 'test side' that certainly came out guitar shaped, but oh my, what…