In The Shop: Heat Pressing a Neck | Elderly Instruments 

This is great news for me. Thank You for the information!!

You are a very good teacher in these videos. Clear explanations and you demonstrate sufficient expertise to perform these repairs, and the ability to discuss how you plan just what you are going do to accomplish these repairs and all of the options and considerations involved. Nice to see a competent repair person doing this on RU-vid ( unfortunately there are butchers with monetized accounts on here often showing horrible work). Much appreciated!!

Excellent in every way possible. Appreciate this.

Loved the video! I've been very lucky and have had 100% success with all the necks that I've heat pressed. Very useful and precise information here. Thanks!

Best, most all encompassing explanation of this process…….Thanks!…….Excellent

Great video! I´m going to attempt to fix a twisted bass tomorrow .. using my dad´s old infared physio lamp. I´m glad you have tried that in the past. Cheers from MADRID

Thank you joe very important info, and explained vert well.

Great info! Thank you!

I have an Aria A555 nylon string classical guitar with no truss rod. I have sanded down the bridge as low as possible and the action is still too high. I need to find someone who has the ability to heat treat the neck and bend it back into a better playable action. Not sure I would try this myself, or acquire all the tools in order to do it, but hopefully I can find a nearby shop who can. The guitar is not that expensive, but I installed a piezo in it and like it just fine, rather than buying a new guitar. This one has a decent tone to it, but might not be cost-effective for a guitar of that value.

Very informative!

Lol I was so confused when you placed the shim in the center!

If I was building a guitar from scratch I would laminate a piece of hardwood in the centre of the neck from top ( Fretboard ) to bottom ) Where your hand goes ) full length so no matter what happened the neck would not move up or down ! I would still put in a truss rod but then again it might not be needed ! I think that would work ! I use steam to do neck resets and it works and it only takes 10 minutes unless there is a problem with braces or a belly bulge ! It would be hard to steam a neck I think ! Very interesting video ! Thanks !

Thank you, Joe! Great content!

Very helpful vid! I might try this on an old yamaha I've got kicking about...

Awesome video, Joe! Thanks for that. I am considering and gaining confidedence to do a heat treatment - I have a very special bass (to me), Ibanez Studio 1979 ST-924 with the original 6 position varitone. It's neck has a kink at the 12th fret, resulting in a weird S shape, on first frets and last frets. Checking with a notched straightedge, the neck is basically straight from fret 1 until 12th fret, truss rod is fully functional within that range, but after around 14th fret it has a bump, and strings will buzz mainly on last frets. Because of that, string action needs to be really high (around 4mm 12th string), but this bass is so awesome that despite its suffering neck it still sounds killer and is still playable somehow. I know it will be tough to make it straight because the bump in the neck is too close to the neck block, but I think it will be worth to give it a try.

This was so helpful; thanks for making this explanation! Would you be able to tell me what those specific clamps are called? When searching around, I can't seem to find any with the crank that is in center and the u shape that supports the neck; any tips on what to search? Thanks so much!

Awesome video! Thanks!!

Hi Love your video on this. Just a question. When the neck is heated up and the neck is fixed. Have you found that the neck have bent back to that same position over time? Or is this a permanent fix?

I am making a heet press from a square metal pole and a curling iron in the middle of the pole idk what im doing so thank you for the ideas and I'm off to work on the heet rod.. Once again thank you for your knowledge and experience and for sharing it..

Hi all. Please tell me what is the maximum temperature you set on the heater? Thank you very much for the video!

Whew! Glad I waited to point out the shim in the wrong place

Thanks so much for the video. Where can one get a heat press? I have a very old vintage parlor guitar that's early 1900's and would like to see what I can do straightening out the neck. Thanks again.

if my truss rod doesnt adjust enough to straighten my neck, can i heat press it?

What temperature range have you found to be a safe zone to not effect older cellulose binding and/or inlay? I've considered using my side bending blankets for this procedure but always been wary about the lasting results of the repair. Sometimes there's no way around it.

What was the result like?

Thank you for this good video... Can I put iron's element or soldering elemenet inside the hollow square steel? Or maybe can I just lay an iron above the pressing board? What temperature do you suggest to achieve and maintaine?

Is that u clamp available for purchase somewhere or something your shop made?

I've heard a twisted neck is unfixable. Would this work on a handmade classical guitar with a very slight twist?

ElderlyInstruments Ever work on any Harmony's? They usually have neck issues

I have a Squier Strat that I haven’t played for more than two years (I play my brother’s Schecter because the action is lower). My Strat’s neck is bowed forward so much because of strong tension and lack of playing. I’ve adjusted the truss rod as tight as it’ll go and I’ve adjusted the saddles as well but the action is still ridiculously high. Do you think I would be better off buying a new neck or trying a heat press?

Do you have any advice for this process on vintage Harmony guitar with non adjustable steel truss rods?

ElderlyInstruments Could a heat gone be used to heat press a neck or blow dryer?

Was wondering, is there some kind of element inside the 2x2 square pipe or do electrodes attach to the pipe? And if there is a element do you have the info on that? Thank you in advance

I have a neck that had a finished fretboard and back with poly but it's warped upwards. Would it work if I clamped it down for a few days or a week?

What type of clamps are those?

I 'need' to replace a rosewood finger board on a Fender scale maple neck. Any advise beside buying a new neck?...lol...

With a jig I remove all fret and reshape the neck…lots of work but no heat involved

Gonna use a clothes iron (heat control built in) and a flat metal bar. C clamps.

I built my first guitar neck from scratch out of multiple pieces of rock hard maple but I found that somehow I built a back bow just in the first 3 or 4 frets area of the neck. Is this something I could get out with this method, is there something else or do I need to rebuild the neck?

This guy sounds just like Alan Alda!

How do you fix a,twisted bass neck

how much this repair cost?

Great video! I do have a question: I have a 1980's vintage Gibson TB-250 tenor banjo that, with the truss rod completely loose, has a perfectly straight neck. When I tighten the truss rod, will it put a forward bow in the neck or a backward bow in the neck? Thanks!

Están equivocados !! Primero calentar, después poner todos los refuerzos y doblar. El diapazón se debe calentar sin obtáculos,no debe existir "aire" entre el calor y el diapazón. Por lo demás, que manera de hablar... !!

Very dangerous to have the live prongs on the end of the cord that you plug into the heating element. The cord should have sockets and the heating element should have prongs, just like any other extension cord and appliance. Otherwise I found this helpful.

Your shim on the right is only underneath your thin strip of wood and not under your metal press bar.... therefore it is serving no purpose whatsoever. It appears that in this case, your metal press bar is too short.

at 6:20 wouldn't you have to shim the ends to reverse a bowed neck? you are showing the shim in the middle. wouldn't that keep the bow? ope - okay, he caught it at 8:45. hehe. just making sure!

! have tried this method on 4 necks, all of which were back bowed, and it didn't help at all.

Dude answer the phone

i have a100 year old washburn banjo!!!!!!!!my neckis warped!!!!!!wtf do i do!!!!!!!

setup for this kind of heat press should take only 5 mins max if the man stops his constant talking and fumbling. The idea is quite simple. The secrets are: how much heat and how long to apply heat. How long the fix will last is another mystery. I will try on my dirt cheap classical guitar that has a bowed neck.

I can't believe that repair guy couldn't be bothered to remove the strings from that bass. Takes 2 minutes.

Bla bla bla

This guy need to take a lesson in separating the wheat from the chaff and GETTING TO THE POINT!!! Five minutes of rambling waffle and 30 seconds of useful information.