Interesting work, as usual. My only concerns are in gluing the cheeks of the neck to the body of the guitar and with filling every available space with glue/sawdust paste (which I realize makes the neck joint stronger). If, 50 or 60 years along the road, the neck needs to be removed again for some reason, the technician who gets that job is going to be a very unhappy fellow.
Nail on the head. Impossible for the next repair person to steam / heat off a dovetail cleanly with the cheeks glued to the body. Also I'm not sure anyone knows how well white (pva?) glue sticks to a glue / wood dust mix. Hopefully they'll see this video to see what they are up against.
Exactly right. There is a reason why next to noone glues (at least wood to wood) on the heel. And why usually there is no contact between the front of the dovetail and the neck cavity. There is no strength in any of those anyway. The strength comes from the sloping angles of the dovetail resting on the slopes of the cavity. That does needs to be matched well. It's typically done with shims (as in this example) and when done correctly, the joint doesn't even need any glue. Well, almost ;) The way this repair is done, the entire cavity might've been just as well simply flooded with epoxy.
Interesting approach! If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Baumgartner Fine Art Restoration, Patek Philippe, and twoodford, it’s to always think of the next generation of owners/repairers. I’m concerned you’ve made the job of next person to do a neck reset a lot harder. I have no doubt that this is a solid repair though! So I do all my neck joints with hot hide glue (or just bolt on), even though my instruments are more likely to end up in the landfill than a museum. 😂 Would be fun to see a twoodford reaction video. 😊
@@hydorahI feel the pain for owners of the guitars where he used no more nails to fill fret slots when fretting. It’s going to be like pulling frets out of concrete
Ted recently addressed the question of him reacting or critiquing to other people’s repair videos. I have a feeling that this might be one of those videos. I have to agree with Ted on this one. There many ways to approach and achieve success with a guitar/neck reset/repair. Far be it from me to criticize how someone else gets from point “A” to point “B”. As long as the job is done and the instrument works as it should without any damage. A small footprint I guess. I gotta agree with you that this is an unusual way of doing a neck reset. Not wrong. Just not the usual.
Interesting approach. I've used a combination of wood flour and yellow carpenters to fill major neck dings (past the laquer) with very good results. While the repair is obviously visible it seems quite durable and about as hard as the basic neck wood. I'd be surprised if it gave any trouble strucurally, but I too have some qualms about gluing the cheeks to the body.
If you did the dovetail joint right. You didn't have to use that huge clamp from the neck to the end blok.. lots of guitar repairmen don't get that don't know why..
Ben, for some odd reason I get a lot of neck resets in my shop. Sadly most of them are not even worth the price of a traditional reset. But most have some sort of sentimental value. I created an adjustable neck straight edge that I clamp to the neck and "adjust" the angle with the back removed. (slipping the neck some call it) then refit and bind the back. It's better than half the time of a traditional reset. And, grandpa's guitar is once again playable!
A slurry of wood dust and glue, while it does the job just isn't as professional as some new actual wood shaped as required. Glue and dust seems more suited to bodges. I'm also wondering about the join releasing in the future of the instrument all that stuff will become a goopy mess for the next reset
There are weird moments where you go “I hope he doesn’t sneeze with that chisel on the finish” and at the same time you go “but I’m not gonna blink in case he does”. As always, you do amazing work sir
Always love your videos, Ben. And sad when they end. I love the way you are not afraid to experiment during even the most challenging repairs, and not necessarily stick to the “traditional” repair methods. Looking forward to seeing this one finished.
Nice method - it'd be interesting to make a couple of identical (as much as possible) loose neck joints, and "correct" them both, one using shims and one using the wood dust/glue method. Then test them to destruction to see how they compare....
Have to say, that worked really slick. Limited change to the original instrument, defect repaired and looks amazing. Tons of respect and care taken, well done sir!
I found this process in particular more informative and instructional than a lot of the repetitive shape, carve, sand build videos. Brought me back to why I started watching you in the first place when I was pointed at the "Complication" build and the intricacies and skill in that build. Well crafted edit for the entire process. Thank you gentlemen.
It's an interesting approach, my only concerns would be as the first layer of filler was quite "dry" would there be enough cohesion to the neck block? Didn't see if you wetted the joint with glue before applying the dust mix. And as someone else said the next tech who has to take the neck off won't thank you ( unless they've looked up the history of the guitar and found these videos) other than that if it works it works 👍
I think you want a little less cohesion than possible, just to make sure you can still disassemble this thing. The dry layer might just provide a tight fit, but it's not so much for gluing.
@@brixomatic well my thought process is that the filler replaced the shims that would have been glued to the neck block and effectively becoming the neck block, this would mean the neck was glued to something not glued to the block? I also thought that there's normally a gap behind the dovetail for future removal. I might be completely wrong but it's how my joiner's head saw it
@@barrychristian4050 yes, it replaces the shim. Of course the filler is glued to the block, it consists of glue, but I think it does not glue as strongly as it could and that's a good thing for later repairs.
Ted Woodford is too well measured to be fuming about this but he will certainly be disappointed. Ben you're a fantastic craftsman, inventive mind and all around good chap, but there's a lot to criticise about your work here. Traditional methods often have good reason to be traditional.
This! And on such a valuable instrument no less. Ben is a great builder, not a seasoned repairman. This repair job is just not up to scratch, especially when it's an old Gretsch. Shims and careful shaping of everything should've done the job, and it would also meant using one clamp as the dovetail is shaped to get stuck on its own.
@@PelleKuipersagree and all that glue on the heel and body joint where he scraped off the nitro was just wrong. Only the sides of the dovetail needs gluing
Years ago when you first showed that Emmert Pattern makers vice I fell in love instantly and bought one. Loved it. Take care of yours! I recently stupidly broke mine only to find they don't make them any more... :( Now I need to see if I can find a cast iron worker to fix it. Second hand ones are really expensive.
Dude......love your vids. What you're doing here is a piece of masterwork. The patient and dedication is superb and you're love for the work is wonderfull to watch. I guess your customer is a very, very happy person. Cheers Ronald (Holland)
Nicely done, very scary. I bought a cheap Squire Strat a few months ago. It had gaps around the neck joint and shimmied for the neck angle. I fixed it using autobody filler. Clingfilm around the neck heal, filler in the pocket, screwed the neck on tight while the filler was wet. Unscrewed the neck when it was almost dry, cut off any squeezed out filler and painted the pocket. I ended up with a squeaky tight neck joint. Mine was only a £70 guitar, so no fear there. A bit different from your 30k.
That was a great idea to record the rebuild process. We don't get to see real craftsmanship in this day of through away products. Thanks for describing your plan along the way. It was very satisfying to see such gem brought back to life. Cheers bud.
Had you chosen to shim the voids, could you have used a hard wood such as ebony without having too much give of compression? As always, a creative solution! Thanks.
Are you just creating a plastic lined pocket for the dovetail to sit in, also bearing in mind titebond does not glue to titebond, this will hold for a time, perhaps experiments are not for such rare instruments
If the joint is ever taken apart again.... well we hope it never needs it but you mentioned that it may need such a thing, I would guess the steam would affect the glue/putty you put in there. However, I guess any neck reset ends up being part repair anyway so probably not an issue.
If Gretsch didn't take the nitro off before gluing the neck aren't you changing the sound by taking it off before gluing? Totally understand that it makes way more sense.
I am wondering why there was no string alignment check before glue up or did you just not film or edit it out? sure suck to have her kicked out one way or the other...
Great seeing a seasoned Luthier at work. My only concern/question with this is where the neck meets the body there is an up-angle on the neck as it departs from the body (just above the neck pickup under the fretboard). Would it not be sensible to add a shim in there to act as strain relief ? At the end of the day wouldn’t the string tension put a force downwards (a vector force) which would cause stress in your new joint ?
It's always easier to cut away the bad, put in new, and call it "better." In this case, however, being able to keep things as original as possible will help maintain the existing tone profile of the guitar, thereby maintaining the significance and value of the instrument. Well done.
Ben Happy Christmas from The USA👍🎸🎼 You always do amazing work, My one question is Why did you not have the body covered with something to protect it during your repair process?? I have done some repairs on very old martins & Gibsons I usually wrap the body’s in cling film & wrap that with low tack tape Jude to keep small particles of glue ect from getting on the body & pickups. Anyway Amazing work👍👍🙏👨🏻🦯👨🏻🦯
Does changing the neck angle, which geometry tells us will change the distance between the bridge and the nut, ever change the scale length enough the bridge can no longer compensate and the bridge has to be moved?
This process brings the instrument closer to it's original geometry. Often the other main symptom of a forward tilting neck is the intonation going beyond the adjustable limit. If the body itself was collapsing, the bridge might have to move, but then of course you've got bigger problems
I don't understand why you don't use any tool to check the angles before you glue the neck. Nobody wants a 27k guitar with the neck crooked. Think about it the next time...
