Can’t insert the neck pickup!

[Zeddsded]

I’m building an SG-1, but suspect that I’ve glued the neck in place too soon... 😢

I stained the body and the neck separately and then glued the neck in place. I’ve now decided to fit all of the hardware and discovered that the neck Humbucker won’t fit into its designated hole... have I bug#ered up my build?

[Fretworn]

Sorry to hear that. First question, what glue did you use?

Also, is the neck in the right position for proper scale length?

Can you post pictures so we can see the situation better.

[Zeddsded]

Sorry to hear that. First question, what glue did you use?

Also, is the neck in the right position for proper scale length?

Can you post pictures so we can see the situation better.

1. I used the glue that came with the kit.

2. Err... I just pushed it all the way home and clamped it. I assumed that the little chrome adjuster things would allow me to adjust the length.

3. The photo file upload keeps failing (sorry)

[Sonic Mountain]

To get pics in your post the best way is to host on imgur.com

You sign up with an email address - very easy. Imgur is a community so you can actually make your stuff public and interact with people on there - but I use it purely for hosting and keep my profile private.

Anyway, this is what your library looks like - you can also break it up into albums, but this works for me.



You can drag and drop directly onto this page from your desktop or a folder on your computer. You can do it with multiple images at the same time. or you can click 'add images' and hunt for them in the traditional way to upload.



When you click on an image in your library, this box pops up. I usually choose 'large thumbnail' (in the bottom right hand corner) for forums like this. Then click on the 'direct link' code in the boxes on the right hand side. This automatically copies the code to your clipboard.



Then come back to your Pitbul forum post and paste (Ctrl V) into your comment.

Then either side of that code you need to type (img) in front of it and (/img) behind it, but use the square brackets --> [.

(If you reply with quote to this comment, you will see what I mean re the brackets)

Then it will hotlink back to imgur and appear in your post. This also helps you get around the 5 photo limit on here. You can also post any size pic if you hot link, so you are not limited to the 1500px width or 1mb file size of the forum uploader.

[pablopepper]

1. I used the glue that came with the kit.

2. Err... I just pushed it all the way home and clamped it. I assumed that the little chrome adjuster things would allow me to adjust the length.

3. The photo file upload keeps failing (sorry)

Sorry to say, but it looks like you are about to learn how to steam a guitar neck off.

The bridge has adjustment range, but not enough to correct that far. You are gonna need to measure from the nut to the 12th fret and then take that measurement and use it to work out the distance from the 12th fret to the bridge. The neck won't necessarily just slot in and work out at that length. As you can see, the fretboard clearly hangs into the pickup rout and there is no room for the pickup let alone the ring that needs to go around it.

It's all a learning process, don't worry about it too much. You don't learn anything from getting it right all the time.

There's an old workshop saying, "measure twice, cut once". Applicable here, but at least you can try again with a little extra effort.

[Sonic Mountain]

Yep, that will have to come off - but don't panic, it is doable without ruining your work, so its not a write off or anything. You will need to steam it until the glue loosens and carefully prise it apart. I'd then let it really dry out well before measuring as per Pablos instructions re setting.

[Zeddsded]

Many thanks everyone. I’ll start and boil the kettle!

Cheers, Jon

[wokkaboy]

Hey Jon, I'd put as much painters tape over the areas adjacent the neck pocket to try not damage the finish with the steam. Easy mistake to do. If the tongue of the neck heel was longer this probably wouldn't have happened.
Good luck removing the neck

[Zeddsded]

Thanks again for the advice guys. 10 minutes of kettle boiling and I now have a 2 piece guitar again! 😄👍

[Simon Barden]

Someone on here recently just put the neck join above a pan of boiling water and steamed it apart that way (though I think he'd glued it before applying any finish). I'm not sure how much damage to the finish you are likely to get this way (and it will depend on the finish you've applied).

The 'correct' way to steam a neck is with a steam needle and drilling holes to get the end of the needle to the joints. You get minimal damage to the finish this way. There are lots of videos on YouTube about this. You just need a source of steam the (steam frothing outlet on coffee makers are often used), some flexible hose, a hollow needle, a rubber bung and some clips to get everything tight.

The other way you can try is to get a thin metal spatula, heat it up and try and insert it into the joins (steam is only a means of getting heat to the glue). If the join was a very tight fit, this may not work well unless the spatula is very thin. It's a case of a small bit at a time as the spatula won't retain too much heat, so it's multiple small insertions, warming up the spatula each time. Not too hot as you don't want to burn or scorch the wood, so the face of an electric iron is often used. Again, this method is shown on YouTube videos.