Removing a set neck on ES 12q

[jmax]

I've reached the assembly stage on an Es12q

The neck angle is not good. I thought I checked it well enough before gluing it in, but it seem not. I'm looking at about 3.25mm at the 12th fret with the bridge cranked all the way down and the neck dead flat. The nut is still a bit high, so there could be some improvement in that area. There's not a lot of room to take it down further at the bridge, because then the strings would be too close to the pickups.

Has anyone had any experience steaming off this sort of neck? Any suggestions on how to go about it?

[Simon Barden]

If it's just the pickups that stop the bridge coming down, then you can always take some height off the base of the pickup rings to get the pickups sitting lower.

But if your kit is anything like mine was, then even with that, you'll still struggle.

I've never removed a neck, but the joint area is fairly small on the ES-1/12 kits, and I have seen people steam the neck off by holding it over a boiling saucepan. Damage to the finish is the main risk here, so you need to be prepared to do more remedial works than just the join area.

The more orthodox method is to remove a fret in the middle of the neck join area, drill two holes in the fretboard at that fret position, one each side that run into the join and inject steam through a needle into the join area to warm/melt the glue.

Alternatively, depending on the neck join geometry, sometimes you can push a thin heated pallet knife into the join, a bit at a time, to break the glue join.

As long as you've used standard Titebond, then these methods will work. Titebond 2, 3 or other glues need higher temperatures and are pretty waterproof and it's a real pain to do.

[jmax]

Thanks. Good point on the pickup rings. However, I think my kit is like yours. The bridge is cranked all the way down.

I've already taken it down .5mm by filing the nut. In a previous post, you pointed me toward some rimless bushings, which will gain me at least 1mm, and a 2mm action on a 12 string is something I think I can live with.

[Simon Barden]

Extra string height with all that extra total string tension on a 12-string doesn't make it that easy to play up the neck.

If it wasn't for the piezo aspect (and the 12-string part as well), then a Göldo lowrider bridge would get you nice and low. The main body really is only 9.7mm high from bottom to the top of the saddles as stated. https://www.goeldo.de/en/guitar-part...owrider-bridge

Unfortunately only in chrome (no gold) otherwise I'd have one for my ES-3 kit. And I can't find a UK retailer, so probably have to import from Europe, if they are now dealing with the UK for small orders!

[jmax]

The Göldo looks interesting, but I want to stick with the piezo bridge. I've ordered the rimless bushings.

I pulled out the original bridge and compared it to the piezo bridge. The saddles are taller and the bridge is a bit thicker, it looks like it adds up to between 1.5mm and 2mm, so that's pretty much my problem right there. It makes me feel a bit better - I didn't misjudge the angle to the extent I thought I had when I glued the neck. I simply didn't have the right bridge to measure it with at the time.

If the new bushings don't take it down far enough, I might be able to file away a bit of the underside of the bridge where it meets the posts.

[Simon Barden]

I've filed down a couple of bridges in that area myself and it does help. You can't see it, though you know it's there.

But you can only drop the bridge so far until its base touches the body, so that's the limit of the height reduction before you have to start thinking about filing down the saddles. And with a piezo bridge, it's probably not something you'd really want to try in case you damage something.

[jmax]

The Kluson bushings arrived today, and are now in place. The guitar is now playable! The action at the 12th fret is 2mm, which I can live with on a 12 string, so I don't have to worry about filing down the bridge.

Thanks for the advice!

[Simon Barden]

Good news.

You've always got the bridge filing option open to you if you do find it a bit too much after an hour or so playing on it.

[Rossc0]

Late to this one, but I have had the same problem on the same guitar. If you have used the correct type of glue such as titebond, its not too hard. I didnt steam it off though I used a paint stripping heat gun at a low to medium setting, removed the neck pickup and heated up the internal joint/ With some gentle wiggling and a bit of time came out no issues. Do need to be careful of the binding at the bottom of the neck pocked though.

Bit of a thread here. https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ghlight=rossc0

[jmax]

I’ve come up with a possible solution.

I’m thinking that I could sink the post holes about 2mm deeper and then countersink the diameter of the flange of the bridge post by the same amount. The tops of the Kluson bushings will sit flush with the bottom of the countersink, allowing the bridge to be lowered by a significant amount.

This would give a lot of leeway to do a proper setup using both bridge height and relief.