Removing A Set Neck

[pablopepper]

Badly set neck needs to come off. I have access to an iron and one of these
.

Now, what I really need to know is what parts to concentrate on. Do I just go from the rear of the body, or should I hit it with steam from every available angle? Also, seeing as steam is, you know, water, and there is a fair bit of bare timber involved; how do I go about keeping the wood from becoming too damp?

Thanks in advance.

[wokkaboy]

Hey Pabs. I've never removed a set neck might have to wait for DB to chime in. I'd suggest you apply painters tape to bare wood surrounding the pocket. I'd concentrate on aiming steam on all join faces and get a paint scraper that will fit to slowly wedge the bottom face is where most of the join strength is. Won't hurt to have a quick search on you tube either. Best tip is work slowly and don't force it

[pablopepper]

Already scoured youtube. Nada, or rather nothing that didn't look destructive.

[dingobass]

Hey Pabs,

I use a spatula and a small butane torch to heat it up.
Get it to a blue temp (you will see the colour change) then start to work it into the joints.
Keep working away at it and you should be able to get the neck off OK.

Steam really only works on Hide Glue. What I do is remove the last few dot markers and drill a small hole down through the fingerboard and neck until I hit the join.... Then grab a small ball inflating needle and a heat resistant hose that fits both steam machine and needle (stewmac sells a complete unit that fits onto most coffe machine steam nozzles).
Then carefully heat it up until the glue melts.

You then need to let everything dry out.........

[pablopepper]

Well, this is pva glue. Shit, that sounds much more difficult. I just grabbed a paint scraper which I figured would be perfect, but it's got a plastic handle. Doh! To the hardware store I go...

Praise be to the wisest of guitar gurus (DingoBass).

[kimball492]

http://youtu.be/nmd7UhAoQf4

[pablopepper]

Thanks Kimball.

[pablopepper]

Um, so, it's out. I just had the mother of all f#%k it moments and it has paid off.

I lifted the guitar up by the neck and I heard a very slight crackle, so I put one hand on the body, hung the neck off the edge of the table and pushed down. Not that hard. Off it came. For some reason there was copper tape under the end of the neck tenon! WTF?

Sketchy. I'm so surprised. I was not expecting that to happen at all.

[keloooe]

Aaaaaaaannnnnd *POP* goes the neck!

[bargeloobs]

Um, so, it's out. I just had the mother of all f#%k it moments and it has paid off.

I lifted the guitar up by the neck and I heard a very slight crackle, so I put one hand on the body, hung the neck off the edge of the table and pushed down. Not that hard. Off it came. For some reason there was copper tape under the end of the neck tenon! WTF?

Sketchy. I'm so surprised. I was not expecting that to happen at all.

I love it when a plan comes together, or comes apart as the case may be. Now you can relax.