May 17, 2010

Tom donated a semi-operational espresso machine which produces steam but no espresso.  I rigged up a hose and needle and use it to free up the glued dovetail joint in the neck.

9008ny100517steam

Two holes were drilled at the 14th fret into the cavity where (hopefully) the dovetail joint resides.  It’s a bit of a crap shoot not knowing the width of the dovetail, but as luck would have it, I drilled into the cavity first time through.

9008ny100517steam2

It took quite some time to steam this sucker loose, as the previous neck reset was overglued (neck heel to body, bad jujus).  Some damage was done to the neck heel and the sides, but cleanup and fill will mask the damage.

The previous neck reset added extra wedges underneath the fretboard moving it farther away from the body, and a whole lot of shims.

9008ny100517dovetail

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I chiselled out all the excess shims and wedge under the fretboard and glued on two new shims, a bit oversized, but ready to be shaved down until a fine fit is achieved.

9008ny100517shims