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PostPosted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:27 pm 
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Mahogany
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My first guitar (Washburn D12/s) Is about in need of a neck reset. Dose anyone know what kind of neck joint Washburn uses?
I have never done a neck reset on one... I guess cause in most cases people dont think its worth it on a Washburn, but this one
has some sentimental value.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 11:09 am 
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I've just been given an old Washburn D-12 and it needs a reset too, so thought i'd revive this thread in the hope that someone can advise on the type of neck joint i'm dealing with here and how to go about separating it if required. It's not worth much but as i've yet to do a reset i thought this would be a good opportunity to practice. If there's a method that avoids the need for a heat blanket and a steam injecting device that would save me a bit of spending too...
Thanks in advance for any help, Caspar.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 12:26 pm 
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I searched around about this very issue and discovered that many Washburn guitars have a butt joint with 5 dowels that are glued in. The only way to separate the neck from the body is to saw through the joint. If you want to be sure of the joint type though, you will need to remove the fingerboard so that you can see the joint.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 12:58 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Interesting.
If that's the route, maybe it'd be easier to saw through from the bottom and loosen the tongue off the top, that way you don't have to cut through the fretboard.
Or remove the fretboard completely, which you may have to do.

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:44 pm 
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You're welcome.

My (uncredited) photo there is not actually of a Washburn, though their joints are essentially the same.

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 3:50 pm 
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David Collins wrote:
You're welcome.

My (uncredited) photo there is not actually of a Washburn, though their joints are essentially the same.



David,

My apologies for not crediting your photo. I simply did a Google image search for 5 dowel butt joint and that one popped up. No harm or plagiarism intended.

Dan

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 4:55 pm 
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What happens with the truss rod in that scenario?


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 5:17 pm 
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Thanks Dan, no foul. It's my own doing, as I should learn to watermark images I post anywhere online given how they inevitably get reposted and separated from their source.

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 9:49 pm 
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Todd Stock wrote:
I'm assuming the picture is an illustration of the construction, versus the preferred method to handle a reset.


No, that pretty much shows the procedure I use. If you leave the extension on rather than just sawing all the way through, the lid on the trash can won't close all the way.

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 11:03 pm 
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Mahogany
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I am glad you brought this back up! I havent messed with my washburn yet but did take the neck off a 70's takamine guild lawsuit guitar...... its the same style neck joint and it was a ich! i had read it could be dovetail so tackled it as so, after about three hours of work i got that thing off, so now i guess i have to make it bolt on, but i have much bigger issues...... the neck had litterly pulled into the body moving the neck block, (before i got my hands on it!!!) ill post pictures in the morning


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2012 11:53 pm 
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Quote:
the neck had literally pulled into the body moving the neck block, (before i got my hands on it!!!) ill post pictures in the morning

In that case, a neck reset may not be needed. If the neck block is pushed back to the original position, the neck angle may be fine.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:04 am 
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:17 am 
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Think those pics should work ^^^^^ Anybody got ideas or tackle something like this before? Id like to not re-top it if possable. Its all in the name of learning at this point so Im up to try anything!


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:04 pm 
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John Arnold wrote:
Quote:
the neck had literally pulled into the body moving the neck block, (before i got my hands on it!!!) ill post pictures in the morning

In that case, a neck reset may not be needed. If the neck block is pushed back to the original position, the neck angle may be fine.


I believe that would be a bit of a long shot. Chances are the glue used on the neck block is not exactly luthier friendly.

I did experience a Washburn neck reset myself where the dowel joint was used. And as Dan pointed out, I did have to saw the neck joint (although the result was considerably cleaner than what David shows on his picture). One thing I did different though, was to unglue the entire fretboard prior to sawing off the neck joint. In the first place it was just to figure out what was that crazy joint I wasn't able to steam out, but then once the fretboard was off, it became easier to saw the neck joint (specially since I could then remove the trussrod).

Here was my result:
Attachment:
Le manche scié.JPG


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 3:46 pm 
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Alain Moisan wrote:
I believe that would be a bit of a long shot. Chances are the glue used on the neck block is not exactly luthier friendly.

I did experience a Washburn neck reset myself where the dowel joint was used. And as Dan pointed out, I did have to saw the neck joint (although the result was considerably cleaner than what David shows on his picture). One thing I did different though, was to unglue the entire fretboard prior to sawing off the neck joint. In the first place it was just to figure out what was that crazy joint I wasn't able to steam out, but then once the fretboard was off, it became easier to saw the neck joint (specially since I could then remove the trussrod).

Here was my result:
[pic omitted to save bandwidth]


Alain, I have a 5 dowel joint I am about to tackle on a friendʻs old Washburn. What did you use for the saw? I would assume something with as small a kerf as possible while still being rigid enough to do the work...

Thanks!

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:16 pm 
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A pull saw.

Something very similar to this:

http://www.amazon.com/IRWIN-213104-Dove ... B0001GLEZI

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PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:29 pm 
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This has a kerf of .012: http://japanwoodworker.com/product.asp? ... t_id=13087

dang! Japan Woodworker is no longer in Alameda, close by me!

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 1:36 pm 
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Quote:
I believe that would be a bit of a long shot. Chances are the glue used on the neck block is not exactly luthier friendly.

The neck block came unglued.....that is the only way it can shift. Pushing it back may require some heat, but the fact that it moved already means it can be moved back.

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 3:09 pm 
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John Arnold wrote:
Quote:
I believe that would be a bit of a long shot. Chances are the glue used on the neck block is not exactly luthier friendly.

The neck block came unglued.....that is the only way it can shift. Pushing it back may require some heat, but the fact that it moved already means it can be moved back.



Moving it back is one thing, keeping it there is another......

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:55 pm 
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John Arnold wrote:
[The neck block came unglued.....


The neck plunging forward is not necessarily due to a shift of the neck block. The soundboard collapsing is sufficient to allow the guitar to fold on itself, thus needing a neck reset.

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