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Continuing the saga of the crack repair
https://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10137&t=56023
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Author:  Ken Nagy [ Tue Oct 31, 2023 1:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Continuing the saga of the crack repair

The crack is fixed. One way you don't see it, the other way you can.

But.

Stringing it up, the bridge is high, even (not lower on the high e; but it was even before too) and I noticed that the neck angle was about .6 degrees too low. Yeah I used trig on that, not eyeballs. Did the upper block shift, and give me a New York neck drop!

Yes. I see that the back is even with the binding edge except at the upper end, where it is about, .02-.03" short. The guitar is 2.5" tall, so what is the inverserse tan of .01 (.025 divided by 2.5)? .6 or so degrees.

So I decided last night to loosen the back, and push the block in so it is even. The nut should drop some, and maybe the neck will be less low than the 3mm or so that it is now at the 12th. Should be easy.

I worked on it about an hour, and was thankfully interrupted by a call from one of our daughters! It will not let loose. I got the whole back off, in about an hour and a half the other day. The area of the block did NOT even have clamps on it, except for right at the edge. But it won't come loose there. So I'm heading down into the basement now, and hopefully I can get it free. Maybe when I glue it up, it will at least make the neck angle right.

On violins I use 1/8" pins to line up the plates for gluing. You plug the plate. If you took the back off, you could take the plug out, and line it up again. They don't take backs off; only rarely.

Yesterday, I put the little brass glue warmer on my single burner electric stove I use to cook varnish, because the electric warming plate wasn't even keeping the water warm. Maybe at 120. The burner kept it at 160 on low. The temp was 65 down there, It is 62 today. So the other day the glue wasn't even hot, just warm.

Author:  Ken Nagy [ Wed Nov 01, 2023 7:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Continuing the saga of the crack repair

I managed to get the back loose at the top. I had to use a thin Japanese saw on a stubborn part toward the cutaway, and it finally was able to move. I checked it this morning, and it seems to have worked.

Instead of it being 8/64" at the 12th and 14/64" at the 22nd; it is 7 and 9.5. That is with no tension. We'll see what tension does this afternoon. Moving the neck up a .04" or so would be easier than messing with the angle. It is easier to figure out with the 12th at the body.

Update:

I didn't say that the second number was at the 22nd fret. I try to type what I think, but sometimes I think too fast,

It will need at least .06" of shim under the neck.

Author:  jfmckenna [ Thu Nov 09, 2023 9:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Continuing the saga of the crack repair

Hey Ken, assuming you are continuing this thread from the other one where you took the back off? I'm going to build an arch top one day and have been thinking about it lately. Funny someone mentioned Padma in the last thread But I liked his bolt on neck joint except it was very difficult to go through the tail block with a long specially made hex key tool to tighten the bolts and I noticed your joint which is bolted from the bottom. Do you have some sort of 'truss rod' cover on those bolts or something like that? I'd love to see pics of the design if you have time to bother with it, or simple explanation will do.

I've been giving it some thought lately. I don't want to do a traditional dovetail as I have become so fond of bolt on necks for many years now.

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