Hi Paul you have to heat the whole tongue and protect the surrounding top from the heat. I use a welding mat cut so a flap goes in the sound hole. The heat transfers to the frets and after 5-10 minutes gently,go in from a corner with a thin spatula.

Watched a few videos on this topic and this was by far the most useful. Followed what you did (except I rigged up the jig with wood and clamps) and the neck just slid off. Cheers :)

Yes, definitely drill at the 13the fret in this case, or the 15th on a 14 fret neck. I installed a bleeder valve on my steamer to avoid similarly damaging steam exhaust. Slow is the way to go.

No tripod Carl just a wobbly hand :-)

Not without major adjustments to the neck and body join i assume. Check the scale length is the same too, very important!

Hi enjoyed the vid I have a question for you, I'm touring Thailand on my motorbike and need a travel guitar, can't afford a furch little Jane so I'm toying with the idea of buying a cheap guitar locally and using your technique of removing the neck and then inserting bolts to make it detachable for traveling, just wondered if you think this is feasible or should I abandon the idea, bearing in mind I don't need a professional instrument ,just something to bash out a few songs, it doesn't have to look pretty, I just need something that is useable

Hey, what glue would I need to Reattach a neck? Attempting a repair on a 40 year old+ guitar.

Yes guys have to admit you are right, lucky i got away with it. Proof that the steam finds it's way around the dovetail though, and lucky that the neck came out relatively easily.

Luckily I watched several vids before attempting this. As it's clear you made an error why not put this in your description? Anyone can make a mistake but why leave it there unnoted for novices to potentially copy.?

Hello Julyan, Thanks for posting this video. Would it be overkill to heat the entire tongue before proceeding with the prying of the the tongue? Thanks

Jiggy camera makes it hard to watch. Recruit a tripod or friend.

Great

Should I remove the frets before I take the fingerboard off?

You have to drill in the 13th fret slot, not the 12th...

Sorry for late reply docpain0 you could be roght, there may not be so much 'care' going in to building instruments, esp ones that may be cheaper and mass produced in the east. Julyan.

my bad, i apologize, carry on

apologies ahead of time if this question is too verbose or ill defined : Is it my imagination or are modern acoustics (not all but a very high % have for lack of a better term a steeper angle on a fixed neck than times past? (i.e. allows them to get away with not setting a neck "right/correct" and leaves an ever increasing gap as you progress towards the bridge. Im having to take a neck off now because you cant get a decent string height. level between nut / bridge . not level ..uno wat i mean

You pulled the WRONG FRET. Pulling the first fret into the body will access the void at the bottom of the dovetail mortise. ( I've pulled HUNDREDS of necks)

Depends how old the guitar is, some lift with time, some after a short period or not at all, some go the other war resulting in a high saddle. Frets.com is a good place to visit.

4/64th=2/32nd=1/16 treble side, and 1/16th+1/64 bass side = 1.15 mm. Convert to metric if u don't like math, trust me.

how hard is it to fit an electric guitar neck (Stratocaster) to an acoustic body?

So many of you people calling yourselves LUTHIERS are giving out crap information. Cover all the area around the neck end with cardboard. cover that again with a piece of crap wood or even ply. Place the domestic iron on the end of the fret board for 5-10 minutes. remove iron and simply slide the scraper under the fret board in 1 fell swoop. DONE. takes 12 minutes and saves the body from devastating scratches.

why would you weaken the fret board that way?

Either 12th or 13th, the steam finds it's way through.

Tripod, tripod, tripod!

Hmmm...very wobbly tripod...better get a new one. ;)

Titebond aliphatic resin, go see eBay etc...

Watched all three and found that this is not very useful, not everyone has all the equipment you have, more trouble than its worth.