The neck is glued in (again)! Hopefully this is the last time anyone ever see the pieces apart! 🤞

This time I used “hide glue” for the joint. This type of glue is traditional for making musical instruments, especially on parts that need to be repaired in the future. It is plenty strong, and also can be taken apart fairly easy using heat. If o used hide glue the first time, I prolly wouldn’t have messed up the lacquer trying to get it apart.

Hide glue is made of animal leftovers like skins and hoofs (think of the old cartoons where they sent the horse to the glue factory). It comes to me in a crystal form that needs to be mixed with water to re-hydrate it. Before use, it needs to be heated to around 140°F before applying. You need to act quick when applying it and clamping the wood because once it cools down a bit, it’s too late and you have to start over. This page has a lot of info about hide glue.

The gluing went well I think and the guitar is clamped to my workbench until tomorrow.

I do believe the neck angle is fixed! Next step, glue!

So I played around with the guitar all week and decided I don’t like to play it with the neck angle too steep. Sooo…..

Time for major surgery. Spoiler, it went as good as I could hope.

I used Titebond original glue which is water soluble and softens with heat. So it seems getting hot water to the glue joint is the thing to do. Luckily, the wife has a nice clothes steamer I could use.

I took all the electronics out (I want to rewire anyway) so I could get access to the neck joint.

I need a way to get steam into the joint between the neck and the body. So I bought a 12″ long drill bit and drilled some holes.

After that, I used my wife’s steamer and some small towels to heat and steam the neck and body joint.

I didn’t take any photos of the steaming because o was home alone and I’m not an octopus.

After about 30-40 minutes I got the joint hot and wet enough for the joint to release. There was no structural damage to the neck or body. Yay for me!

Although I won the war, there was a casualty. The lacquer got pretty messed up from the heat and steam. I should be able to repair it, but it’s a bummer for sure. Scars tell stories, and this is a good one.

This week I will work on the neck angle and repair the lacquer. Stay tuned!