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I spilt the heel on a nearly finished neck while installing steel inserts (don't ask). Anyway, I'd like to salvage the fretboard (glued on with Gorilla glue) and the truss rod.

My recollection is that Gorilla glue won't release under heat, etc. Is there a better way to get the fretboard off in one piece and re-use it other than sawing it off as close to the fret board as possible and then sanding the neck wood off? If that's the way to go, I have to get the trust rod out first. Suggestions for doing that?

It was a nice neck too. dang.

never use gorilla glue it is not a good glue for this . Tite bond would have done as well and you could have taken the board off without any problem. Sawing is your only option . Good luck . you will learn more from failures than you will from success .

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
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About the only use for glues such as Gorilla glue on a guitar is for neck laminations. When you do a neck reset, it is less likely to de-laminate as steam won't affect it.

I have seen G-Glue give out under heat when left in a really hot car. I don't recommend heating a neck too much to find out if it will loosen at all, but it is one option (again...probably not a good option as you may be looking at some considerable heat!!!).

Sawing off the neck and cleaning up is probably the best way to get a predictable result. Wait, did I just imply anything with woodworking is 'predictable'?

Matthew

Live and learn.

Any suggestions for getting the truss rod out. I'm afraid to cut off the fret board with the truss rod still in there. I guess thin slices off the bottom of the neck until I get to the riight depth?

If the neck is really scrap... cut off the head and just pull off the rod

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

I'll go with Johns suggestion. Saw it off. The bandsaw would work great for this.

So, there is no way to fix the heel???

How was the truss rod installed? Is there a spline on top of it or does it bear right on the fretboard?

In in first instance, you would have to be extreamly accurate to cut between the truss rod and the fretboard so as not to damage either one. In the second instance there is no way to cut between the rod and the fretboard without damage to both. Also it will be very difficult to remove the rod from the fretboard having used G-glue.

Personally, if the plan is to scrap the entire neck (why not just fix the heel though) then I would cut the headstock off and start shaving the back of the neck till you get to the truss rod and just keep working the wood away till the rod is free to come out.

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Because I took a pretty good chunk out of the neck that would always show coupled with the fact its the best body I've made so far (not saying much), I decided to scrap it (made good kindling).

I ended up bandsawing the bottom of the neck until I was about 1/8" from the truss rod. Then used a chisel to cut away the wood until the truss rod came out (good way to blow off some frustration). Then cut away the rest of the wood, running the fret board against the fence on the bandswaw until about 1/8" of the neck was left. Put it on the belt sander until it was "real close" and used a chisel to clean it up the rest of the way. Only ended up taking about an hour in all plus the time to carve a new neck.

A note on Gorilla glue. I did do some testing with it when I was building entry doors and windows for homes. Aside from being an absolute mess, it is very difficult to control with the foam out and in destructive testing it was always weaker then my titebond II and III tests, which always broke the wood, Gorilla always broke cleanly on the glue joint. It is also very week with any gap filling, it seems the foaming would help with gap filling, but it does not. It also has a very short shelf life once opened. It's water proofness is still less then Titbond III. IMO, throw it away. For wood to wood, it is weak, for mixed materials it is still a distant second to epoxy.
Rob

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Not to mention it's poisonous to pets...

A wonderful example of marketing hype at it's worst...

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Gene

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If the neck is scrap, why not just take a chisel to the back and split it instead of band sawing? It's real thin there anyway.

René

Titebond III works well with exotic oily woods too. The only advantage the polyurethane glues have is its ability to glue practically every material know to man. Now if they could invent a way to do it with out the need to moisten the pieces and the foaming effect it would find more use for things other then just woodworking....Mike