Guild neck resets. What fun. Aside from the post-assembly finishing, they
often have that massively wide heel glued not only in the dovetail, but
heel to shoulders. Why, nobody who understands the mechanics of a
dovetail joint has ever been able to figure out.
If you steam it off I've found it useful to pop the heel cap to come at the
shoulders from behind, as well as steaming the dovetail from through the
15th fret. Like a Gibson, make sure the truss rod is tight and feel the back
of the neck while steaming to make sure steam isn't flowing in to the
truss rod slot. it will take a lot of heat and steam, finish work, and even
with great care and preparation some can be quite difficult to keep the
heel in one piece during removal. I charge more for a Gibson than a
Martin, and more for a Guild than a Gibson.
Occasionally you'll get a cooperative one, but consider that as
compensation to make up for the lost time on others. Cross your fingers
and hope you got an easy one. If not, the biggest key not to rush it when
steaming it off. If it doesn't want to move just keep working steam in
from different angles, and try your best to figure out exactly where the
dry spots are as it starts to loosen. They're not fun, but if you decide to
steam it off it'll give you a chance to be creative with steaming.
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