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A friend brought me a Guild D38 to look at. His main complaints were there where some divots in the rosewood fretboard and also in the first few frets. The guitar in general is in OK shape but there has been some bad repair work. The bridge has been shaved to about .2", The saddle was made maybe .250" wide probably so that it would not tip over in the .080" or so deep slot. The bridge and bridge plate are cracked; it looks like they were glued back together.

It did not take much to clean up the frets. It looks like they had not been touched so I was able to remove the divots and recrown. As it did not take much there should be little change in the setup. I think I am going to leave it there. I have never done a neck reset on a guild. It looks like they finish the guitar with the neck on. Also I would need to make a new bridge and probably replace the bridge plate. He is not that good of a friend. I am will to take any comments.

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Do you want advice on doing a neck reset on a Guild? I've found myself doing quite a few in recent months. I'm willing to share if that's what you're after.

Hi John,

You did the work he asked for, you can leave it at that. If you're looking for more work or he were to ask about any additional work needed, tell him what you saw and shoot him a price. Instead of calling the previous work "shoddy", try "economically motivated" and explain those repairs are nearing the end of their life cycle and a more permanent solution is needed to prolong the life of the guitar.


Steve

Actually that would help I have done Martin dovetails, I have a steam injection setup.

Thanks Steve,

I will take your advice at about not calling the work bad or shoddy. I will explain all that I found and what is involved. The guitar plays OK even with all that is going on.

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For Guilds it really isn't much different. Here is what I've done.

The neck is finished over, so I apply a small amount of lacquer thinner and then score very carefully around the heel. The heel cap is really prone to falling off of these for whatever reason, just be prepared for that. Or better yet just take it off before you do anything.

The heel is typically very thin on these. What that means is fragile. When steaming you can use the neck removal jig thingy. For me though I've had better and quicker success using the gentle hand approach. When steaming, very lightly turn the neck in a gentle clockwise rotation. The dovetails on these are usually not fit very well (compared to Martin) and as such as drenched in glue. The clockwise approach I've found is very safe since it breaks up the glue without seriously stressing the heel area. If it needs some encouragement just go left and right *gently* and work your way up to the clockwise pattern.

Just let me emphasize that this should be done *gently*. I usually hold the guitar body on my bench and do it.

You can refin if you like. But in all honesty I have not finished over the heel joint on any of the ones I've done. Just touchup and create a clean line at the joint and carry on. The next guy in line will thank you.

I do not recommend using a chisel on the thin heel when you cut. I made a small sanding jig from thick acrylic and that is what I use. YMMV.

On one of the ones I did I ended up having to use thick shims because the dovetail was cut fairly poorly. Only advice there, have a good supply of mahogany veneer to use.

That's really all the advice I can offer. Just be gentle with it and it'll go smoothly like any other neck reset. Hope that helps.

John - I have one of the new HeatSticks for dry(er) neck resetting which can be really nice on a Guild - you are more than welcome to try it out.
Bridge plate may be a good candidate to help avoid fully removing the plate.

It sure would be nice to put a new bridge on that one...

inquiring minds want to know - what did you decide to do?

Sorry I was slow to respond I have been traveling. I cleaned up the frets and used the Frets.com method to remove the divots in the fret board. The method is really clever working fibers from the bottom of the divot up to the fretboard plane and filling both underneath and around with end grain sanding dust. I decided to leave the neck angle as it is. The current setup with the shaved bridge is very good.



The color did not really change just the picture and a bit of finger board oil, I only did the top four fret locations.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Nice work filling those divots. I haven't tried that method yet but it looks like you got a great result.

I notice the top with Trevor Gore’s falcate bracing in the background there. This will be used on my next build having bought the book! Have you completed a guitar using this bracing, and if so what are your initial observations?


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I have done a bunch both classical and steel string (maybe 10 or so). I love the sound of a falcate braced guitar. I find they are very balanced across the string, very clear definition in each note and really good sustain. Guitar sound is a subjective thing for the most part. I have found classical players that think the guitars sound too "contemporary" but I have found other classical players that love their responsiveness.

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