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Hi.
I have broken Ovation – the photo is attached.
My plan is to dismount the neck and regluing it back with epoxy.
The heel of the neck is loose already so I need to separate the part of the neck which is connected to the guitar top. I plan to do it with bridge/fingerboard removal knife, however I definitely will spoil the binding – any way to disconnect the neck without harm to binding?
Is my plan correct? Please comment it.
Thanks!

That thing is toast. Turn it into a flowerpot.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I don't think anyone is going to suggest to use an epoxy. Hide glue is the most accepted glue amongst instrument builders. The problem with epoxies is that most aren't designed to come apart.
I've never worked on an ovation, so I'm just spitballin' here. If the kevlar back extends into the neck pocket/joint, then an epoxy or CA should bond it. If you can get a wood to wood surface contact in the neck joint, then clean out whatever glue is in there now and reglue it.
As for the binding, it'd probably be better to rebind it after re-attaching it. You could probably cut it with an exacto before removing it.

But as I said, just spitballin'.

I'm not familiar with an ovation at all. I don't see much in that one picture. How does it attach to the guitar. Bolt on?


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I think they are put together with about a pound or so of epoxy. They are not real serviceable.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

One of the absolute rules in my shop is that we do not work on ovations. They simply are not meant to be servicable and attempting something even as simple as a bridge reset becomes a considerably expensive, ridiculous, and annoyingly time consuming experience. Your time is better put into other things.

What Dan said and many US shops will turn away Ov*tion jobs. We turn them away too but I did make an exception for a local pro who was ill and needed his 20 year old Ov*tion to sing again for a benefit concert to pay for his health care. I fixed up his ax for free and was happy to do so. But beyond charity work we won't take them in.

Ov*tions were not built to be serviceable and they were also engineered and designed by a company that's core competency was vibration dampening... a helicopter company. At one time Ov*tion accounted for 1/3 of US guitar sales.... go figure.

Although I would never admit it I had one too for a short while and kind of sort of remember liking it for a short while too. It was the beginning of the days of being able to buy an acoustic with a pup in it and Ov*tion captured that market nicely... for a while.... BTW this led to the opportunity for Taylor and we all know where that went since Taylor is very successful.

Anyway I digress. In your part of the world you may not have a choice in so much as this instrument may have more value to someone than it would here and I understand that. Ep*xy will release with heat but other things can happen such as finish damage, etc. Since the neck is loose it's likely that the fret board extension is all that remains to be released. Cardboard shield with foil on it and intense supervision with a heat lamp and pallet knife should release the extension. Then it's refit to the proper angle and a secure joint, slather in some new glue and go for it.

Have you tried tightening the neck bolt. Typically these have one big bolt in the heel. They do loosen sometimes. Sometimes they are up under a cover of sorts.

I once did one like this.

I took off the back manhole cover, and with a flexible extension & a 1/4" hex shank bit, drilled 2 holes into the heel from the body. Then installed a couple of Kreg screws, which have #2 Robertson drive. Can't remember what kind of glue.

This was, BTW, when I was working at B*** N*** in Berkeley for a short time, not through my own shop. I'm in full agreement that Ovies aren't made to work on.

Also, Rickenbacker work has an extra charge, for the DUI I'm gonna get from working on them...and I don't even have a car anymore!

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https://soundcloud.com/jeffreylsuits/he ... -runnin-13

While the early USA Ovation guitars and recent Far East guitars are more difficult to service due to their glued-on necks, they are not impossible, nor even that difficult. It just takes a little imagination.

Here's a thread on the Ovation Fan Club site that shows the details of how one member removed the neck without damaging the neck binding to perform a neck reset on his Celebrity. He softened the epoxy using baggies of boiling-hot water. Once the neck was off, he converted it to a bolt-on neck using information from Frank Ford's frets.com site. These modifications resulted in a perfectly playable guitar. (See: Celebrity Deluxe CC247 Neck Reset)

I've re-topped three Ovation guitars with glued-on necks --one with bearclaw Sitka spruce and two with torrefied Sitka spruce. I'm working on a fourth right now that's getting torrefied Adirondack spruce tonewood and braces.

Dan

And when it was done it was still an Ovation, right?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Of course. Your point being?

It also depends on how much care you need to have. I saw an inexpensive guitar fixed by screwing a drywall screw into the heel. A black strap button hid the repair and the neck stayed securely and tightly to the body.

Since this already has a strap button you could recess the screw and make a wood plug or even shell fret marker to cover the screw head.


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I didn't have courage to make the job. I have a small drill but even with it I could not get inside the body via the back cover to install a screw... So just returned the instrument. Thanks everyone for the help.