RESTORINg AN ORIgINAL
JOHN BROWN
Removing a 1952 Goldtop Les Paul’s Neck
Through years of repairing and building stringed
instruments, I’ve gathered enough knowledge
and experience to give me the necessary confidence to tackle tough jobs. And even though I
approach my workbench with much optimism,
I do occasionally question that confidence—
especially when stepping into the zone of
death-defying restoration jobs. One benefit of
questioning my confidence is that it drives me
to research and prepare in great depth before
starting a daunting project like this.
Meet the Goldtop
On the bench is a 1952 goldtop Les Paul
in need of a neck reset. Yes, it’s true that
the 1952 and early ’ 53 goldtops are not
very playable as a professional instrument
because of their shallow neck set, but all
of that is about to be changed. Currently,
the bridge is bottomed out, and the neck
sports a mere .004" relief, yet there’s a 1/4"
gap between the top of the 12th fret and
the underside of the low E string. Because
of the design flaws in the original trapeze
tailpiece, this guitar was also converted to
an ABR- 1 bridge and tailpiece years before
arriving at our shop.
Here’s the catch: In terms of surface-to-surface contact, this goldtop’s neck-to-body
joint is perfection. It has an extremely tight
glue joint, with no visible slop at all, which
makes it more challenging and difficult to
soften the glue for a neck removal. The real
clincher is that the client does not want any
of the original finish disturbed during the
neck-removal process. So it goes without
saying that I won’t be able to touch up the
nitrocellulose lacquer after the neck reset is
completed. In short, the owner of this 1952
Les Paul is looking for both excellent playability and the value of his gold to go up.
Preparation and Patience
This isn’t going to be one of those quick neck
resets that you accomplish by letting steam
penetrate a dovetail joint. This is a real ’ 52 with
a nicely aged finish that can’t be damaged. On
a job like this, it’s crucial to plan ahead. So I
drew up a plan with the following steps:
1. Remove the neck pickup’s leads from
the volume pot, being very careful
not to alter the shape and size of the
grounding-solder bead.
2. Preheat frets 16, 18, and 21, and
remove them with the Stewart-MacDonald Fret Puller (item #1637 at
stewmac.com), remembering to mark
the bass side of each fret for later
reinstallation.
3. Measure the width and depth of the
neck-to-body joint from inside the
neck-pickup pocket (which holds the
extended tenon).
4. Drill one small hole on the treble and
bass sides of each revealed fret slot
using a 3/32" bit (there will be a total of
six holes). Drill down 1 11/16" through
the fretboard and into the neck-to-body
side seam.
5. All day, for five days, use a glue syringe
(item #3021) to inject boiling water
into the holes. Then extract the cooled,
glue-filmed water every few minutes.
At the end of each day, fill the holes and
extended tenon pocket with water, so
the neck-to-body joint won’t dry up
overnight.
Cappuccino Time
Over the last few days of applying boiling
water to the six holes and into the extended
tenon pocket, we begin to see water peek
out through the glue seams. After applying
medium pressure to the neck joint, the neck
still isn’t ready to come off. So I plug in my
cappuccino machine and steam away and
hook up the StewMac Neck Joint Steamer
Needle, hose, and clamp (item #4059), which
has an extra-long 3 1/2" x 5/64" injector needle that makes it easy to access the underside
of the neck heel. In less than 10 minutes, the
neck came off like butter. Mission accomplished! (Note: If you ever do a job like this,
remember to have a couple of moist cloths
ready to wrap around the needle and working
area of the guitar, alternating as you go, to
protect the surrounding finish and wood.)
We’ll have a booth at the 2011 Winter
NAMM show held January 13-16 in Anaheim,
California. Please stop by and say hello. This
will be a good opportunity to get any of your
Restoring an Original questions answered and
share some ideas for future column topics. I
look forward to seeing you there.
Using a glue syringe to inject boiled water into holes drilled
in the revealing fret slots.
Steaming the neck loose.
The extended-tenon neck pocket.
John Brown
John Brown, of Brown’s Guitar Factory, is the inventor
of the Fretted/Less bass. He owns and operates a full
guitar manufacturing and repair/restoration facility, which
is staffed by a team of talented luthiers. He is also the
designer of guitar-making/repair tools and accessories that
are used today by instrument builders throughout the world.
For details, visit brownsguitarfactory.com or shoot a note
to info@brownsguitarfactory.com.
