ca. 1936 Regal-made Dobro Tenor Guitar Restoration, Pt. 2: Neck Removal

As I noted in the last post, the Regal Dobro needs a neck reset. It's unplayable as is.

We need three measurements to calculate how much needs to be removed from the neck heel: the height of the heel, the distance from the body/neck joint to the saddle, and the height from the top of the frets to the bridge.

As you can see above, I use a straightedge to get that last measurement. On most guitars, I can extend the straightedge until it hits the bridge, generally a distance below the saddle. But here the resonator cover is in the way, so I sort of eyeballed the measurement.

We need to drill an access hole to get our steamer tool down into the dovetail. So we heat up the first fret in from the body edge - it's the 15th on this guitar - with a soldering iron.

Just as you would when soldering, keep the tip clean and tinned so it will transfer heat well.

Then remove the fret by gently rocking it side to side with fret removal pliers. If you're not refretting the guitar, put the fret in a safe place so you can reinstall it.

First thing to do in removing the neck is to loosen the fingerboard extension - where the board is over the guitar body.

I put some sign-painters tape over the body to protect it.

Warm up my trusty next extension removal heater.

You can buy heating elements to do this but my old clothes iron works just fine. I use it on the hottest setting - I believe it's marked 'cotton.'

While the iron is heating up, I heat up some water in my luthier's hot pot and put a palette knife in it. We'll use that to remove the fingerboard extension. Having it hot helps it go through the old glue.

I made a cardboard form years ago to fit over the body which covers the upper bouts but is cut to allow access to the fingerboard extension. It's covered with aluminum foil glued on with contact cement.

When the iron is hot, place it on the fingerboard extension for about a minute or so. If it stays on too long, it might melt the binding or loosen frets. Maybe. I don't want to risk that.

Starting at one front corner, gently work your heated knife under the fingerboard extension.

This takes a while. You'll find at first, you can go in a little ways, then eventually, as the glue starts to give, you will make more progress.

Don't rush it. Do a little at a time, then put the iron back on, then use the knife, etc.

Here I've pretty much released the whole extension from the body of the guitar.

You can see why I put the tape down - to keep from damaging the guitar top.

Stew-Mac sells this knife - that's where I got mine. But art supply stores sell them, and you'll find a greater variety there. I now have a few different shapes and different thicknesses to use depending on the job at hand.

Now we drill the access hole for the dovetail. I use a long bit - I think it's 1/16 of an inch diameter and 6 inches long - from McMaster Carr.

The idea is to drill on the side of the dovetail, at about a 10 degree angle to try and follow the dovetail.

Ideally, you'll feel it hit bottom when you drill. The hole should be about 1/2 an inch from the edge of the fingerboard. Oh, and put a mark like my tape flag on the bit so you don't go too deep! The dovetail will probably stop about a half an inch from the bottom of the heel.

The usual method of removing the neck involves using steam applied through a needle. I've done this for every reset I've done.

But the problem with steam is...water. You will get water droplets in the joint, possibly on the neck heel, and possibly inside the guitar body.

Stew-Mac (ha) now sells this tool which they call a HeatStick. It's a long pipe, threaded at one end to attach to a soldering iron. Instead of the steam needle, you put the HeatStick into the hole you just drilled and it heats the neck joint.

I was game, so I got one. You can see it above. They sell it for 2 irons - a Solomon and the Weller WES-50, which is what I use.

As I mentioned, it's a copper pipe threaded to go onto the iron. I suppose you could even homebrew one out of copper pipe stock.

So let's try it.

Put the guitar into the neck removal jig. (THAT is homebrewed).

Attach the HeatStick to your iron, heat it up and place it into your access hole. Stew-Mac says to use the highest setting on your iron. I set mine at about 800 degrees F, not quite all the way up, which is about 850.

In this shot, you can see that angle I mentioned. I try to follow the angle of the dovetail.

Just like you would with steam, let the joint get hot for a couple minutes, wiggle it until it starts to move a bit. I took the iron out several times because I didn't want the iron to overheat. I also kept cleaning the tip as well.

Some of the reviewers indicated their irons went up in smoke, so I was a bit wary. Although I'm not sure how the iron would be ruined, to be honest.

One other note - the fret dot markers are painted on! I believe they were not original to the guitar - they're not exactly circular and have clear brush marks. I'm going to sand them off and replace them with pearl dots.

After wiggling the neck a bit and tightening up the tension screw at the bottom of the heel, we can see the neck is beginning to separate - note that light is visible at the bottom of the heel next to the body.

Heat, wiggle, tension, etc., until...poof...the joint gives way.

We've removed the neck!

The neck was originally glued with hide glue. You can see some of the residue that got picked up on the end of the HeatStick. I wiped this off a few times during the process.

"HeatStick?" Really, is that the best they can do?

Here's the removed neck. Note the original shims on the dovetail. Not quite as well made as a Martin, but it did (does) the job.

If you look closely, you'll see the spot where my drill bit went in - a touch too far in, not exactly perfect but it worked fine. The key is to hit an edge of the dovetail, and not the center.

I suspect folks who do resets every day on the same guitars (e.g. Martins) know the exact spot to drill the hole.

I discovered the fingerboard was coming up from the actual neck right near the dovetail. I decided to fix it right away.

I used hot hide glue injected into the joint. Note I am also using a seam separation knife (on the right) to hold the joint open as much as possible so I can get glue deep into the separation.

Here's the joint clamped up until the glue dries.

Next, I'll continue the neck set by removing material from the bottom of the heel joint to pitch the neck back. I also need to refret the neck and I'm going to re-dye the fingerboard.