Removing the Neck!

How difficult (and expensive) would it be to remove and reset the neck on a fairly recent (2003) Guild X-160. If you look at the guitar from the front, the neck is angled to the right. Just enough so the strings don't line up over the pole pieces. The high e string is still over the fretboard way up high on the neck, but just barely. I originally hoped that it was the bigsby that was off center, but alas it appears that the neck is the culprit.
It plays and sounds fine as is, but I would have a hard time selling it as is. I bought it used and didn't notice the problem for a couple of weeks, so it's not that obvious.
Anyone hazard a guess on what it would cost?
Maybe I should wait 40 years and it might fall off on it's own!

Bowl,

Wish I could help you. Personally, I'd leave it alone if it's not going to cause other problems, but I'd like to hear what the luthierially inclined Guilders say. My guess is that a neck reset is about $200. Although Saddam is going to get his neck reset for free.

Is it so far off that a new nut with slots further to the left, couldn't put the strings where they need to be ?

The strings are nicely aligned at the nut, which is good since thats where I play the most. If I shifted them enough to line up with the pickups, the low "E" would be off the fingerboard. If I shifted the Bigsby about 3/8 of an inch to the left, everything would line up. Thats the cheap way to "fix it".

I'll bet the guitar was built with the neck straight and properly aligned, but the tailpiece might have been bent/shifted with time. Was the Bigsby original equipment or an add-on? Any sign that the hinge pin may not be straight, or other indications of misalignment?

I was playing my X-400 the other day (it has a non-original tailpiece right now) and realized that the larger tailpiece is slightly out of line, and that the resulting tension had pulled the old rosewood bridge to the treble side(less than your 3/8", but noticveable), and the strings weren't properly aligned. Just as a test, I temporarily swapped in a smaller tailpiece (gold engraved, but from a shallow-body guitar [did any Starfires have the engraved tailpiece?], so not a permanent replacement). Strings lined up perfectly.

The bigsby is original factory installed.
You can also tell that it's the neck that is crooked by looking at the end of the neck and the neck pickup. The gap is slightly bigger on the left.
I certainly can live with it the way it is, just wondering how feasible and pricey a neck reset would be on a new (dipped in plastic!) guitar.
Earlier this year I wanted to sell it and felt that I'd have to let the potential buyer know about it... and thus turn a $1200 guitar into a $600 guitar.

Ah well, wrong again. Thanks.

MR. T.

How close are you to a luthier? Remember Coastie's motto: Never live more than five miles from a luthier. Or a Heineken truck.

I am about an hour from Elderly Instruments in Lansing, Michigan. They are certainly qualified to do the job. If it only cost $200, I'd probably have it done. Anything much more than that, and I'll have to wait for it to fall off on it's own.

I'd say you're looking at closer to $400 for a reset. If it was a beat up old guitar I'd offer (getting pretty handy with my project guitars) but I'm not up to taking on something nice & purty.

How does a neck reset work with a poly finish? You can't really do a partial refin or touchup with poly, can you?

I've also heard around $400 for a reset. I'm sure you could find higher prices than that in some areas.

It's late on a Friday, and I've got a few glasses of wine under my belt, so please pardon me if this is daft: but would it be possible to shift the angle of the Bigsby by inserting a washer or two under the screws on the tail end of the guitar?

That might do the trick, but I bet it would look bizarre, the bigsby angled up toward the bass side and the neck angled down toward the treble side. At least thats how I picture it in my head.

Walter Broes said:

How does a neck reset work with a poly finish? You can't really do a partial refin or touchup with poly, can you?

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Having a poly finish doesn't make a difference in my book. Before you remove a neck you would want to score around all areas of the heel and fingerboard extension to make sure that the neck comes off clean and does not cause any chip out of the finish.
The only difference is that nitro melts into itself and a good touch up job can be invisible. the polyurethane and polyester can be touched up but you will have "witness lines" since they are a conversion finish.

Just a thought but, if the guitar plays good and the only problem is the pole pieces don't line up, how about resetting the pickups.?.....Some times it's easier to take the mountain to Mohamed than to take ..uh, well you know.

Jim

stlpikn said:

Some times it's easier to take the mountain to Mohamed than to take ..uh, well you know.

Jim

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?? Luthier ??

Graham

Graham said:

stlpikn said:

Some times it's easier to take the mountain to Mohamed than to take ..uh, well you know.

Jim

Click to expand...

?? Luthier ??

Graham

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There is a problem with the idea of just moving the pickups. First of all the strings lining up with the polepieces isn't the only problem. As the strings progress up the neck he said that the high E string is barely on the fingerboard.
If you want the problem corrected properly you would need to have a luthier (such as myself) check it out. What it sounds like to me is that the neck was not set on center properly. This would be a bit of a hassle for you (or maybe not) but if you wanted to check this for yourself here is what you could do.
At the bridge location, mark where center is on the guitar (preferably with something that won't leave a permanent mark)
Then you'll need a straight edge. You will hold the straight edge against the side of the neck and mark (in the same area as your center mark) where the straight edge crosses the point where the bridge sits. Do the same thing on the other side of the neck and mark the location. Finally you'll measure the distance from each mark to your center line. My guess is that the treble side of the neck will be much closer to the center line than the bass side, which would cause the treble strings to be closer to the edge of the fingerboard than the bass strings.
Normally I've seen a lot of new guitars (LOTS of takamine instruments for example) that just have a horribly wrong neck ANGLE, however I've not seen a lot of instruments that have necks off center, or atleast it has not been too obvious.
If I were doing a neck reset on that guitar I'd charge $300-$350. But that's just me, I"m sure lots of people are more expensive. :wink:

X-160 has a movable bridge, no?

I've had loads of guitars where the strings were not positioned exactly over the poles for various reasons. It never mattered about the sound, usually.
Production guitars aren't as precise as hand luthiered works of art. But they usually work ok.
Mine will sound the right notes if I can get to them on time! :roll:

Hold it??? The high E string is drifting off the neck as you get closer to the bridge AND the strings don't line up over the pickup poles? Have you tried moving the bridge like Yetto said??? If everything lines up when the bridge is moved then the neck is fine! If the Bigsby placement causes the bridge not to stay in it's new location, MOVE THE BIGSBY! It's VERY common when mounting a Bigsby to have to mount it slightly off center.