Mike Lull's Guitar Works Guitar Repair

Acoustic Guitar Neck Re-set

The following information is not meant to be instructional in its content. This work should only be done by a competent, professional luthier. Our resident acoustic expert Tom Albert is the best we have seen at doing neck resets on acoustic guitars. For those interested in the process, here is an in-depth look at what goes on.

A neck reset is done to change the pitch or angle of the guitar neck to allow comfortable playing action while maintaining a good saddle height for the best overall sound. The neck angle on an acoustic guitar will change over a period of several years due to string tension. The back of the guitar will sometimes stretch and the top tends to compress. The neck itself will sometimes twist and pull itself away from the neck joint. All of this is normal for any set neck acoustic.

The guitar that is featured here is a mid 70's Martin HD28. The saddle has been cut down as low as it can get and the action is still high. To make this guitar playable again, a neck reset is needed.

The Martin Co. recommends a neck reset every 15-20 years. This guitar is also going to be refretted, which is a good idea when doing a neck reset. This allows us to true the finger- board for optimum playing ability. If for some reason the guitar does not need a refret, a leveling and crowning is done to make sure the guitar plays at its optimum. Installation of a new bone saddle is also necessary. With the change of the neck's pitch, a taller saddle will be necessary.

The first step is to remove the 15th fret from the fingerboard and drill two small holes into the neck joint. This is where steam is injected which dissolves the glue bond.

While waiting for the boiler to heat up, the rest of the frets are removed and the fingerboard's tongue is heated up with a special heating pad to loosen its glue bond.