Strengthening glued-in neck query.

Kalimna

Greetings folks,

Another day, another query on building from myself. This is in regards to the doubleneck I finished for my youngest boy at Christmas (final build pics to follow on separate thread). In summary, it looks great, sounds great (thanks, Oil City!), has a nice action on both necks and weighs slightly less than a small neutron star.

However, both necks are rather flexible. For the first week of being strung up, each day I would have to re-tune the strings by about 1/2 step. This did not seem limited to any particular string, or either neck. Similarly, a gentle wobble of the headstock wiggles the pitch more than my Strat, Les Paul or to-hand 12 string acoustic does.My working theory is that the wood used (cedrella) is just not rigid enough, despite the trussrod.

So. I was wondering how feasible it would be to remove fretboard (OK, done that before), rout a couple of channels for CF strip and re-glue the same fretboard back onto the neck. I imagine that removing the frets would be part of this, and it would not be a quick/easy job altogether. But I am concerned for the longevity of the guitar otherwise.

Thoughts?

Adam

WezV

Totally possible, but as long as any movement is controllable with a truss rod it might not need it.... it should settle down to be more predictable soon enough

Kalimna

Thanks for the response - undertaking such a job is certainly not something I would do lightly, and will happily wait a while to see if the wood does settle down. As it happens, there is a little touch up to be done anyway - the fingerboard has shrunk a little since being glued up, leaving the fret ends a wee bit proud.

Cheers.

WezV

Kalimna said:

Thanks for the response - undertaking such a job is certainly not something I would do lightly, and will happily wait a while to see if the wood does settle down. As it happens, there is a little touch up to be done anyway - the fingerboard has shrunk a little since being glued up, leaving the fret ends a wee bit proud.

Cheers.

That supports the idea it could be still settling in

Kalimna

I think my concern was primarily the vibrato effect by wobbling the headstock, it just feels more extreme than any of my other guitars. It would be much easier to explain in person!

Adam

andy_k

Is the flex definitely in the neck itself, or could it be the neck joint?
I have a Gibson SGJ, which is a nice guitar, except they decided to make the already notorious weak neck joint even more unstable by using a thinner body. It is a shame, as this model has a fairly chunky 50's maple neck, with the controversial laminated fretboard, so I suspect the neck is pretty rigid.
I would play it a lot more if the thing could be played in tune, and have even considered using some carbon fibre sheet to try and stiffen up the back of the neck pocket.
I'd like to laminate the full back, but it is expensive stuff, and I don't really have the facilities.
Otherwise, the guitar is something special, a 24 fret SG, with Shed Pafs. Blues heaven.

Kalimna

Im pretty sure the flex is in the neck. However, it *may* be settling down a little anyway. The neck-body join seems solid, and the body thickness is definitely not going to flex under anything other than a hydraulic press

Adam