Martin Heel Lift! (Bring me some good news!)

[claptonpage]

Hi All!

Long Time! Still Lurking! I have been writing some fun gear articles on Reverb.com (James M Brill author) though, so still loving the topic!

Got what I hope was a great craigslist deal on a 2004 Martin D-16RGT ($500!). Only noticed when I got home that the last inch of the heel was lifted .030 from the body. The neck is not loose, and there is not a top crack. Other than that, all it tip top from what I can see, nothing else is loose or out of place The bridge is not lifting or any other structural stuff I can see, other than it is very dirty.

I will drop it off to my tech next Monday; What can I do to make it easier for him to work on in the mean time? I've taken all the strings off and I'll leave it in my climate controlled guitar room until then. Want to make sure I don't do any harm in the week before I get it to him.

I've included some pictures as well. The gap looks wider in the pictures than it is.

Any thoughts? Hopefully not a neck-set!

[GuitarAttack Forum]

Based on my recent work with acoustics, I believe that neck is going to require a reset. In my opinion, it needs to come off before it can be reglued. The geometry needs to be fixed.

On a happier note, I look forward to checking out your articles.

John

[dnic]

I agree with John, if the dove tail was cut correctly it could not pull up like that.

[claptonpage]

I said good news! Thanks guys. I have very little into it ($500), so if I have to drop $300-400 I will be ok. My tech got back to me and said he will first get at the bolt under the neck plate with the model number and take it from there. Apparently Martin bolts the neck to keep it tight as it is glued.

We'll see.

Some of my articles are the following-

reverb.com/blog/the-2015-gibson-line-up-reactions-and-reality

reverb.com/blog/buying-used-pickups-the-experts-weigh-in

reverb.com/blog/top-five-guitars-to-mod

reverb.com/blog/top-5-preventable-repairs

The Gibson one and the Preventable repairs one got a lot of reads, although the one on pickups I thought was great, but not as popular to the readers, lol.

[latestrummer]

Nice find on the Martin and cool articles. You just might get a few more followers with this thread

[claptonpage]

Looks like some good news! I've learned all I can about neck resets in the last 48 hours, and looks like this Martin has a glue/bolt based system, so not as tricky as glue only. Here is a link to a similar repair:

fingerlakesguitarrepair.com/martin-mortise-and-tenon-neck-reset/

So hopefully it won't cost me an arm and a leg (or a neck!)

[dnic]

Well if it's a straight tenon with a bolt that's completely different. If the strings are just a tad high then loosen the strings and snug the bolt. The bolt must have been loose in the first place for the heel to pull up like that. There are a lot of bolt on necks out there with no glue whatsoever, others have the fretboard extension glued down.

[claptonpage]

Looks like it is a fairly common repair on Martin's with this neck join style. I think is like you said dnic, mostly bolt and just a bit of glue holding the fingerboard extension down. Hopefully it will not be too crazy expensive, and maybe I can get the frets leveled as well.