Dovetail Neck Removal

Drill through at 15th fret into space at the dovetail back. O.K. to point the drill bit in different directions until you feel a give. Don't forget that steel strings have a truss rod in the middle

I'm using a dedicated fretboard removal blanket. It is only on the fretboard extension. It is shimmed off the rest of the board.

Here is the spatula I use. It took 4 minutes to heat the extension enough to slide the knife under it. Only go to about the 15th fret. The steam will loosen the rest.

.My garage sale espresso steam generator. Make steam at your own risk. Some danger involved. Safer with an regular steam tea kettle and a wooden stopper in the spout with the sugi attached through a hole in the stopper. Probably less exposure than my set up.

Sugi tubing with a sports ball inflation needle on the end. Cut the tip off the needle.

Keep plenty rags handy. Water will spill out onto the top. It clouds the lacquer, but it has always gone away for me later when it cools.

Normally takes about 10 minutes to steam off a neck. This was one of my own guitars from 30+ years ago. Funky dovetail with several shims. Took 25 minutes to get it off. There are various gigs that people use to press the neck off with a clamp. I have damaged guitars that way, so now I just keep working the neck loose by hand until it comes off. As the wood fibers get wet, they compress and the neck will loosen up. Later I usually end up slicing off a little of the male dovetail and gluing on the same kind of wood that the neck was made out of, and then refitting the joint.