Members Freeman Keller Posted August 23, 2016 Members Share Posted August 23, 2016 In my little hobby as a guitar repair guy I've seen a fair number of "interesting" ways to do things. This weekend I got to work on a Rogue resonator that seemed to have a loose neck and really high action. The neck was pulling loose at the bottom and seemed to wiggle a bit in the socket - as far as I could see it wasn't a bolt on and didn't have a neck stick (like most reso's) so I assumed it was a dovetail and decided to shoot some steam in it. First minor problem - I pulled the 15th fret and drilled a hole for the steam injector. Many people just drill one hole in the middle of the fret slot - for some reason I decided to do two spaced a little on each side of the slot. As I was drilling I noticed some metal shavings coming out at the bit. Turns out the truss rod for this thing goes back into the fretboard extension a couple of inches - my bit was just hitting the edge of the aluminum bar on top (no damage, whew). Shot the steam, wiggled and press and damn near gave up - it was wiggling back and forth but just wouldn't come apart. Finally "pop" and I had the neck in my hand. Imagine my surprise when I found the entire dovetail cavity was filled with something that looks exactly like - Bondo It really wasn't in the structural part of the dovetail (the angled portion) and it really wasn't adhering to the wood all that well - I could chip it out with a chisel Put that stuff in a baggie to give to the owner. The dovetail itself was garbage - poorly made, poorly shimmed - and I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be a viable joint no matter what I did with it, so I did the quick conversion to a bolt on neck. Only room for one bolt and insert but it will have to do Anyway, it went back together OK, joint is tight but I'm worried about the structural integrity of the whole neck block area. Made a mental note to avoid Rogues in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Emory Posted August 23, 2016 Members Share Posted August 23, 2016 As always, you come up with really interesting posts. Whew! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted August 23, 2016 Members Share Posted August 23, 2016 I get your reluctance to work on crap guitars. OTOH, as someone once said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." Or, to put it another way, "Ugly dogs need love too." Sometimes they need it even more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted August 23, 2016 Author Members Share Posted August 23, 2016 Actually, I am willing to work on many guitars that others would never touch, and I do it for far less than they would ever charge. I believe that every instrument should have a chance if possible and in many cases it means that someone somewhere will have some sort of guitar to make music with. I spent five hours on sunday working on this thing and told the customer that I wasn't happy with the action and I felt that the neck block was going to implode. I told him that since I wasn't happy with it I couldn't charge him anything. I had better plans for sunday..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thatsbunk Posted August 23, 2016 Members Share Posted August 23, 2016 You're a good man for giving it a shot. My local luthier charges $300 for a neck reset. You probably could buy a bunch of new Rogues for the same dough... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted August 23, 2016 Members Share Posted August 23, 2016 ^ A new Rogue resonator runs $169.99-229.99 so not a "bunch" but not really worth a reset: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk-traditional-instruments/rogue-classic-spider-resonator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Neal Posted August 24, 2016 Members Share Posted August 24, 2016 Nice to see what crap is being offered in the sub-500$ range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted August 25, 2016 Members Share Posted August 25, 2016 Gretsch makes a nice resonator for $350 retail these days. I have one that's worked fine for me and probably has SOME resale value because of the brand name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted August 25, 2016 Members Share Posted August 25, 2016 Based on the brand name I can't fault their honesty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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