Repair And Restoration
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buckling top on a 70s Stella
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buckling top on a 70s Stella
I’ve got a 1970s Harmony Stella parlor guitar and the top seems to be buckling. There is (at least one) loose brace. I assume that there’s something going on with the neck block, and that just re-gluing the brace isn’t going to fix this.
I have no experience removing necks or doing neck resets. This is my own guitar, and I bought it as a learning tool, so I am comfortable using it as such.
So… Is my assessment about the neck block likely correct? And if so, what are the basic steps I need to take? Is this a good guitar to do a first neck reset?
(more pics in the comments)
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14 Replies
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more photos
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This looks like a great first neck reset guitar. Have you had a chance to grab some of the foam cutters yet ?
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Not yet… I guess that’s my first step. How many do I need? Two?
So, I’m correct, it needs a neck reset?-
Yep, here’s the link.
https://dev.loothgroup.com/useful_links/foam-cutters-for-neck-resets/
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Thank you! Ordered. Expect more questions in the near future!
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check out the Ted Woodford 7 or 8 part series on rebuilding a Harmony guitar, not the same model as yours at all but has tons of solid information. On youtube. He covers putting in braces around the soundhole to fix buckling. It can be a symptom of ladder braced guitars.
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This one? I like Ted Woodford a lot.
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I decided to reglue the brace before doing anything else, so maybe 10 days ago I cleaned the gap as best I could, glued with hide glue (the Titebond, shelf-stable kind), clamped it, left it overnight. Unclamped it roughly 24 hours later, took a look, and was happy with the results. Then I went out a of town for a week. I came back to this.
Where did I go wrong? Old hide glue? Not enough clamping time? Something else?
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That shelf stable hide glue from Titebond is not great stuff. I would not recommend it for use in instrument repairs. If you do not want the complications of using hot hide glue (which does require a bit of a set up and has a fair learning curve), and want an easy off the shelf solution, plain red label Titebond is a much better option. Fish glue will also work, but some people do not like to use it either. I do agree the neck should come off first, and the upper brace probably needs removed as well. Unfortunately at this point, that Titebond hide glue you used will need to be removed and cleaned off as best you can to get a better bond, otherwise it will probably pop apart again.
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Yeah, as mentioned, bad glue. You’ll need to clean off the old glue and use the better tight bond, or, what I’d use if not using hot hide glue, get some fish glue from StuMac. Plenty of open time and very sticky.
But you’ll need to clean up the old glue. Get some sticky sandpaper from StuMac and stick it on a pallet knife and slip it under the brace to clean up some of the old glue.
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Could be a few different things. First one that comes to mind is the adhesive. The titebond hide glue is alright here and there, but it has a fairly short shelf life. It’s easy to but a bottle that has been sitting in the store past it’s shelf life. I tend to avoid it.
Could be that there is just too much tension on the joint. That warped top is fairly extreme. It reminds me of a Gibson brace I did a while back. Cleaned it out, glued it with titebond. Popped loose a day later. Cleaned it out and reglued it with West 105 epoxy and it broke the top. This was on a loose xbrace, at the end near the sound hole. Now if those require a lot of force to clamp down, I glue in a wood wedge to pick up the slack.
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Matt, you would probably be better off removing the neck first, then the fb extension is out of the way .. then remove that upper brace and flatten the top using moisture, flat cauls and clamping pressure. The flat-sawn birch will want to bend again, but when you remove the clamps, immediately reglue the brace and maybe a ‘popsicle’ brace for support.
I’d guess that wrinkling is from high string tension over time. Very common in ladder-braced guitars.
BTW, that neck should come off easily .. I can often get a Harmony neck off w/o any heat 😉
Do you have a neck removal jig ala the StuMac type? ..that’s a big help, too.
Tom
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I have a similar one in the shop right now waiting on a neck reset and has the same distortion at the sound hole. The plan I’m workshopping in my head…is to add additional bracing to the left and right on the sound hole. Basically a partial “A” brace bridging between the upper two ladder braces. I’ve done this once before and it worked great getting the top flatter in that area.
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Sorry I haven’t been on in a while. I’ll have a go at removing the neck then the brace so I can clean it all up, and reglue it with Original Titebond. I’ll try to flatten the top too.
I hear the concerns with the hide glue.
I don’t have the Stew Mac neck removal jig… This will be my first neck removal.
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