Mexican made martin neck removal

[Doc Rathwell]

Hi Kfir,

I’ve never really had issue with these but I’ll go ahead and ask the obvious question first – did you remove the bolt? It’s hidden under the model/serial# tag on the neck block.

Beyond that I would simply suggest to keep at it. I’ve been able to remove them pretty easily with both steam and now adays the foam cutters.

Cheers,

Doc

Edit – Ian let me know he believes through photos you’ve shared with him that the bolt has been removed so perhaps trying to pull outwards by clamping the neck and lightly shifting the body back and forth and pulling outwards. The fingerboard extensions and part of the joint are glued. I believe these are mortise & tenon joints (you should be able to confirm by looking at the specific model on the Martin website) so pulling outwards is another possible solution compared to the upward removal of a dovetail…

Edit Edit – Ian beat me to the last Edit so, yha, what he said…

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

One thing that might help is pulling on the neck in addition to pushing up on it with the neck popper. It’s probably just a mortise and tenon and will pull straight out too. You could put the neck, headstock end, in a vise and pull on the body too.

[Pat DiBurro]

I’m guessing you loosened and removed the bolt behind the ID plate. Most of those neck tenons (M&T, Mex.) were adhered with CA but should release with some steam. Rock the neck, bass to treble slowly to introduce the steam into the mortise.

[Dave Staudte (rhymms with "Howdy") NB Guitar Repair (New Braunfels, TX)]

Holes need to be drilled 1/2″ outside center line.

Buy Pat DiBurro’s book and you’ll never look back, everthing you need to know. Some of the super cheap Mexican Martin’s wer glued up with super glue as well, they will come apart with heat and patience.

C.F. Martin Guitars: A Repair Guide – by Patrick DiBurro: DiBurro, Patrick: 0196288175988: Amazon.com: Books

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

Good catch Holmes !

[Kfir Ozdoba]

Hi

Thank you all, I will give it another shot and see how it works.