Yamaha FG-180 Neck Reset

CTGull,
Great news, that's the way to do it.
This is proof you are getting better and more experienced.
In the not to distant future, you will look back, and think to yourself, why did I think this was hard.

Well, 13.5 months later I FINALLY got the neck back on this guitar!!!!

I worked on the neck reset just about every day this week.  As usual, I learned a few things too.

I had a tough time getting the original fret back on the FG-170 so I bought "close enough" fret wire and installed a new one.  I did the same for this guitar, mostly because I could FIND the original fret!!  All the parts were in the bag, except the fret!!  SOOOO, there's a shiny new 15th fret!!

I also used Meguiar's #2 Fine Cut Cleaner to remove most of the haze in the finish around the heel, caused by the hot steam when removing the neck.  It did TOO good of a job!!  It made the area so shiny I was forced to clean the whole guitar!!

I won't know how it sounds for a few days. I will be cleaning the fretboard and polishing the frets. There's a ding in the lower side of the fretboard that I'm going to try to fill first.

A missing fret might look funny. A fret sticking up an extra .02" (0.5mm) will cause buzzing.

 
IT'S DONE!!!!  It may not be the best looking guitar but it sounds pretty good!  Great projection and resonance, especially with used strings.  Maybe a little boomy, but I've been used to the OM size lately.

New TUSQ 1.44" string spacing nut.  Corian saddle.  Action 5/64" low E, 1/16" high E.  Saddle sticks out of bridge. .17".  Strings 15/32" above the top of the guitar.

THANKS!!!  It may not be the best guitar I've ever heard, but it's up there.  It's everything I've heard about the FG-180.  It's certainly the best sounding $20 guitar!!!

The hard part about the neck reset is it's a guessing game, wondering how much to take off the heel.  I do my neck projection thing and hope my guess results in the right amount of saddle sticking out when I set the action after gluing it back together.  I shoot for .15" +- .03".  So .17" is a little high but good. 

It may settle a little in the next week.  This guitar hasn't had full string tension in probably many years.  It had nylon strings on it when I got it over 15 months ago.  Before that it was sitting in a closet.  I'll give it a couple weeks before finalizing the setup and putting new strings on it.

That guitar really looks good. Now, what is the next project? (Tongue firmly planted in cheek) LOL!!