Customer Repair - 1967 Guild F212XL (F612 neck) Neck Reset

I mentioned to him that the medium strings (EJ39) are a little stiff tuned 1 step down vs. 2 steps down. Maybe use Light's (EJ38)? He finally decided to stay with the mediums (more tone out of this huge guitar) and tune 2 steps down (DGCFAD), then he can go up and down. Hopefully, the action doesn't drop anymore.

So tonight I changed the tuning to 2 steps down.  And as I predicted, the high G & E strings blew out.  I clamp the strings to a piece of cork behind the nut to keep them from flying and impaling me, and that worked great again, no blood was spilled.  But, the action is a little over 1/16" low E & a little over 1/32" high E. The neck relief is good. The nut action is great. The saddle sticks out .225 @ low oct E & .195" high E.

I started with leveling the 12th thru 15th frets to get rid of the buzzing up there (14th fret hump), but I found my straight edge tipping in the 6th thru 8th fret area, a lot for a few strings.  So I taped the 3rd thru 16th and leveled them all.  It's the only way to get it to play cleanly with low action.  Leveled, crowned & polished the 4th thru 15th frets.

The saddle thickness is .102" on the bass side, .103" in the middle, and .105" on the treble side.  The saddle slot is tapered side to side, you can't put it in backward without forcing it, so I always mark the bottom of the bass side with a "B".  The existing saddle over all height is .22" treble end, .29" bass end, a larger difference than normal.  I sanded the top of the nut to set strings farther out. and filed slight chamfers on the edges of the slots to reduce the chance for string binding. I made new saddle.  It fits great in slot, and sticks out .275" at both E's. Sanded .030" off the whole bottom. Installed the saddle, the remainder of the strings, and tuned 2 steps down, except the G (4 steps down since it's about to blow). The action is a little over 1/16" low E & 1/16" B, I'd expect the high E to be a little lower. The saddle sticks out .23" to the outside of both E's (not the ends). The buzzing is all gone. Nut action and neck relief are good.

Taped & marked tops of 11th thru 16th frets.


The 14" radius x 8" long sanding block.  There's 320 grit sandpaper only on one half, tape on the other.  This allows me to sand a small area and the other end keeps the block level.


The offending high frets are neutralized!!


Then I found rocking in the lower frets.


Sanded to remove the high spots.


Sanded.


Crowned.


Crowned.


Sanded & polished.


Strings back on.






Yea, the saddle is higher than my normal .19", but the saddle fit in the slot is perfect, not forced in, but no shake & no lean. The first time the action needs a 1/64" adjustment, that'll take .03" off, bringing the height back very close to my normal height. There's a lot less tension on the strings tuned 2 steps down, and the second B & high E will not be installed.

I still need to put the new strings on, which will have the string tension of 2 more strings and one tuned up further. That should increase the action slightly. And I will check the action at 2 and 1 step down. I'll know more tomorrow.