1973 Yamaha FG-200 Neck Reset

13 months after I steamed the neck off this guitar I've gotten back to finishing the neck reset. I had to take a huge .090 wedge off of the heel to bring the neck angle back into the playable range. Since the saddle was so low, I made a new one. The next step is to glue shims to the neck dovetail and carefully sand them to get the neck to fit tightly in the body dovetail. I'm hoping to finish this in the next 2 weeks. Then start another neck reset on another vintage Yamaha. I have 5 more waiting.

It's done!!! Sort of.

After putting the old strings on after the neck was glued on I found the action was a bit lower than what I simulated by clamping the neck to the guitar during the neck reset process.  So I needed to replace the saddle I had made with a slightly higher one.  I made a new saddle about .06 higher than the first one, to be safe, figuring I needed about .03 more. Cleaned & oiled the fretboard & bridge. Reamed pin holes. Didn't ramp bridge for reasons shown below. Installed Elixir Mediums, because somehow I have 3 sets, I'm sure I got 1 set at a Taylor Road Show, the other 2 are a boxed double set, from where... The action is about 1/64" higher than I want, about what I expected. Unfortunately I overset the neck slightly. The saddle is .25 above the bridge, though .03 will have to come off. So .22", more than the .15/.17 I wanted. About .06 more, .02 at the heel. I had clamped it up and strung it up. It should have been closer. The pin holes are set back far enough to keep the break angle good, so I should be OK. It just looks a little weird. At least it won't ever need a neck reset again!!! Plenty of saddle!!!  Maybe in a month or 2 it will settle in and need an action adjustment.

The medium strings almost give it a Martin growl.  Yea, it sounds pretty good.  The sleeper I expected it to be.  Not bad for $35!!!!






The fretboard extension dips down because of how much I took off the heel to reset the neck angle.

CTGull, Brilliant, well done, you must get far more satisfaction from a guitar like that, that you have worked on and personalised, compared to just walking in a shop and buying one.
Well done again, keep up the good work.

Thanks! That's why I do it! :?) I have another 5 vintage Yamaha'so waiting for neck resets with another on the truck (UPS). I'd like to get most or all of them done this Winter.

And there's a possibility it could turn into a business. Vintage Yamaha's are supposedly impossible to do a neck reset because they use epoxy or some "Asian mystery glue". I've proved that wrong on the first one, hopefully my luck continues. It's possible they missed the pocket to inject the steam. I've 3D modelled the joint so I know exactly where to drill. I will document every neck I take apart to see if they're all the same.