1968 Gibson Les Paul Bass Prototype restoration

[Basvarken]

Wow! Fabulous job. Can you provide additional information on getting the neck out, like how large/hot an iron you used and for how long and where? Did you heat just the end of the neck, or did you also heat the sides where the neck fit into the heel? The "common practice" seems to be to remove a fret, drill a hole or two, and inject steam through the hole(s) to soften the glue. This looks like an interesting alternative.

How did you determine the amount of wood to remove from the heel to get the angle right? I believe the recommended "pitch" is supposed to be fifteen degrees or something like that.

I used an old soldering iron. I have no idea how hot it gets ;-)
And I used a damp cloth to prevent the wood from scorching. And to generate steam that I hoped to work into the seams.

I heated from all sides where the neck meets the body. So inside the routed part at the end of the neck. All three seams. And from the top on both sides of the neck. And on the sides and back too.
The neck joint area is rather small. So I figured the heat would get in deep enough to soften all the glue.

I did not want to take out a fret because I was afraid to damage the fretboard.

The neck angle was determined by constantly checking with the ruler and the bridge in place. This one definitely does not have a 15° pitch.
I chose not to install the mute. If I had mounted the mute, the angle would have been a little bigger maybe.

 

[Basvarken]

Same here, can't see any pics after the first post

You can check my site for the entire story. Same pics, same text.
Gibson Les Paul Prototype

 

[Flying B]

You can check my site for the entire story. Same pics, same text.
Gibson Les Paul Prototype

Thanks. Really nice job, that's a special bass.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Wow! Fabulous job. Can you provide additional information on getting the neck out, like how large/hot an iron you used and for how long and where? Did you heat just the end of the neck, or did you also heat the sides where the neck fit into the heel? The "common practice" seems to be to remove a fret, drill a hole or two, and inject steam through the hole(s) to soften the glue. This looks like an interesting alternative.

How did you determine the amount of wood to remove from the heel to get the angle right? I believe the recommended "pitch" is supposed to be fifteen degrees or something like that.

Around 15 degrees could be the headstock angle depending on the era. The neck to body angle is typically 1 to, at most, 3 degrees.

 

[flannel cat]

thats just classy.....great thread!...You can see that bass just smiling from the love.