Double Bass About using heat blankets to unseat a neck so it can be reset

[GretschWretch]

A few weeks past @KUNGfuSHERIFF submitted a post about using hear blankets to soften the glue for a neck removal, as an alternative to the steam approach. This sounded like a viable option and I purposed to try it. Only when I went shopping at my local general merchandise stores I realized I had no idea what I was looking for.

I know what an electric blanket, like what our grandparents put on their beds in winter, is and I knew SHERRIFF was not talking about those. While I was shopping all I saw was heating pads, like what you would put on your back after playing a four-hour show with a Peavey T-40. Are these the same thing as a heat blanket? Or will I have to get a specialized blanket from Stew-Mac or someplace like that?

And how many blankets, one or two? And placed where -- just over the glue join or further up the neck as well?

If I am going to do this I want to be sure I do it right.

 

[stefaniw80401]

I have a similar question, but I want to replace a fingerboard. I think we need to be looking at a specialty product that's long to cover the the length of the FB, but for the neck don't, I bet a regular pharmacy brand heating pad would work. You'll want to fold it in half at least and then there's the matter of wrapping the heat tight enough to be effective. On the FB, it would seem easier to wrap the pad down than on the neck root.

 

[JBarz]

PVC bending silicone blankets. The more expensive, the bigger and better. (Full disclosure, I had no luck and returned the one I had, but I suspect I didn't wait long enough)

https://www.amazon.com/CURRENT-Heat...ywords=pvc+heat+blanket&qid=1651878018&sr=8-4

 

[GretschWretch]

I should have clarified in my initial post. This project is an EB not a DB. I posted here because KfS introduced the idea of these blankets in a DB thread.

 

[BassFalcon]

A long time ago I was involved in guitar luthiery. We started off doing acoustic bridge removal with a hot plate to heat up an iron that was basically a block of aluminum with a wood handle. Then the guy I worked with bought the specialized stew Mac bridge heater, the silicone pad type with the thermostat and the timer. It made that job 100x quicker and easier. I'm not sure a standard "medical" heating pad would get hot enough. For neck removals we had a jerry rigged espresso machine with a hose and a small copper pipe that the guy that ran the shop before us used, he'd drill a hole around the 12th fret and shoot it full of steam. I don't think we ever used that though. I think the silicone pads are worth it though, they really make it very easy. Best of luck!

 

[Steven Ayres]

I expect that results will vary depending on how old the adhesive is, among other factors.

 

[Ketbass]

So I did this successfully with a household iron on medium low setting and a couple of dry cotton rags on the finger board of my fretless Carvin LB-75. You don't have to heat the whole board at once. Just do 12" or so section until it lets go under some light pressure of a stiff putty knife. Once that section is free work up the FB sliding your putty knife along as you go. Keep the iron moving though and don't leave it in one spot to long. And be patient.

The project was to replace a shot truss rod but I had to make one as Carvin made there own back in the day with some rod and nuts. I snapped the nut end off trying to get more out of the spent rod.

A note: Carvin's have a small pin on the underside of the fingerboard that aligns to a hole in the neck so that you can realign the fingerboard properly. Not all basses have this, so make sure you make some sort of a tick mark on both the neck and the fingerboard so you know where it goes back, exactly.

 

[james condino]

15th fret removal and drill a hole for guitar neck removals, not the 12th! The idea is to hit the gap at the dovetail, not to blast a hole in the working part of the neck....

GW: I have 17 different heat blankets in the shop that I use almost every day. You know that my telephone still works well, right?

 

[gerry grable]

15th fret removal and drill a hole for guitar neck removals, not the 12th! The idea is to hit the gap at the dovetail, not to blast a hole in the working part of the neck....

GW: I have 17 different heat blankets in the shop that I use almost every day. You know that my telephone still works well, right?

I have been thinking about heating my bass bow with a heat gun to try to get a little more camber (is that the word?) in the old French bow. Now this thread has given me a possibly safer method. Am I on the right track ?

 

[stefaniw80401]

So I did this successfully with a household iron on medium low setting and a couple of dry cotton rags on the finger board of my fretless Carvin LB-75...

So was it originally put on with hide glue? Did you get a clean release, or did you get any splintering of the maple neck or FB? I assume you scraped both surfaces clean before regluing.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

This is dangerous and I don't recommend it, but I've recambered cheap bows I had no emotional or financial attachment to by heating them over an electric burner, overshooting the camber I wanted, and shocking the bow into stability by cooling it in a freezer.

 

[Ketbass]

So was it originally put on with hide glue? Did you get a clean release, or did you get any splintering of the maple neck or FB? I assume you scraped both surfaces clean before regluing.

It came away quite clean but I actually very carefully sand an clean both sides. The only other snag is the FB expands slightly and I had to sand it back smooth to the neck after re-gluing on both sides. I believe I read that going into the project. That end of the repair worked fine, the truss rod rebuild not so much. But I figured I would give it a whirl. Older Carvins are notoriously bad when it came to the truss rods. My other fretted LB75 did the same thing, but I just play it when it can played. When the weather changes, back in case it goes!