I'm attaching a photo of the guitar and a couple more showing areas that appear to be under considerable stress.
In the following photo, there are two areas I'd like you to look at: the reflection line that runs between the sound hole and the inside of the cutaway and on the other side of the sound hole, the reflections in the top surface that appear to show some warpage.
In the following photo, I'm trying to show that same area where the distortion is somewhat evident by the top reflection line in the above photo. When strung up, there is a noticeable and rather severe warpage of the soundboard right there.
My apologies for the blurriness of the photos. I had to shoot without flash because the flash was washing out these reflections and the lighting was dim enough to result in camera shake.
In the third photo above, I'd also like you to note the size of the neck heel reinforcement block showing. There is one of equal thickness that the heel itself is fastened to. I build classicals, I've built only one steel string so far, but it is my experience that steel strings typically do not use such a huge block underneath the fingerboard. This is more reminiscent of classicals, in fact. So, if we just look at the size of this support block, it would seem to me that it would be less likely that the neck would be in need of a reset, yet the stress on the soundboard seems to indicate otherwise. Also, there is essentially no bowing or bulging of the soundboard below the bridge when the strings are tuned to pitch -- in this case, phosphor bronze lights. It is almost totally flat.
When the strings are tuned to pitch, the neck is perfectly straight, but you can see a noticeable angle of the neck with respect to the guitar body. The bridge saddle has no more adjustment left and there is almost no string breakover angle left anymore.
I have tried grabbing the neck with the strings removed and pushing it forward to see if I could feel any give, and I couldn't. It is very rigid. Perhaps if I would have left the strings on, I would have heard it detune somewhat, but I didn't think to do this.
So, it seems to be in need of a neck reset to me. Even though there is no apparent soundboard deflection south of the bridge, it would appear that the guitar is still attempting to fold up on itself north of the bridge.
I guess what bothers me the most about doing a neck reset -- other than the fact that I've never done one before and I feel like I'm in uncharted waters -- is that it seems to be treating the symptoms and is not offering a cure. But then what would a cure be? Removing the top and adding more bracing to it? I think I'd rather do the neck reset, thankyouverymuch.
So now for some questions: does anybody here happen to know what sort of neck joining method Ibanez used with ths style guitar? I kinda doubt its dovetail, but I suppose I could be wrong. The body is only about 2-3/4" deep at the heel and the heel itself is only about 2-1/2". Also, I've been doing some searching on various DIY contraptions for generating and injecting steam into the joint and have come up with a couple of worthwhile ideas that ought to work. But it seems that there are no substitutes for the StewMac jig that actually removes the neck. Sound about right?
Any insights you'd care to offer will be welcome.
