Gibson horror stories

[Greg Steil]

Would anyone have 70's Gibson neck reset stories to share? I do have the AL issue with Mr. Calkins article.

[Michael Lewis]

I did a reset on a "Gibson" that I would not like to repeat. The key indicator was the smooth swoopy bridge, not the standard bridge with distinct 'wings' like an earlier Gibson or a Martin bridge. Also the heel cap area of the neck was at an angle, so it was impossible to apply a clamp to help lift the neck out. the dovetail tenon was flared as one would expect, but it was straight (parallel) from top to bottom, which meant it was a real job to fight it all the way out of the mortise. The problem stems from a well fitting joint when dry, then adding steam that swells the wood and makes it tighter. Much of the upper bout began to lose structural integrity from all the steam that was applied to get the neck out. It was a real wrestling match and I just barely won. I almost destroyed that guitar in the process and I was trying to be careful.

Today I took in a sibling of that guitar, (square shoulder D) with a crack along side the fingerboard into the sound hole. This is a serious structural issue, and the guitar will likely be a bit heavier when it leaves my shop.

Gibson F5 mandolin from '77. Left in a car in Los Angeles in the summer, with full string tension. I found out those neck joints are straight mortise and tenon glued together with hot-glue-gun glue. Very difficult to take apart but easy to put together. I never want to do another one.

The compound dovetail (standard Martin style ) is much easier to deal with all the way round. The problem with Gibson is they used both styles of dovetail, starting with the compound style and later going to the straight style, and back and forth even later. Gibson is like a box of chocolates, ya never really know what yer gonna get.