Remember this picture?

Last month I wrote an article on Guitar Repairs, specifically repairing a guitar neck on a Fender Resonator guitar with some stress cracks that finally split, causing the neck to bow forward. It had a relief of about 1/8 of an inch. Normally you want a flat neck or less than .015″ relief.

Here is the final product, less wet sanding and polishing. The lacquer I use needs 30 days to cure before I can sand and polish it. Although it is extremely hard to see because of the quality of the products I use.

Guitar Repair: Finished Resonator neck

Sorry for the poor picture. The guitar was restrung with 13 gauge lap steel strings, instead of the 16 gauge strings he was using. The man plays this as a lap steel guitar, although it was not designed to be used in that manner. It is almost unimaginable how much tension is put on the head of the guitar neck of a guitar with 9,10 or 11 gauge strings, let alone 16 gauge.

Lap steel guitars use a rectangular, squared off neck, which is much stronger than the traditional round back neck conventional guitar players use. With this in mind, my customer understood I could not guarantee anything other than 30 days on labor, only with 13 gauge strings. In the future if the neck cracks again, we will locate or I will make or adapt a real lap steel guitar neck to it.

I have rarely had a customer come back for polishing. They tell me the repair on the neck makes the guitar look like a relic, a guitar that has been used a lot! I guess that is a bonus.

I encourage folks who want to play a lap steel guitar to buy a lap steel guitar with the proper neck. As you can see, the proper neck is the most cost effective avenue in this case. Don’t forget, GuitarPlayersCenter is now offering Guitar Repairs putting our precision craftsmanship and lots of ‘love’ in every guitar repair or upgrade we make. Call 8-5 EST @ 1-772-979-2887.

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