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Guitar Disassembly

March 29th, 2010

Guitar Disassembly
Source: Guitar Disassembly

Guitar Disassembly:

We will be talking about some pretty major guitar repair in this section. Actually removing major portions of the guitar for repair, replacement or access to otherwise inaccessible portions of the guitar is what we are talking about.

Fingerboard Removal:
Removing the Fingerboard can be a agonizing and frustrating event. Fingerboards quite often have to be removed in pieces and replaced. The reasons for removal can be several, from top removal to adjusting a severely bowed guitar neck, or simply replacing a worn out fretboard. See our article on Fingerboard Removal for lots of details.

Guitar Top Plate Removal:
Removal of the Guitar Top Plate is probably one of the more involved guitar repair tasks that you can do. It involves removal of the fingerboard, removal of the wood or plastic binding and finally the removal of the Guitar Top Plate itself.

Reasons for doing so can be to replace a poorly made top on an otherwise great guitar, replacing a severely damaged top, having to completely re-glue the braces, or having to re-glue a top that has come loose from the linings. See our article on Guitar Top Plate Removal for lots of details.

Guitar Back Plate Removal:
Removal of the Guitar Back Plate can result from a destroyed back plate, severely cracked guitar sides, where you need to glue continuous reinforcing strips on the inside of the crack, or access to otherwise inaccessible areas of the guitar through the sound hole, like brace replacements or other major repair work. See our article on Guitar Back Plate Removal for lots of details on this repair job.

Pick Guard Removal:
The Guitar Pick Guard often needs replacement on vintage instruments where the Pick Guard has shrunk and cracked to top or has become loosened. See our article on Removing the Guitar Pick Guard for more information.

Plastic Binding Removal:
Plastic Bindings need to be removed for a variety of reasons including, a binding that has let loose from overheating or dried out glue, severely shrunken binding that is in need of replacement, or the guitar owner requests that a plastic binding be replaced with wood purfling and bindings.

The other major reason for binding removal involves the removal of the top or back plate of the guitar. You need to remove the binding as one of the steps in plate removal. For more information see our article on Plastic Binding Removal.

Wood Binding Removal:
Removal of Wood Bindings are somewhat different than Plastic Bindings. Reasons include, loose bindings, badly damaged bindings, or removal of the guitar top and back plates. For details of this task refer to our article Wood Binding Removal.

Neck Removal:
Removal of a guitar neck is a pretty big undertaking all by itself. The major reasons for this are, the fingerboard needs removal as well as the neck and depending on the construction of the guitar neck joint, this can be fussy work.

If the neck happens to be a bolt-on neck, you are in luck. If it is a dovetail joint – well – not as much luck for you. We will get into the different procedures for each type of neck joint and guide you through the process. For more on this go to our article Guitar Neck Removal.

Bridge Removal:
The guitar bridge is one of the easier elements of the guitar to remove – if done correctly that is. Reasons for bridge removal can be cracked bridge, lifted bridges, bridge too low or removal for replacement of style, relocation and many more things….

Refer to our article on Guitar Bridge Removal for everything you need to know.