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| Hi,
This 1981 1657-7 (I think) seems to be missing the neck bolt. The neck has some damage and is not tight to the body. Can someone confirm that there should be a bolt in the photo? The hole is shallow, and it might be filled with a broken off piece of whatever was there before. Or maybe this body is used for multiple models, some of which are a glue only neck mount? Any ideas on how to approach this repair would be helpful.
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Yes, I think there should be a hex bolt head there. Hard to believe the bolt's head could be sheared off, but anything is technically possible. If that is the case, you may have a devil-of-a-time drilling the stub and using an "easy-out" bit (left-hand thread pattern) to back out the bolt stub. I don't think those bolt-on neck joints are dovetailed, but someone may have glued it in, at some point in its life. So, you may be able to warm up the joint & pull the neck free. Post some more photos, if you can. |
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Location: Pueblo West, CO | As the 1657 has a deep bowl, if it were a bolt-on neck there would be two bolts, not just one.
Does the guitar have a truss rod cover on the head stock?
Some Ovations, such as the 1624 and Parlors, have TR necks glued to SMC bowls. This appears to be what you've got.
WRT the neck not fitting tightly to the bowl, can you wiggle the neck?
Edited by DanSavage 2022-01-10 11:39 AM
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| This guitar does have a truss rod cover and adjustment on the headstock. It has a single bolt hole inside the body as pictured. I removed the strings and the neck does wiggle apart from the body a little.
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| Here is a shot of the body, I can post more photos tonight.
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Location: Pueblo West, CO | Here's what the inside of a 1624 looks like without the neck being glued into place. 
And the outside of the neck pocket. 
In cases, such as the 1624 and Parlor, Ovation glued the dovetail neck to the bolt-on neck pocket using liberal amounts of epoxy.
It looks to me like your Anniversary is also a dovetail neck glued to an SMC bowl. 
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| Scraping a screwdriver in the hole felt like the material there was non-metallic, maybe wood or plastic. Glued on neck seems to be more likely I think. Does that mean a full neck removal and reset is in order? |
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Location: Pueblo West, CO | flanger_man - 2022-01-10 9:40 AM
This guitar does have a truss rod cover and adjustment on the headstock. It has a single bolt hole inside the body as pictured. I removed the strings and the neck does wiggle apart from the body a little.
It sounds like the epoxy softened a little while the neck was under tension of the strings.
This usually occurs when the guitar is left in a car, or next to a heat source such as a heater duct.
It's also possible that the neck got bumped which could cause the epoxy to lose its grip inside the pocket. |
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Location: Pueblo West, CO | flanger_man - 2022-01-10 9:57 AM
Scraping a screwdriver in the hole felt like the material there was non-metallic, maybe wood or plastic. Glued on neck seems to be more likely I think. Does that mean a full neck removal and reset is in order?
Yeah, given the years these were produced, it's probably a TR neck glued to the SMC bowl, like the photos of the 1624 I posted above.
Depending on the gap between the neck and body, as well as the neck angle, you may be able to work some slow-set epoxy into the neck joint, then clamp it while the epoxy cures.
Failing that, the neck will most likely need to come off, heat the epoxy to soften it so it can removed, then glued back into place. |
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Location: Pueblo West, CO | Here's a page on Frank Ford's web site that shows how to check your neck angle.
http://frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/NeckAngle/neckang...
If the ruler falls below the top of the bridge, the neck probably needs a reset. |
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| Thanks Dan, that's really helpful! |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Aw Hell, you made me LOOK!
My 1657 was made in 1978 and has NO BOLTS.
It does have a big block of wood at the neck joint.
Probably not really helpful... But I just wanted to add the mine has No Bolts. 
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Location: Pueblo West, CO | And, I even made me look at mine.
Mine was made in 1981 and like Art's mine has a wood block and no bolts.
Wood block means cloth bowl.
This also means that my guitar was one of the last to use cloth bowls before SMC bowls were phased in across the product line for the MY 1982.
I'd be curious what year @flanger_man's 1657 was made since it has the SMC bowl.
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Location: Indiana | We are nerds.
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Thanks, I resemble that remark! |
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Location: When?? | Unless you ran in certain circles, the olden days consisted of meeting someone at a party or show or somewhere and the O topic would come up.. and from those types of interaction we would gain around 1/1,000th of what we nerds personified reap here on the OFC. Man.. ain't the internet just great!
Edited by Love O Fair 2022-01-10 11:34 PM
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| According to the serial number mine was made in 1981 |
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| Specifically 243###
http://www.ovationtribute.com/Date%20your%20Ovation.html |
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Location: Pueblo West, CO | Isn't that interesting. Mine is 231###, also made in 1981.
Yet, mine has a cloth bowl and wood neck block, yet yours has an SMC bowl and both have the TR neck. |
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Bolt missing on 1657?
