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Last ditch effort
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Rowdee |
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Joined: October 2015 Posts: 2 | Hi guys. Ive been pursuing this problem for quite some time and came back here, hopefully to get it solved. I have several guitars and I bought an Ovation cc44 (celeb) almost 21 years ago to drag around to places I wouldnt take my good ones. A real workhorse and it has had a good life. The building I lived in burned a year ago and this guitar was in the place. Didnt burn, but the freezing cold and wet had some effect on the neck and the truss rod is frozen. Tried to turn it, but the 5mm head stripped and now, gotta remove the neck and try to save it some. Sentimental really. I have other much nicer ones. So, Heres what Im hoping for.... to determine how neck is attached and best way to remove/replace it. Im a master cabinetmaker and woodworker and more than qualified to do this. But, Im good because I research everything before any hands on. Saves a lot of trouble. Does anyone have a clue if this is a dovetail attachement? And.. where can I get a replacement truss rod? You wouldnt believe how many places Ive been and people Ive asked about this. Just need a little info and help. Thanks so much ahead of time. | ||
Mr. Ovation |
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Joined: December 2001 Posts: 7210 Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Hi Rowdee, I've updated you to full member and moved this to the general forums area where more people can respond. | ||
arumako |
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Joined: October 2012 Posts: 1018 Location: Yokohama, Japan | Rowdee - 2019-11-10 2:38 AM Didnt burn, but the freezing cold and wet had some effect on the neck and the truss rod is frozen. Tried to turn it, but the 5mm head stripped and now, gotta remove the neck and try to save it some. Sentimental really. Welcome to the OFC Rowdee. I'm just a hack; so, I hope you don't mind my chimming in. Pro-repair guys and luthiers refuse to work on Os out in my neck of the woods, so I've had to develop some minimal technique to keep my Os in playable condition. The folks here at the OFC really helped me to acquire the necessary skills, so you're definitely in the right place! Know what you mean about sentimental value too, and your CC44 definitely sounds salvageable. About removing the neck. Celebrity necks are assembled to the bowls with copious amounts of adhesives. Yours is a Mid-Depth bowl and is probably like my CC247. The neck cavity probably looks like this, Â The sides of the neck joint fit snuggly (often times with shims) in this psuedo precise dovetail-ish joint; however, the holding power comes mostly from adhesives, as can be seen by the next photo. All that yellow stuff around the neck block is the glue. Usually, an epoxy of some kind. It takes quite a bit of heat to remove the neck, but because the neck joint's imprecise fit, it is not that hard to get the neck off. Lots of time and patience required, but I've never had to resort to steaming (in the traditional sense anyway). There are some threads that deal with neck removal in the OFC/BFLG forum (including this CC247), and so I'd take a look there for more details. About the Truss Rod. Since you're gonna be removing the neck from the bowl anyway, you might want to wait on purchasing a new truss rod. You can cut a straight groove in a stripped female hex nut and convert it, so that a minus head screw driver turns it. If it doesn't work, Stewmac sells replacement truss rods for reasonable prices. The above neck for my CC247 was cleaned up and converted to a bolt-on neck. The conversion enabled me to correct the guitar's neck/bridge alignment, intonation, and secured the neck joint for good. If the neck ever needs to come off again for whatever reason, the removal will be a cinch. The guitar feels much more solid, and while it's no USA Ovation, it certainly is one of the best sounding/playing Celebritys around here. Hope this helps! Good luck with your project, and keep us posted as to your progress! Edited by arumako 2019-11-11 3:38 AM | ||
Rowdee |
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Joined: October 2015 Posts: 2 | Thank you arumako for the look at your guitar and the info. Ive been at this for a long while and this is great. As a master craftsmen, its appaling to see the poor quality of work they put in to these things. But, thats why theyre cheap. You converted to a bolt on system. Did you use T-NUTS to anchor them? Looks like good quality stainless bolts. Thtas how I would go. Also, some anti sieze. About the truss rod, thtas a good idea to slot the head to twist it out. But, if its REALLY stuck, Im guessing it beconmes a whole new issue. As far as the glue, what did you actually do to loosen it? I will post up in the other section and maybe get some more tips from them. But thanks again for the help. Its an eye opener. | ||
Love O Fair |
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Joined: February 2016 Posts: 1769 Location: When?? | @arumako - >>>I'm just a hack<<< You're far, far too modest, Ken! An accomplished Ace is more like it :-) Okay, carry on. | ||
seesquare |
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Joined: November 2002 Posts: 3599 Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Rowdee, about getting the neck loose, search through the BFLG forum for the "boiling bag" method. Essentially, you heat up all that epoxy with hot bags of H2O, then carefully press the neck out of it's dovetail joint. Requires a specialized jig to accomplish this feat, also, since the body is round, not flat, on the backside.. "Okay, carry on." | ||
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