My First Heat Bend!

[lbpesq]

I did my first heat bend ... and it worked! 


Two or three years ago, I picked up a 1987 Rickenbacker 330 that had been in a fire.   It may be the only roasted maple Ricky in the world!  I had to clamp and glue the body back together as it had completely separated.   Then I put it away until last weekend when I made time to pull it out and do some work.   The finish on the neck, as well as the face at the two horn tips, had bubbled.  I smoothed out the back of the neck and sanded the finish off the Rosewood fretboard.   I left the bubbling on the face, along with bubbling and scorch marks on the peghead.  When I strung it up there was a lot of relief.   I had to crank the dual truss rods, but couldn’t get the relief down enough.   Upon inspection, there was a significant forward bow in the neck.   I realized being in the fire with the strings at tension likely acted as a heat bend.   So I clamped the neck to slightly back bowed and wrapped a heating pad around the neck leaving it on for a few hours.   I left the neck clamped for three days.   When I removed the clamp tonight, the neck was straight.  Woo hoo!   Now I’m waiting on a Stewmac truss rod to replace one that broke.


Bill, tgo

[rv_bass]

Bill, that’s cool, congrats! How did you clamp it? Did you lay it flat and clamp it in a couple of places to a work bench? Trying to picture it in my head.

[pauldo]

Does the heat loosen the glue, then clamping brings it back to straight, then the glue resets?

[growlypants]

My compliments on your total bravery, sir!

[edwardofhuncote]

Love it when a plan comes together. 

The last one I did was an old tin-bodied upright bass that had been used as yard art. Though the body was blue painted metal, it had a wood skeleton underneath and a maple neck, with a nice pegbox and scroll. We were able to heat press and straighten it, plane some twist out, and refinish. I remember that thing had more rattles to work out than a drawer-full of flatware, and I was never so glad to get one outta' my shop. It was a pretty cool thing though. The customer later had it autographed by all the Riders In The Sky.

*As an aside, (and I have no idea if this is a good deal or not, but it is an interesting coincidence) there is a similar guitar in our local CL right now, Bill. A variation on the RIC 325.  https://roanoke.craigslist.org/msg/d/roanoke-rickenbacker-electro-es16-guitar/7262047276.html



 

[lbpesq]

Bill, that’s cool, congrats! How did you clamp it? Did you lay it flat and clamp it in a couple of places to a work bench? Trying to picture it in my head.

First I used a brass bar and a block of wood I had laying around that were both about 1” thick.  With the guitar laying on its back on the bench, I placed the brass bar across the neck between the nut and the first fret.  I used a cloth between the brass and the wood to avoid any damage.   I then placed the wood block over the neck where it meets the body.     Next I placed my 16” sanding beam on top of the brass and wood blocks, so it was parallel to the neck with the 1” gap between the two.   Finally, I pit a clamp in the middle with one end below the neck and the other above the bar.   When tightened it pulled the middle of the neck up towards the bar.

Does the heat loosen the glue, then clamping brings it back to straight, then the glue resets?

That’s the theory.

My compliments on your total bravery, sir!

Not really that brave.   I had nothing to lose.  Without straightening the neck, this would have been merely expensive wall art!   

Another victim of the fire was the truss rod cover.   Rickenbacker wants crazy money for these and required me to trade in the old melted one.  I wanted to keep it with the guitar as my intention is to have the instrument proudly show off its scars.   So I put the cover between two pieces of pyrex and pit it in the oven to flatten out the semi-melted plastic cover.    The new truss rod should arrive today and I hope to finish it this weekend.

Bill, tgo

[gtrguy]

Pictures, please! I have an old Greco neck-through Rick copy I need to do some work on. Someday...

[lbpesq]

The Stewmac truss rod arrived but was, unfortunately, too thick.  After unsuccessfully searching the net for the right size, I wound up ordering some steel rod stock and a tool and die set.  So I’ll be making my own.  Less than $2.00 a rod!   The project is now on hold pending receipt of the rod.  In the meantime here’s some pics showing some of the fire damage.

Bill, tgo

[peoplechipper]

Are Ricky rods still folded and able to slide out? if so very cool to make your own...

[edwardofhuncote]

I love a good Survivor Guitar story. Cool guitar too. 

[lbpesq]

Are Ricky rods still folded and able to slide out? if so very cool to make your own...

That’s the description I read, but when I went to remove the rod I found that each is just a single steel rod, 5/32” in diameter.   It slides out from the butt of the neck after removing the pickups and bridge to allow a clear path for removal.   Unfortunately, none of the hardware stores in my area carry 5/32” diameter stock, so I ordered some on-line and a tool and die kit to cut 8-32 threads at each end of the steel rod.

Bill, tgo

[kilowatt]

Bill,

Nice work! McMaster Carr and Graingers both stock 3' and 6" lengths of rod stock that can be threaded. Like Greg said, nice to see an instrument be brought back to life.

Regards,
Pete

[gtrguy]

That's going to be nice!

[pauldo]

Simpleton question(s):
The Truss Rod is threaded on both ends?
One end is fixed and the other can be drawn (pulled) in or relaxed to allow the wood and string tension to control the 'relief'?

[lbpesq]

Simpleton question(s):
The Truss Rod is threaded on both ends?
One end is fixed and the other can be drawn (pulled) in or relaxed to allow the wood and string tension to control the 'relief'?

Exactly correct!


So I removed the broken truss rod today.  After seeing it removed I decided to remove the “good” rod and replace it too.   I don’t think truss rods are supposed to look like this:


Bill, tgo