Removing a Guild neck is really tough...

Oh man, I didn't know what I was in for today. That is probably good. I'm not sure I would have bothered otherwise.

So, this torture device is what I use to push a neck out of a guitar.

Clamp it around the body...

And it is ready to go!

I'm working with steam - gloves and safety glasses are a must. These are my cheap Harbor Freight mechanic's gloves.

My steam maker (an old espresso machine) is ready to go.

Lots of steam!

Whoo! So much steam that I fogged up the camera lens!!

The next five minutes were torture. I steamed the heck out of the joint, but could NOT get it to let go. I thumped the neck around, wiggled it, moved the needle all over, and finally it popped off. 

That white area is haze from steam hitting the finish. Not a good look, and it will be permanent if I leave it.

Bring out the alcohol! This is the good stuff, from Sherwin Williams.

A few wipes with alcohol, and it looks a whole lot better.

A bit of a crack in the sides from removing the neck. Not bad, really. The neck block is NOT cracked, so I can just give this a touch of glue and clamp it shut.

Egads - no wonder this was so hard to take off. That is a LOT of surface area glued down, and there is no way steam could reach most of it.

Now the neck just looks silly. And sad.

I figured I should get that pickguard fixed now, since I had time. I used standard carpenter's yellow glue.

Squish it down, and wipe away the excess glue.

This set of cauls is made for just such a guitar and pickguard. Guild used the same style bracing and guard on quite a few dreadnaught-style guitars during this era.

More squeezeout.

I clamped it up really well, and squeezed out as much glue as possible. Then I took it back apart and cleaned it up again, so that I wouldn't have much left to clean when I was done.

I also added my wax paper, so that the caul wouldn't stick.

Now I could finally see how close the donor neck was to fitting. The joints looked similar, so I was feeling pretty good about it. 

The dovetail sits a little proud of the top, which is great. It means I can adjust the neck to fit correctly with very little shimming.

But - uh oh. That heel isn't even CLOSE to being the right size. It is much smaller than the original, and the neck is narrower too.

CRAP! This neck might work, but it will take a lot of refinishing and touch-up, and I still have to deal with the fingerboard issue. Now my debate over which neck to use is even more difficult. I can try to make the donor neck work, or I can try to repair the old neck and make it work. Neither option is easy. No matter what, there is a lot of finish work to do.

The course of action, though, is still pretty clear - continue working on the body of the guitar, cleaning and refinishing it as needed. I might as well do the finish work around the heel area, it will look better no matter what option I choose for the neck.

Meanwhile, I will probably continue to disassemble the original neck, and see about rebuilding it.