Workshop: Crunched Neck Block

This is a customer's old Gurian guitar and it has the classic "failed neck block" damage. Not only has the block loosened from the top, a crack opened up and that section of the top slid forward into the soundhole.

The problem with this kind of damage is that it can be tricky to repair it in a way that will ensure that it won't happen in the future. The most obvious thing to do, once you've got the block pushed-back to where it was in the first place, is to install some sort of oversize popsicle brace support. In most modern guitars, however, there's already a popsicle brace installed (as in this case).

To make matters more annoying, neckblocks almost always tend to be too small to support necks the way they should (and the way people abuse them). This neckblock ends on the "inside" of those two bone bits.

You can see that there's not much "grab" of the top beyond the damaged section. So instead of relying just on the top to hold the block in place...

...I've cut two rosewood blocks that will "extend" the neckblock itself to the brace above the soundhole and butt between it and the block. At the same time this will help me leverage the joint back to its proper location as they clamp-up.

Here it is all in position! The best bit is that when I took all this off everything was lined-up perfectly. Now I just need to get to fixing the neck's woes...