@nsj

Hi Neil, did you get the wood from a reputable tonewood supplier or a reputable timber merchant? You can get great bargains from timber merchants but the pieces may need to be left longer to dry out. 

Almost everything is fixable. I'm not the most experienced builder here but I'm sure you can re-level it again although I think you might have to get the frets out and re-radius the finger board. If you can get the fingerboard off you could insert titanium rods either side of the truss rod for a bit more stability. 

Good luck with it all.

🙂🎶🎸🙏

@nsj

Can I fix this? Is it worth it? Is it likely to just remain an unstable piece of wood?

I made the cap for my first build from a piece of warped mahogany that had been the floor from a boat. I soaked it with boiling water then clamped it flat, put it in a black bin bag and left it in the sun for a day (we had a summer that year). I think I did that twice until settled down flat when it dried out. Its been fine since then, having said that its glued to pine body that'll help to hold its shape. It might worth steaming the neck and twisting it straight and see if it stays there.

@nsj I would personally go with what @russ said. Wood movement is common but I would not want to introduce more water into it. It was more likely that it was just some internal tension in the wood. With my last build my neck took a warp when my workshop had a flood. After I knew it was dried again, I had to relevel it and it has been good and flat ever since. In this case I personally would just remove the frets, do the fretboard level and radius again, and refret. I would think that would be good. I don't think I would remove the fretboard to put stiffing rods in at this point. From the look of the pics I think a fretboard level would take the twist out. 

@russ yeh bud, proper reputable supplier and first time I've had any issues, ironic lol

@robin I think a cap is ok, has the rest of the body wood to keep it in line. Pesky necks are the issue, nothing to clamp to to hold them in line

@bpower it's a pretty thin neck and I'd have to level the back too I think, also if I just level the board I think there will be a definite curved join line up the side.

Got the fretboard off, levelled the neck with my long fret levelling beam. Maybe I'll tidy the back of the fretboard and reglue, see how it goes.

Ok operation new neck is under way, the decision has been made. Birdseye maple again with ebony board

@nsj 

Ok operation new neck is under way, the decision has been made.

Look on the bright side, you get to do one of the fun parts again. I think carving the neck is my favourite part of guitar making.

I think that was the right choice - make a new neck.

The risk with levelling the old one and remaking it is that the - now thinner - neck could be even more susceptible to moving again.  Leave that piece for a while (months) and see if it's settled down, or whether it preferred its future career to be firewood rather than neck wood!

😉

Fingers crossed the new one works out better - no reason why it shouldn't.  Timber is a wonderful material, and sometimes an incredibly frustrating material.  Every piece can have its own beauty or its own (hidden) faults. 

@robin Yep and using new methods I've picked up watching Mark's vids! I much prefer the look of his carving method and also I'm buying a 450mm radius beam in the new year.

Normally I do all the measuring a gazillion lines to make a bunch of facets but the way Mark does it is so much simpler

@tv101 I'm going to chop the headstock off to use as a template and burn the rest! I'm happy to go thin, I've done less than 20mm at the first fret with zero issues but that one can go spin lol

Been looking at stain to help the birdseye maple pop a little, it's very pale with no colour. I think this amber tint looks like it's the way to go. I use oil based satin polyurethane thinned with white spirit on necks, nice thin finish that feels great. I added a bit of the amber stain to it on an offcut from the warped neck. Needs to tie in with the black limba body which I think it sort of does.

Operation new neck is fully under way, I can do the carving etc but I'm going to buy one of those crazy long radius blocks like Mark uses to do the radius and levelling out of the board.

New radius beam is great! I'm almost done and it's only taken minutes

And just like in Mark's build a guitar video it's taking out high spots etc

Operation new neck is almost done, a bit of finish sanding then onto the actual finish. Abalone fret markers, hosco glow in the dark side dots. Got the frets in last night.

Used a bit of amber stain mixed with the thinned down polyurethane, just enough to make it pop

Was reassebling this fella with it's lovely new neck

Then I noticed this!

I know it's in my little room somewhere but the place is a tip! FFS! 🤣 

ugh good luck finding that little block :-/ Maybe a good idea to see if you can find spare parts for this?