StewMac HeatStick For Neck Removal – StewMac

StewMac HeatStick for Neck Removal

Remove glued necks with no damaging steam
The HeatStick™ uses the heat of your soldering iron to soften the glue in a guitar’s neck joint for removing the neck.

The HeatStick replaces the old method of injecting steam into the joint, so delicate finishes are spared the damaging effects of hot steam. Use the HeatStick with our Neck Removal Jig or any other neck-removal system.

Thanks to repairman Ian Davlin for inventing this dry heat concept, and to repairman Gene Imbody for adapting it for soldering irons.

Neck joint trouble creates high action
Years of string tension take their toll on a guitar. The pressure distorts the body near the neck joint, changing the neck angle. String action becomes too high to play.

Lowering the bridge saddle compensates for this up to a point, but if the saddle can’t be lowered any farther it’s necessary to remove the neck and reglue it at a corrected angle (a “neck reset”).

Don’t add to the problem! The traditional way to release a glued neck joint is by piping steam from boiling water into the joint. That much water damages delicate finishes, and can loosen braces and neck blocks. That’s why we’ve developed the HeatStick. The HeatStick works well with our Neck Removal Jig.

Specifications

• Heat tempered copper
• Diameter: .125″ (3.18mm)
• Available to fit Solomon or Weller soldering irons
• Includes 2 bits for drilling pilot and access holes

The HeatStick is for acoustic guitar necks with heels that are over 2″ tall, you can also modify it to work for shorter neck joints like electric or archtop necks. The short version is sized for tenon necks like those found on Gibson® Les Paul® or SG guitars. 

The HeatStick was designed to fit:

• Solomon SL-30 Soldering Station
• Solomon SR-965 Soldering Iron
• Weller WES51 Soldering Station

Depending on the type of glue and fit of the neck joint, we found that setting the soldering station on its highest setting yielded the best and fastest results.