Did you know that heaters are used to repair and maintain guitars?
Guitars must be maintained regularly. According to professional craftsmen who handle repairs, depending on the condition, disassembly work may be necessary, and in that case, having a device that can work efficiently can be a great help. A heating device called a neck iron can help with this.
We also often receive inquiries and orders for heaters that can be used to repair acoustic guitars. Therefore, we would like to introduce neck irons (neck heaters) that are useful for guitar repair and maintenance.
Guitars need to be repaired for warping caused by aging.
Even if you are not familiar with guitars, you are probably reading this blog. First, I will briefly explain the names of each part of the guitar and the maintenance needs.
The guitar is a stringed instrument that plays a sound by plucking the strings with your fingertips. A typical example is the acoustic guitar (commonly known as acoustic guitar). When you hear the word acoustic guitar, you may not imagine it, but it is a typical guitar that everyone has seen.
Here, we will simply call the acoustic guitar a guitar from now on.
The guitar is made up of three parts: the body, the neck, and the head (the head may also be treated as part of the neck).
Guitars are mostly made of wood. As time goes by, wood becomes watery due to moisture and other factors. This causes deformation and distortion in the guitar body.
This distortion occurs in the neck area of the guitar. When the distortion becomes pronounced, it will bend in an upper or lower arc perpendicular to the surface on which the string is stretched. This warping is called "neck warping". Neck warping can also occur depending on how you store it and how you handle your guitar.
The neck is an essential part of keeping the strings constant. When a neck warp occurs, the tension of the strings changes, making it impossible to produce the correct rhythm or to produce the unique tone of the guitar. In addition, the neck also serves as a handle, which can make it difficult to play the guitar and cause bad playing habits.
Regular maintenance is essential to ensure that the guitar itself lasts longer and maintains good sound. This is especially true if it is a vintage item that has just been obtained at an online auction.
Neck iron used to repair neck warping
Guitar maintenance can be difficult for amateurs, so it is best to hire a professional contractor or a professional craftsman who runs a workshop. Maintenance can be time-consuming even for professional craftsmen. In particular, it is said that repairing neck warping takes time and effort.
To correct neck warping, adjust the tension of the strings or move a rod called a truss rod built into the neck body. In some cases, the distorted area may be scraped to make it flat.
However, depending on the condition of the guitar, the warping may often not be corrected as expected. In that case, the neck must be disassembled and then repaired. Appliances with heaters are used to disassemble this neck and repair the warping. It is a heating appliance called a neck iron or neck heater.
Neck irons play two roles in guitar repair. The first is heating to remove the wood that makes up the neck. On the surface of the neck, a part called a fingerboard is attached with adhesive such as Nikawa. To repair warped parts, you must carefully peel off the fingerboard. To do this, heat the neck and warm the adhesive to make it easier to remove.
The second is to heat and evaporate the moisture contained in the wood to make it flat. By drying it with a heater, it removes moisture and corrects it to eliminate warping.
The mechanism of the neck iron is not complicated. It is made of aluminum square wood of the same length and width as the neck, and a silicone rubber heater is placed inside.
To correct the warping, place the neck iron on top of the neck and apply corrective force to flatten the warp by fixing it with a clamp. After that, take your time to dry it slowly to remove the moisture.
According to a craftsman who repairs neck warping with a neck iron using our silicone rubber, he used to work with a household electric iron used to remove wrinkles from clothes. The electric iron had a small heating area and could not apply heat uniformly. After I started using a neck iron, I was told that it adheres directly to the entire neck and gives heat evenly. Thanks to this, not only did it become easier to remove the glue, but it also made it easier to correct the warping, which reduced the work time.
To use a neck iron that utilizes a silicone rubber heater, you need a temperature controller that can adjust the temperature. If you can't control the heating temperature, you may burn the lacquer painted on the guitar and, above all, damage the wood. When using a neck iron to repair a guitar entrusted to you by a customer, we strongly recommend that you use it in combination with a temperature controller.
I want to contribute to a job that can play good sound for a long time based on my past achievements.
Neck warping can also occur on various guitars such as electric guitars and bass guitars. And the same goes for other stringed instruments such as violins and cellos.
The neck iron using our silicone rubber heater introduced this time has been ordered for many years and has been featured on the blog.
Thankfully, we are still receiving new orders.
We are proud to be able to contribute to the maintenance of instruments that sound good and that it is a very meaningful job for us. Based on the results of orders received so far, we would like to propose and sell products that include the production of silicone rubber heaters for neck irons suitable for various stringed instruments, as well as related equipment such as temperature controllers. If you are involved in the repair of various stringed instruments, including guitars, and are interested in neck irons using silicone rubber heaters, please contact us.
Please note that our company is only engaged in the manufacture and sale of heaters. We do not accept repairs for musical instruments.
