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Now that we have the neck nice and strong with the addition of an aluminum beam it is time to profile and shape it.  As mentioned previously we want to make this a comfortable neck to play but stay true to a Gibson 30s  shape.  We worked closely with the owner of the guitar and decided on a 1 13/16" nut width and a soft V profile.  We have a nice mid 30s L-00 that was used as a guide for the profile.  The rest is left to the skill and experience of Tom in carving a...

In the third step of our conversion of a 1935 Gibson Roy Smeck Stage DeLuxe we will install the neck support. 

The first step is carefully laying out where the 1/2" aluminum tube will go.  As you can see in the above photo Tom has marked the neck with the location of the channel.  The neck is firmly clamped in place and the truss rod routing jig is clamped down as well.  The support runs from just shy of the nut right to the end of the dovetail.  Tom prefers a laminate trimer...

 The next step in the conversion of the 1935 Gibson Roy Smeck Stage DeLuxe is removing the fingerboard.  We are converting the guitar for a customer who owns several nice 30s and 40s Gibson guitars.  Working with the customer we have decided to keep the neck profile period correct.  The shape will remain a V just like the Spanish style guitars from 1935.  An often overlooked aspect to converting a Hawaiian guitar to Spanish is the size of the neck.  We have seen many conversions where the neck was left at original heft and thus not very comfortable...

In the 1930s Hawaiian music was tops in popularity.  The ukulele and lap-steel or Hawaiian guitar was everywhere.  The very first electric guitars were built for Hawaiian style slide playing.  All the big guitar companies, including Gibson  of Kalamazoo Michigan, built several guitars specifically for slide playing both acoustic and electric.  Most of the acoustic models were similar to Spanish guitars in their look but featured several significant structural differences.  Gibson-made Hawaiian guitars have necks that join the body at the 12th fret instead of the 14th.  The necks are wider and fatter and often do not have a truss rod....

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