Yup...only TWO bolts.
OK…I guess you guys want a visual…..
These are my vintage 1973-74 Swedes. The cherry colored one (next to the black one) is the one that I just worked on and used some glue to set the neck joint better. The other two are natural colors. The light honey blonde one the left is my original Swede that I purchased new in 1974.
The darker one on the right I ended up refinishing because it had too many cosmetic issues when got it, and it actually came out great. I sanded, but someone else sprayed on the lacquer, and we also added a touch of red stain to the wood just the deepen the color. For a guitar that saw little play (the frets are like-new)…it sure had some cosmetic issues, and also the bridge posts had been forced way deep into the body…so I had to pull them out and build up the holes so the posts sat at the correct position. That came out real good.
I know some folks are always worried about touching even a single rusty screw on an older guitar...but I like to fix what needs fixing and give 'em a good spit-n-polish and make them presentable and playable rather than just treat them like some relic that shouldn't be touched. Heck, some people won’t even remove the dirt-n-grime off of a vintage guitar. YUK!
The cherry and black one didn't get any kind of serious work done on them (other than the neck thing I just did). The black one came to me in excellent condition, and I got it for a really great price...less than half of what they usually go for at resale. AFA the rest of the parts…all four are stock with all original hardware.
I just redressed the frets on my original honey blonde, which probably has seen the most play out of all four. I did a lot of gigs with that guitar, and it has a lot of dings to show for it….but I’m going to leave that one as-is. I also did a light fret dressing on the cherry…since who ever owned/played it before, must have spent all their time playing only within the first 5 frets!
There was some fret-chew that needed to be removed.
Anyway...to get back to the neck joint...
I don't really want to pull one open right now of the other three that are not glued in, as they are all strung up with fresh strings and recently adjusted...but maybe the next time I work on one I will take a picture of the actual neck joint. It's interesting how the Swedish luthiers did it, considering it's only a 2-bolt. There is a thin lip at the base of the joint socket on the body, so when you put the neck in, it actually compresses in a bit as the lip makes the socket narrower at the bottom, and that’s the main contact point.
I think the problem with the cherry neck was that the previous owner(?) put a couple of thin plastic shims at the base, to
raise up (??) the whole neck, and over time that caused that lip to open up at its upper edges, plus the plastic shims were creating a more slippery surface. I pulled all that out, and put the neck back where it should be, but I think the minor damage to the socket was already done.
It's fine now...the neck is correctly aligned and no more cracking noises. She plays like butter now, especially with the fret re-dress.
