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Post by snakehips on Feb 15, 2021 8:02:47 GMT
Hi again !
The neck, the fretboard and even the nut are all a one-piece moulding. This is quite a hassle if the end of the nut is knocked & chipped off. You can’t easily fit a new nut.
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Post by Michael Messer on Feb 15, 2021 9:01:59 GMT
Hi again ! The neck, the fretboard and even the nut are all a one-piece moulding. This is quite a hassle if the end of the nut is knocked & chipped off. You can’t easily fit a new nut. ...and the frets. Everything is one piece of moulded bakelite. Bakelite neck steel bodied National guitars sound amazing, but this material is so toxic that it is dangerous to attempt any type of repair. I once drilled a hole for a strap button in a bakelite Rickenbacher and the acrid brown smoke filled the house in a few seconds. It was unbelievably toxic. Shine On Michael
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Post by Pickers Ditch on Feb 15, 2021 9:46:33 GMT
Ah Bakelite, wonderful material used for/in worktop laminates, printed circuit boards, electrical components/appliances including knobs, plug tops, switches, insulators, fountain pen barrels, guitars, radio and amplifier cases, picture frames etc. etc. A thermoset plastic made from filled cross linked phenol formaldehyde resins - nasty stuff in it's uncured state, but if treated with respect and worked properly you would be OK. I worked with the stuff for a fair few years in my early twenties - I'm still alive fifty odd years later and have just had my first Covid vaccination. It's a bit like resonator guitars - if you don't know what you're doing don't bu88er about with it, leave to an experienced expert to deal with it or repair it.
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Post by resotonic on Feb 15, 2021 16:57:43 GMT
Hi there ! Of the ones I have played, I didn't like the thin neck on the Bakelite necks - just as wide as other Nationals but thin from the underside of the neck to the surface of the fretboard. I think, Alex, you would come out through the underside, or nearly, if you tried to plane an upturned, banana'd Bakelite neck flat !!! Would you say the profile of the Bakelite neck would be similar to an electric Ibanez or Epi guitar? Anything thinner would be a major adjustment from a National. I am interested in a '29 for sale on the 'net & trying to get impressions beforehand. Thanks for the info guys!
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