I just completed a neck reset on a 1954 Martin D-28 that had been converted into a D-45 by guitar builder Wayne Henderson in 1976. He did a nice job inlaying all the abalone  but the neck was in bad need of  a reset:

The string height at the 12th fret was about 7/32″ + and the saddle was as low as it could go:

First, I used my trusty old Sunbeam iron to loosen the glue on the fretboard extension.
I found the “Rayon” setting works best.

This is my home-made neck removal jig and  Mr. Coffee steam  machine:

Here it is all apart:

I did all the usual chiseling, sanding, shimming, fitting and gluing and clamped it up:

Now it’s playable again. The string height came down to just under 3/32″ and my new saddle has plenty of height:

This guitar really needs a refret too but the customer decided to wait on that, so I did a major fret dress and crowning. Good enough for now…

So there you have it. Until next time…

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