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#1
12-02-2014, 09:33 AM
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Can this guitar be saved?
Hi
I have a Ryoji Matsuoka no 20 classical guitar, about 40 years old, which I got on eBay for a good price. Only problem is that I have shaved the saddle down as low as it can go and the action is still slightly too high for my liking. If I fret the bottom E at the first and 12th frets, I notice that there is a little more neck relief at the 7th fret than is ideal. Is it possible that after 40 years under tension of the strings, the neck has bowed slightly? And if so, do I just have to live with that? If it was one of my steel-strung guitars, I'd simply tweak the truss rod. Is there nothing that can be done to a classical guitar neck to bring the neck back closer to straight? Or is the problem likely to be that the top of the guitar has bellied upwards with all those years of string tension? It is certainly possible to press the table down and see a noticeable improvement in action. If that's the problem, can anything be done (cheaply!) to ameliorate that? Ideas welcome, guys. This guitar certainly owes me no money, but it's such a nice old thing I'd like it to play at its best. 
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#2
12-02-2014, 12:25 PM
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Can this guitar be saved?
Welcome to the AGF!!! It would be good if you could provide measurements and a few photos. I would suggest you take the guitar to a luthier in your area and have them diagnose the problem. They may suggest a neck reset. It sounds like the guitar has been allowed to dry out and is not properly humidified. The luthier might suggest a few other things to improve the action.
 Glen
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Last edited by scottishrogue; 12-02-2014 at 12:33 PM.
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#3
12-02-2014, 01:02 PM
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Yes, take it to a good luthier/repair shop. Find someone who is skilled with classical (or old Martins without truss rods). If the neck is bowed they may be able to do a heat press and straighten it out. Not sure that a neck reset is an option on a classical with a Spanish heel.
Jack
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#4
12-02-2014, 01:34 PM
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Good advice, take it to a seasoned repair guy. I would think at the very least, they could remove the fingerboard and work with it from there... add re-enforcement and/or maybe a thicker fingerboard....
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#5
12-02-2014, 03:50 PM
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YEs it can be fixed and I have done it for several Spanish guitars. For a guitar like that I would probably opt for a bolt on conversion. That's where you saw the neck right off and reset the angle and then use threaded inserts in the heal with two bolts through the heal block. On good quality guitars you can opt to either have the head block slipped or a shim added under the fretbaord. Slipping the head block is a pretty difficult operation and costly. Adding a shim is much easier but it will very slightly change the feel of the neck, but only very slightly.
The choice of method used depends on the quality of the guitar and it's condition.
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#7
12-07-2014, 10:24 AM
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Others have already given you good advice so nothing to add but........
welcome to the forum. Jumping right in with a good question!!!!!!!!!! Let us know how it turns out.
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#8
12-07-2014, 04:55 PM
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Without photos and/or measurements advice is a shot in the dark.
Loose braces are a possibility if there is as much "play" in the top as you suggest. What you are describing - high action, low saddle - points towards a neck reset or similar operation. If the action is a result of excessive neck bow, one option for correcting it might be what is referred to as "compression fretting". You'd need someone who knows what they are doing both to diagnose the problem and implement the work.
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