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  #16  
Old 02-12-2018, 03:08 PM
wolfhallow wolfhallow is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wade Hampton View Post
I agree with Todd, the problem points towards incorrect neck set geometry. Unfortunately, there's no inexpensive DIY remedy for it. It needs a neck reset.

If you bought the guitar new, you should take it back to the retailer and proceed from there. Since it's not a super expensive instrument, it might be simplest to trade it in for a direct replacement.

If they won't agree to that, sometimes you can get away with sanding down the top of the bridge itself so that you can lower the saddle even further. But that's a stopgap measure at best, and really not the best practice.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller
I didn't realise it could be something so serious! A neck reset certainly isn't the news I was hoping for. I'm certainly no expert, but things just aren't adding up and perhaps that would be the explanation. I've had the guitar for 5 years from new, and have taken really good care of it. The cost of a neck reset would not be worth it in my case!

If the neck were incorrectly set up, and needed resetting, what would have caused that?
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  #17  
Old 02-12-2018, 04:00 PM
ChrisN ChrisN is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wolfhallow View Post
Do you mean the distance from the fretboard to the low E string at the nut end? That measurement is currently 3mm.
He means from the guitar top to the bottom of the bass E string just before the bridge. Should be 1/2" or so, yours will be lower, I suspect.
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  #18  
Old 02-12-2018, 04:54 PM
ChrisN ChrisN is offline
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Originally Posted by wolfhallow View Post
String gauge is currently .11 - .52. I'm not sure what it came with.

To my eyes the heel looks okay, I don't see anything out of the ordinary, but I'm certainly no expert.

I tried a ruler from the fretboard to the bridge - it fell about 1mm below the bridge.
Your current string gauge is lighter than "light," which means if you had even "lights" on there, your straightedge would be even further below the bridge top.

Why does this happen? Look at the pic in post #11 - over time, guitars made of wood try to fold themselves in half due to time and string tension through "wood creep". It's nature's way. Heavier-built guitars do it more slowly (but don't sound as good along the way), but they all do it eventually. It's nothing you did, or didn't do.

Could also be an improper neck angle at installation - it worked OK when brand new, then became evident/pronounced over time.

Could also be the tech grabbed the wrong-height bridge from the box at assembly - they're supposed to choose the bridge height (from 2-3) that gives the best angle for the way the neck was installed - you can see an example in the Godin factory tour youtube. See vid at 21:15 -



If that's the case, you can pay a tech to shave your bridge and recut the slot (or install a shorter/lower new bridge), saving the cost of a reset, for now, as playability would be restored for a relatively modest price.

If the bridge shave/replacement won't do it and it needs a reset that you can't justify, I'd give it away on craigslist to a newbie student looking to practice 1st position stuff, with the proviso the action was too high for much else. Then I'd find myself another guitar and begin anew (but I'd check that neck angle before I purchased, even new!).

Last edited by ChrisN; 02-12-2018 at 05:39 PM.
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  #19  
Old 02-13-2018, 11:27 PM
meredith meredith is offline
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Both concavity and convexity shown here. Concave at the lower bout, convex at the waist. Just to make it interesting.
EDIT: doesn't look like my photo is showing up... Anyway, just as I said above.
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Last edited by meredith; 02-14-2018 at 03:47 AM.
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  #20  
Old 02-15-2018, 11:35 AM
Casey86 Casey86 is offline
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If you are not sure what the problem is you really should have a good tech look at it.
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  #21  
Old 02-15-2018, 02:26 PM
Earl49 Earl49 is offline
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One thing to keep in mind with the Godin video that Chris posted:
They choose the right bridge thickness for proper action, and then epoxy the neck into the pocket. It is never intended to be practical to do a reset. In Godin's case, their intent is to replace any guitar outright under a warranty claim, rather than mess around with a neck reset costing more than the value of the guitar itself.

I don't know much about the OP's Tanglewood or their warranty policy, but being the original owner a reset may be covered by a factory warranty.
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  #22  
Old 02-15-2018, 02:59 PM
ChrisN ChrisN is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Earl49 View Post
One thing to keep in mind with the Godin video that Chris posted:
They choose the right bridge thickness for proper action, and then epoxy the neck into the pocket. It is never intended to be practical to do a reset. In Godin's case, their intent is to replace any guitar outright under a warranty claim, rather than mess around with a neck reset costing more than the value of the guitar itself.

I don't know much about the OP's Tanglewood or their warranty policy, but being the original owner a reset may be covered by a factory warranty.
Close, but they epoxy the neck first to fix that variable first, then they choose the bridge height that gives the desired action relative to the neck's set point.

I agree that post-2005 Godins (when they stopped using a pure bolt-on neck and when to their version of a "set neck") aren't intended to be reset, but I've got one and I'll do it when the time comes. My process will be similar to the one I used on another old guitar I have that uses a similar set neck scheme (the other one uses a vertical sliding dovetail, as opposed to Godin's vertical mortise/tenon joint).

Godin doesn't glue the heel (held by 2 bolts), so it should be a simple matter to leave the set neck and fretboard extension alone, remove the heel bolts, pull the neck forward a smidge to slide a hacksaw blade in to make a relief cut halfway through the tenon (stopping short of the truss rod) to allow the neck to bend back more easily, then use single-sided sandpaper under the heel to gradually reduce the heel to the desired action height, then re-bolt, pulling the neck back. The keeps the neck solid, avoids chewing up the top to remove the fretboard extension, and retains intonation. Any fretboard hump can be reduced thereafter.

If the neck's removal was desired due to the need for a deeper reset, then, after freeing the fretboard extension and removing the bolts, I would repeatedly apply bags of just-boiled water to the protected fretboard over that joint in order to loosen the epoxy, which unfortunately is mostly on the bottom furthest from the heat. It would take a while, and it might impact the glue holding the fretboard to the neck necessitating a re-glue, but I think it would work.

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  #23  
Old 02-18-2018, 08:09 PM
Mr Fingers Mr Fingers is offline
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I assume that the neck relief has been checked and that the truss rod has been tensioned correctly. I bought a Les Paul Junior with a "bad neck" for low $$$. As often happens, the truss rod had never been adjusted, or even tensioned, and by adding tension slowly, I brought things back into alignment. If a neck has really not been tensioned at all, it can pull way up. I doubt if you'll be so crazy/lucky, but check. I'm afraid I agree with your judgment that the cost of a reset would not be justified. Good luck.
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