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  #1  
Old 02-23-2012, 07:09 PM
gaijintendo gaijintendo is offline
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Default Repair advice - is it worth the effort?

A friend bought this guitar in a charity shop for the Grovers that were on iit (not the original tuners). It is a bit of a mystery. Clearly it was a project guitar that someone gave up on.

The neck had been sanded, and bits are coming off around the edges of the 17th fret area, and someone has drilled (but not uniformly) holes to add dots.

The soundboard is cracked, but could be reinfoced - it could probably make do, and it looks like the pickup and amp are recent additions. But the bridge is way too high, and the neck seems gone. I was worried about breaking it when tightening the truss rod.

I think if I refretted, put some dots in, varnished the neck, and plonked on some tuners, it would still be largely unplayable... Can anyone offer me any advice? I can't afford to spend much on the thing, and I am an absolute novice when it comes to such work.

I put the photos up on Flickr, as I am not sure where to host them:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaijint...7629440371387/

I hace no concept of this guitar's history, value - or whether this (presently a pretty pig of a) guitar is worth the effort. I think it needs a new neck, it is so badly sanded it is practically scalloped on the first fret!

Any suggestions appreciated~

And my second post, sorry to be so needy!

Last edited by gaijintendo; 02-23-2012 at 07:12 PM. Reason: title was a bit general
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Old 02-23-2012, 08:22 PM
gitnoob gitnoob is offline
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Looks like a maple top. It probably isn't going to be very responsive, but it could be a fun project. If you've never done anything like this before, start with that giant saddle. See if you can get the action playable, and that will let you string it up and hear how it sounds.
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Old 02-23-2012, 08:47 PM
Ned Milburn Ned Milburn is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gitnoob View Post
Looks like a maple top. It probably isn't going to be very responsive, but it could be a fun project. If you've never done anything like this before, start with that giant saddle. See if you can get the action playable, and that will let you string it up and hear how it sounds.
Looks like a beautiful instrument. Could have been made with electrification in mind. For an acoustic/electric, the maple top might help avoid bad feedback. It certainly wasn't made for strumming acoustically to fill a concert hall with sound .

Frets are easy to do. (Hard to do well, however.) Can't comment on the bridge unless you take a pic with a straightedge on the neck to the bridge. The saddle, it is true, is really tall.

Cracks are also fairly easy to fix. Main issue would be the neck angle (which may be why the saddle is so tall.)

See if you can check the neck angle...
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  #4  
Old 02-24-2012, 01:52 AM
gaijintendo gaijintendo is offline
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I will see if I can get my hands on a straightedge (and some tuners!) and get some pictures up. Thanks for the practical advice!
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