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Is my Taylor falling apart ?
So here is the end of the fretboard. Is it cracking or unglued? [emoji51]
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...bcd006d528.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b3ece9901d.jpg |
Taylor fretboard extensions are bolted on from underneath. There is always a tiny gap and they fill it with putty (search for a recent discussion on this very topic).
Your gap looks like it moved. Either your bolts loosened or your guitar is drying out considerably. Confirm your humidity levels, check the bolts and clean up the putty joint. |
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Got it. There is no way to keep humidity under control with just a sound hole sponge humidifier in the gig bag is it ? I live in Minnesota where it’s about to be -20 again for a few days and houses really dry out. |
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Since it's a gig bag, I presume its a Taylor 1xx or 2xx series with a solid top and laminated body? Gig bags do not contain humidity well, at all. |
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Yep it’s a 114. What is someone like me supposed to do build a room for the guitar ? |
Gig bags do not contain moisture very well, since the zipper is a huge porous leak. I find that my dampened sponges dry out 2X-3X as fast in bags compared to those in hard cases. But you could get a large plastic bag and put case, damp sponge and all inside, then seal it up with a couple of folds at the end when not playing. I lead a ukulele club and many instruments are showing humidity distress right now. Ukulele tend to have gig bags or poly foam cases way more often than guitars do. The trash bag trick works well to get them back into shape.
I've never been a fan of sound hole humidifiers. They only provide humidity to the inside of the body, leaving the outside and neck untreated. I prefer to humidify the whole case, or in your situation use a room humidifier. |
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I’m in Minnesota too
What I do in the cold dry winter months is keep my guitars in a closet with a humidifier in there. The humidifier can keep the closet at 50% for about a week no problem. It’s easier to humidify a small space |
Thanks for the tips. Looks like the plastic bag deal will have to work for now. I should get it fixed first I would assume?
If you have a solid wood guitar here in MN, where we have the extreme dry winters, is keeping it in a hardshell case with two of those humidifiers (or even homemade ones) good enough? I was thinking of upgrading the 114 to maybe an Eastman or a 312 but now im worried. |
Humidify it first, then get it fixed -- if it needs it. That is what a competent shop would do before making any repair. The gap will probably close up significantly and then a little putty can be used to fill the hairline.
Sight across the bottom of the bridge at the widest part of the lower bout. Is the bridge sunken below the plane of the top, or can you see obvious distortion? If so, your guitar is seriously dried out and the top is on the verge of cracking any minute. Taylor has a tech sheet called "symptoms of dry guitars" that explains this in detail, with pictures. And I hear you about Minnesota winters. We lived in Alaska for many years after moving from the UP of Michigan. In Alaska we put 8-10 gallons per day through a cabinet humidifier just to get the house UP to 20-25% RH indoors. We could not get the whole house any higher than that, no matter how much our piano or sinuses needed moister air. I had to keep all of my wood instruments in hard cases with two dampened sponge humidifiers each, only taking them out for actual play. Every Monday morning was "re-wet the sponges" day because the sponges would be bone dry after a week. I eventually got into carbon fiber guitars so that at least one could be left out handy without worry. |
Not that it appears to be your issue, but pre-2000 Taylors glued down the fret board - the bolt didn't happen until the NT neck.
Also, I keep my guitars in one room and then I humidify that room, only, using a "Precision Induction Cooktop" hot plate and a suitable large pan of water. Using a humidistat in the room, I can easily dial in 45% using the digital temp adjuster on the hot plate. In lieu of something like that, the bag and sponge will be fine, if only somewhat less convenient. |
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Didn’t see any signs of warping on the top. I put a sound hole humidifier and another homemade sponge soap dish version by the neck and wrapped it all in a large plastic bag. I am going to keep an eye on it daily and seen if there is any change. Thanks again for all the input and advice. I watched a few videos from Bob Taylor on emergency humidifier situations and I should be ok. |
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To me it looks like the neck has been removed and refitted, possibly had an adjustment, when the neck has been refitted, the bolts possibly have not been tightened up in sequence and as such you have an end gap
Steve |
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Maybe ?? Good point maybe I never even looked at that area ? I bought the guitar new from MF about 7 years ago. Whenever I need new strings I have a luthier do a setup which is maybe once a year or longer. I use elixirs and the guitar is usually in the gig bag so they last forever. But I figure this happened recently since I would assume my luthier would have caught this. |
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