[IBCGUY]

I bought my first nice guitar as a grad school present to myself around 2001, a Larrivee LV-03re (I thinks that's the model...cutaway, fishman electronics).

Two years later the guitar sustained serious water damage as a result of an apartment fire. It spent about 3 days floating in about 2 inches of water in the factory case (laying flat on the floor). I thought it was a total loss, but drained the water from it and let it air out for a few weeks. Not surprisingly it had swelled up in a few spots.

The back and sides were separating in one spot on the back, but overall it didn't look too bad, considering. I put it back in its case, pretty much forgetting about it and only occasionally opening it up to re-wet a damp-it I had placed it in the soundhole. It was neglected like that until about 2008, when I took it to a guy to fix the separated back/sides. He did an ok job. The action had always been high so I had the saddle lowered, which helped the action a good bit but it still wasn't where I thought it should be. I played it for awhile then lost interest. I've never quite felt the guitar played up to it's potential, though it has certainly opened up sonically.

I started playing guitar again last year, and drug the guitar out again. Some things had changed in 10 years. The action felt weird (low at the nut, high near the heel), the neck is starting to separate at the heel. Had a luthier evaluate it, he want $550-$600 to reset the neck, cleat the split bout, and do a set-up.

So I'm considering a few options at this point.

1) Have the repair work done, sinking $550-600 into it, but in the process also giving it it's first real professional set-up...maybe afterwards it'll play like I always hoped it would...or not.

2) Buy/make some tools and try to do the work myself. It could be a fun project. Wonder what the chances of a beginner getting a neck reset correctly? Probably not too good I'd imagine.

So, knowing the abuse this thing has taken over the years and the work that is going to be required to fix it., I'd be interested in your opinions. What would you guys do?

As soon as I find a place to host pics I'll post a few here. Thanks in advance!