Neck Reset?

[chasarms]

If the playability of the guitar is now such that it just sits in the case all the time, it's worth nothing to you.

Ask yourself this question: Am I willing to pay $X.00 (cost of the reset) for a personally valued, nice playing Y. (the model of guitar)?

Based on your statements, you're getting a guitar for half of what it is worth.

[Mooh]

For the life of me I don't get the correlation between the monetary value of the instrument and the monetary value of a repair or service. If you like the guitar, it sounds good, and you play it, get the reset. If you'd rather use the service as an excuse to replace it, fine, but the relationship between the values is arbitrary, especially given the disparate, unrelated, and highly variable costs.

The value of either may differ by 100% depending on the market, without considering the sentimental value to you. Over-value the repair and under-value the guitar and the difference might disappear. So what? You like it, fix it.

Fwiw, a tornado caused considerably more costs in damage to my home than what the home cost to purchase. We fixed it anyway. Sure, the insurance covered it, but no one considered rebuilding as that would likely cost as much anyway. Consider your guitar, you could spend as much or more to replace it as you would with the repair and resale savings, but you wouldn't have that guitar anymore...except as a regret.

[ewalling]

How much 'sentimental value' can a guitar realistically have? Was it there when you graduated? Did it witness the birth of your first child? It's a guitar, for goodness sake! If it's clapped out and in need of either repair or the junkyard, wouldn't we be wise to get real about its real value? Okay, if we played the guitar at Woodstock or used it once to brain an evildoing intruder about to perform some unspeakable act on our nearest and dearest, by all means let's do whatever it takes to keep our old buddy's ticker in good nick. But most of us don't have such heart-wrenching memories of a musical instrument, do we? I've had good times with some instruments, and some instruments happened to be there when I was experiencing good times, but do I then fetishize the instrument so that it becomes emotionally integral to the happy experience?

But maybe I'm just an unsentimental old fool!

[sled]

Originally Posted by Todd Yates

Let's say you have a $1,000 car that's old but perfectly functional and reliable. Only problem, the tires are worn out. Are you going to drive around on bald tires or spend $400 to get safe new tires?

If you're the kind of guy who would keep the bald tires, then don't get the neck reset either.

My old man's spare tires were actually only tires in the academic sense. They were round, they had once been made of rubber.

[sled]

Originally Posted by Todd Yates

Let's say you have a $1,000 car that's old but perfectly functional and reliable. Only problem, the tires are worn out. Are you going to drive around on bald tires or spend $400 to get safe new tires?

If you're the kind of guy who would keep the bald tires, then don't get the neck reset either.

My old man's spare tires were actually only tires in the academic sense. They were round, they had once been made of rubber.

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by Todd Yates

Let's say you have a $1,000 car that's old but perfectly functional and reliable. Only problem, the tires are worn out. Are you going to drive around on bald tires or spend $400 to get safe new tires?

If you're the kind of guy who would keep the bald tires, then don't get the neck reset either.

Makes sense, as you usually do Todd.

This makes sense too:

Let's say you have a $1000 car that is functional and reliable and it needs 400 bucks worth of tires. Wouldn't that be a good time to sell it for $600-800 and upgrade to a newer and nicer car that has new tires on it already?

Only the OP knows which direction is the right one.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by johna2u

Exactly. I own a furniture restoration business and the cost of refinishing is often more than you could sell it for or buy another one. But the value is not the price you could sell it for. The value is what it is worth to you.

Reasons to do it:
Well it needs to be done as part of normal maintenance for the guitar. (The replace the tires analogy)

Environmentally it is the right thing to do. Fix what you have rather than buy new. That goes for cars and washing machines too.

It holds memories for you. This guitar means something to you. It is worth more than what some stranger might pay for it on eBay. Maybe your kids will want it some day. I have my grandfather's customkraft archtop circa 1940s. Honestly it is not a good guitar by any stretch but I love it all the same.

What happens if you don't do it? Throw it away and cut down more hardwood trees to make a new guitar. So wasteful.

I have an old Harmony Sovereign that needed a neck reset. I took around town to all the local guitar stores. They told me it was not worth putting money into. Pretty sure they just wanted to sell me a new guitar.

[B]Don't let anyone else judge what it is worth. It is worth what it is worth to you.[/B]

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

I couldn't say this any better!
(currently doing a neck reset on a Yamaha FG335, for somone else who gets it!)

[nunocasais]

I am currently living the worst experience as a guitar player/owner in 20 years.
On 2014 i bought a brand new Martin GPCPA1 plus, top of the line of the Performing Artist Series, a high end solid wood guitar.
One month ago, i sent it to Musicstore Germany, (the dealer) because i am from Portugal and i now that Martin warranty outside US or Canada is almost inexistent. My action was sooo high, and the saddle was already at the minimum height after a setup to try to bring down the action.
They sent the guitar back untouched, saying that it was on the factory standard dimensions, but on their limit. Not a reason for warranty intervention.
I then took it to a portuguese luthier and he stated the worst diagnose: a two year high end guitar needs a neck reset.
Personally i love the sound of the guitar, plugged or unplugged... just blows me away. On the other hand i am totally pissed of and i did a promise to myself of not buying anything from CF Martin anymore.
The guitar cost me 3.100€, now the price incresead to 4.132€, and the luthier work to do the neck reset would cost 500€.
Tell me... What if were you? Sell it for 2500€ or do the neck reset?... And sell it???
Really, Martin is over for me.

[HHP]

Originally Posted by roylor4

Makes sense, as you usually do Todd.

This makes sense too:

Let's say you have a $1000 car that is functional and reliable and it needs 400 bucks worth of tires. Wouldn't that be a good time to sell it for $600-800 and upgrade to a newer and nicer car that has new tires on it already?

Only the OP knows which direction is the right one.

So you spend $30,000 to avoid paying $400?

[Atalkingsausage]

Thanks for all the differing points of veiw. I'm definitely leaning towards the reset when the time comes. I just dread the bill, and trying to find someone locally that I trust to do the work....

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by HHP

So you spend $30,000 to avoid paying $400?

What?? Where did you grab this nonsensical figure? That's about what my wife & I got both our new cars for.

I said newer not new. A car that is worth 2-2.5K may be a vast improvement or upgrade over a 1k one.

I would spend a considerable amount to repair a vintage car that had a monetary value of 30K - a $1000 Kia Rio - probably not. A $1000 car is = to a laminate guitar from the 70's to me.

I have never and would never buy a car for 30K, not how I roll and not AT ALL what I said either. I guess if you want to misrepresent what I said so you can argue with me there's nothing I can do about it.

If a car or a guitar or anything else needs repairs/work that are 40-50% of it's value I would think about selling it, especially if was time to upgrade anyway. YMMV

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by nunocasais

My action was sooo high, and the saddle was already at the minimum height after a setup to try to bring down the action.

Just out of curiosity, was the action always higher than you would like (i.e. was higher than you'd like when you purchased it)?

[Hot Vibrato]

Originally Posted by Atalkingsausage

...and trying to find someone locally that I trust to do the work....

It's wise to be cautious. I've seen so many hack jobs. A competent luthier should be able to make a reset look as good or better than a factory job. However, most repairmen can't do a clean job of a neck reset. Make an effort to find someone who really knows what they're doing. Luthiers are NOT all created equal.

[AmericanEagle]

Originally Posted by Atalkingsausage

Thanks for all the differing points of veiw. I'm definitely leaning towards the reset when the time comes. I just dread the bill, and trying to find someone locally that I trust to do the work....

This is yet another reason why I prefer Taylors.
My Taylor has the NT neck design.
A neck reset for a Taylor is fast and cheap,
due to their very innovative design.

[johna2u]

So it looks like it is coming down to two schools of thought on this. Some adding weight to the sentimental value. Others making a cold hard monitary decision.

How much money are you willing to spend? 400 or 500 for a neck reset will make your sentimental guitar a good player again. But it won't turn it into a better guitar. You could put that money toward a new guitar. Throw in an extra 500 to 1,000 and you could have a great all solid wood guitar that you would love.

Make the old one into a wall hanger and hang some pictures of yourself playing it from when you still had hair.

New guitar, hang on to the old one. Best of both worlds.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk