Cortez 12 String in Need of Repairs

[collusivetaco]

Hello everyone,

New to the site, excited to be a part of the community!

This past weekend my girlfriend's dad just gave me his old Cortez CF-150 12-string guitar. It was his first guitar and I am beyond honored to have it.

The problem is: it's been sitting in a basement for 17 years. He originally put it away because the bridge began to separate from the body. So he loosened the strings and put it away in its case.

The basic problems and questions:

• The top of the guitar has gone from being a flattop to becoming an archtop. How can I combat this lift? Is there anyway to reverse it?

• The bridge is starting to lift up from the body. Can I get glue and fill in the crack and clamp it? How do you go about this repair?

• The guitar is dryer than driftwood! Is it a good or bad idea to humidify it?

I'm really interested to give this guitar some much needed TLC, she's far too pretty to leave in a basement for any longer.

Thanks everyone!

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by collusivetaco

Hello everyone,

New to the site, excited to be a part of the community!

This past weekend my girlfriend's dad just gave me his old Cortez CF-150 12-string guitar. It was his first guitar and I am beyond honored to have it.

The problem is: it's been sitting in a basement for 17 years. He originally put it away because the bridge began to separate from the body. So he loosened the strings and put it away in its case.

The basic problems and questions:

• The top of the guitar has gone from being a flattop to becoming an archtop. How can I combat this lift? Is there anyway to reverse it?

• The bridge is starting to lift up from the body. Can I get glue and fill in the crack and clamp it? How do you go about this repair?

• The guitar is dryer than driftwood! Is it a good or bad idea to humidify it?

I'm really interested to give this guitar some much needed TLC, she's far too pretty to leave in a basement for any longer.

Thanks everyone!

You should get some more informed responses from others, but as the owner of a Cortez 12 string that I bought new in the mid '70s I just had to respond.

How bowed up is the top? Some mild bellying-up on an older 12 string behind the bridge is not unusual or necessarily fatal. What you don't want is enough convexness that the braces under the top are no longer attached.

Same with the bridge lifting. How severe is it? Could be fatal, could be just mild separation of one edge. I should look inside mine with a mirror sometime, but many cheaper instruments have bolts hidden under dots holding that bridge to the top, not just glue. No, just squirting some glue in there is not the answer.

If the fretboard looks dry, I would use some lemon oil on it. Wipe on, let is soak in, wipe off.

Sounds like you have a case, I'd try to humidify it. Use two or three of the regular guitar humidifiers sponge in a case things, and re-dampen the sponges every day or two as they dry out.

After this is done, I'd go with lighter tension strings and maybe tune to D or Eb. I understand sentimental value, but this is an inexpensive guitar and major fixes are not cheap. More knowledgeable folks can talk about what more major fixes would be.

[Ozzy the dog]

I had a similar problem with Fender 12 string. I removed the bridge then cut a couple of plates out of aluminium (10mm thick) to go under and over soundbaord at the bridge location. These were heated in boiling water then clamped above and below soundboard to encourage it to flatten out a bit.

There is a truss rod available called a JLD Bridge doctor which fits under the bridge and can be adjusted to bring the soundboard back in line.



A bit expensive in UK so I made my own to fit my guitar.

That was about six years ago and the soundboard is still as flat as new.

[ricklt]

You can get the bridge doctor on eBay for about 27 dollars. I installed one of these in my mother's Ventura and it worked great. Improved tone, intonation, and sustain. Pretty easy to install if you have any woodworking experience at all.

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