1979 Yamaha FG-331, to reset or not??

[mcduffnw]

Originally Posted by BigToeify

Does anyone know what making a neck a bolt-on is all about when it comes to a reset? Is that just like an electric bolt on. Would there be visible screws? That is a weird concept for an acoustic.

The necks on these old Yamaha's are NOT that hard for a competent luthier to get off. It takes a bit of careful work but it is not impossible to do. They get old Guild necks off, and those were heavily glued into the dovetail joint...a real pain in the hind end. If luthiers can get Guild necks off, they can certainly get your Yamaha's neck off. You don't need to go the "cut off re-build to bolt on" route.

As far as spending the money to do ALL the "proper" work...As much as this guitar means to you, has meant to you through the years...if it were me...I would do it in a heartbeat with nary a second thought to the cost.

You can not put a price on the connection you and this guitar have had, and will continue to have. There are folks on this forum whom have spent many many tens of thousands of dollars...literally even hundreds of thousands of dollars, yes I DO mean over $100K, and I know one very such person, a best friend of mine...buying nothing but the "Best of the Best" guitars...many many BOTB guitars...trying to find what you have. And search they are still...

You know in your heart what the right answer is here...

You don't need our approval...you need your best "friend" put back to good health...

make it so number one...


duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher

[crispscone]

I would forget about the "value of the guitar" altogether. With or without the re-set, it's not going to be worth more than a new strap and a few sets of strings. Financially, anyway.

But the fact that you have never replaced the guitar in 40 years says a lot. You like it, a lot. I would get an estimate on the reset from your guitar tech, then go to your nearest Guitar Center or equivalent and play every guitar that sells for that amount or less. Then ask yourself if you'd rather play that guitar for the next 40 years, or your Yammie with low action. Only you can answer that.

[nikpearson]

If you can afford it, and can find a luthier with the necessary experience, I’d go for a bolt-on conversion. Done properly it should be invisible and any future neck angle adjustments will be much, much easier.

Others may disagree, but I’m utterly convinced that traditional dovetail and Spanish heel neck-body joints are inferior to a good bolt-on arrangement. Necks on guitars move over time as string tension pulls the neck forward and over-rotates the bridge. Eventually most (all?) steel-string instruments will need a neck reset.

You clearly love this guitar and I suspect if you don’t get the necessary work done you’ll always have some regret.

Let us know what you decide.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by ManyMartinMan

You would repair your car if it needed a new front end or transmission repaired. You've played it for 40 years and it has done it all, it appears. I would certainly repair it and not look back. People take their 14 year old dogs to the vet even though they won't be around for much longer. Fix her and play her.

I agree; once you have the necessary work done, your grandchildren will play it.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by chippygreen

I kind of have a different perspective on this, but it boils down to how fixable, how long it lasts, and for how much. Even given the cost of repair isn't worth it, I suggest considering another view point.

Say it was $500 to fix. Would/could you play this guitar for the next 10 years, the same songs you've written - happiness and joy, heartbreak and sadness - and all the songs to come? $50 a year, or $4 a month, $1 a week, for the company of an old friend doesn't sound like a lot to me.

It seems to me you know you can always go to the store and pick up a new guitar without all the troubles this one gives you, and no reason you can't do that next year or the year after. But yet you still have this one. Maybe I'm sentimental because my folks bought me a Yamaha when I was 16 and I don't even know where it is anymore - left behind in some house I can no longer picture. I wonder if it's in a landfill somewhere, or cracked, or developing some great patina in the hands of someone who loves it more than I did.

Sometimes it's not about the money or what's sensible. As with jewelry and real estate, memories are worth what the buyer is willing to pay. Sensible people have paid far more to recapture far less.

"Value" is not the same as what you can get for it on Craigslist.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by Everton FC

Is this recording w/your 331? Excellent. I love the deepness of the lows, on mine, and I haven't even converted the original plastic nut and saddle to bone. It sounds almost as deep and powerful as a dread when strummed hard, to my ears. And the fingerpicking on these is absolutely fabulous.

Now I'm thinking, when mine is needing a reset (might be 10 more years?!)... Maybe I'll do just that. But I don't have the sentimental attachment the original poster has, with his. But I'd try and find another. For certain.

No, the guitar is my Rainsong OM1000, tuned BEADF#B, medium strings. My 331 is always down a whole step.

[phavriluk]

Go buy a new Yammie. Cheap enough. Then figure out what to do with/to the '79. Have a nice guitar to play NOW and time to plan the future of the old one. Doesn't need to be a binary decision.