Guitar Repairs???

[Fmmahoganyrush]

Anybody out there do their own guitar repairs? I've done some (like regluing fretboards onto the neck, and stuff like that - with good results). My brother-in-law has a Yamaha acoustic probably worth ~$150 (if that), and he was trying to fix the horrible action on it and he snapped the tension rod at the bolt. The rod is visible, but buried in the neck. The only way I can see to fix this is to pull the fertboard off and put in a new tension rod, of possibly just put a new neck on the thing... ....But considering the guitar, is it worth it?? Thanx, Tom

[hixmix]

No.

[Opus]

Hix Mix is right, probably not worth it. That is unless when you do it you want to replace the fingerboard with a nice piece of ebony. It's a shit of a job though and a "really" good piece of ebony would probably cost you almost as much as the guitar.

If you still want to do it then try going to Stewart MacDonalds website.

[c7sus]

Or try Luthiers Mercantile in Healdsberg, CA. I think it's worth it just for the experience.

[Fmmahoganyrush]

c7sus, I think I'll give it a go for the sake of experience. If I F^*k this one up, it won't really bring a tear to my eye. Thanx all, Tom.

[Fmmahoganyrush]

Well, I finaly got off my ass and did it. It was raining last Sunday, so I found myself in the music room. I decided to do the surgery. I took the fret board off, and dug out the broken tension rod. Went out to the shop and fasioned a replacement using 3/8" steel rod, welded a square nut on one end and threaded the other. Did some other small repairs to the general area. Glued it and clamped it. Now, although it's a Yamaha, plays nice again. Three books I owe much of the credit to are: "The Acoustic Guitar - Adjustment, Care, Maintenance, and Repair" Vols 1 and 2 By Don E. Teeter, and "Guitar Player Repair Guide" by Dan Erlewine. Very useful books for easy and not so easy repair. Anyway, I did do the repair and it was a sucess, so I fugured I'd post the update. Noe I'm going to town on a Hagstrom that went through a fire. Mostly smoke damage, and it's been sitting in a basement for probably 25 years so it's a little rough. Tom.

[vox]

Glad to hear that you pulled it off.
How do you get the fretboard off without destroying anything?

[Tom Hicks]

Good for you!
More guys should be willing to learn on those cheapo axes.Even if you mess up,no harm done.And in this case it is a happy outcome.Way to go.
Tom

[Fmmahoganyrush]

Vox: Those books I mentioned are VERY helpfull. I got the neck off by applying heat (an electric iron) to the fretboard and slowly separated it from the neck with a serated (spelling?) knife as the glue softened. It's a little more difficult where the fretboard is glued to the face of the guitar, but with patience, you can work the fretboard off of that area too. Granted, you may end up tearing some of the face off along with the fretboard, but if you're carefull, you can do it with minimal damage which will be covered back up when you re-glue the fretboard back down. The books. however, suggest cutting the fretboard at the fret location where the frets begin to ride on the face of the guitar, but that means some slightly more precise gluing, and fret work, which I wasn't really in the mood to take on with this one. Thanx. Tom.

[Buck62]

What model Yamaha did you do this with?

My partner and I both have old Yamaha acoustics... and we love 'em.

Bravo to you for saving the old girl!

Buck

[Fmmahoganyrush]

It's an FG-345. My speculation, probably built in the 70's, knowing most of it's history. The guitar, other than the problem with the truss rod, was and is still in close to mint condition. That's one of the reasons that I just couldn't trash it, but also didn't want to spend the $$$ it would have cost to have someone else have a go at it. Update on the Hagstrom. I was able to gingerly sand off a thin layer of the finish (white) that had been marred by the smoke damage to get down to "fresh" paint. Compounded it about 50 times, waxed it like a mother and used mirror glaze on the final run and the body is pearly white and shiney again. I'm in the middle of re-soldering the connections and cleaning/lubricating the pots (which barely turned at all at first), and buffing out the hardware. I'm not going to screw with this one too much. The neck could use refinishing, but I sort of like the vintage look, and I made out with the body so I can still boast "original finish". But what a silly wammy-bar set up on this thing... ...A string breaker for sure ! Tom.

[Buck62]

I believe the only difference between my FG-335 and your FG-345 is that the neck is bound on your 345... mine isn't.

You've got a great guitar there... keep that thing forever!

Buck

[Gidge]

Tom,

Congrats on the repair....I think you should be a martyr for saving a Yamaha...me loves Yamaha

that Dan Erlewine book is killer if anyone is wanting to get into doing their own setups and basic repair......

[Treeline]

Just about anything that Dan Erlwine is involved in is worth the effort to get, it seems. Another great is Frank Ford, through Gryphon Instruments. You can reach him at www.frets.com and he has a CD of articles on guitar repair available. Wild stuff. Another site full of information is www.mimf.com . And you can get a great set of pics about guitar construction by cruising around the Manzer Guitar site. Just play knowldege sponge and go cruising.