Members kwakatak Posted July 17, 2015 Author Members Share Posted July 17, 2015 Thanks, DeepEnd. It looks to be pretty in-depth but would be a nice challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted July 24, 2015 Author Members Share Posted July 24, 2015 My mom came to visit and brought the guitar with her. She meant well but it needs a bit of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thatsbunk Posted July 24, 2015 Members Share Posted July 24, 2015 well the case doesn't look too bad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted July 24, 2015 Author Members Share Posted July 24, 2015 I know. It's pretty nice - though it's a soft shell. It wouldn't last too long in my house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted July 25, 2015 Members Share Posted July 25, 2015 ok, it's not as bad as you described my friend. I have the same guitar, as an Aria. (Made in Japan by Matsumoku.) Laminate all the way around,(Made from the rare Japanese laminate tree.) and actually can be made to play nicely. The top doesn't look collapsed, so don't worry about that. The neck bolts are under the plastic plate on the back of the neck. a few turns of the screwdriver, and the neck comes off. Reglue the bridge (duh), AFTER popping off the little plastic dots and unscrewing the bridge from the top. Shouldn't take away a lot of wood, seeing that paper fits under the bridge, so that looks easy. And sand down the saddle or replace it with bone. and glue and clamp the bridge. I recommend getting a set of ebony bridge pins off of eBay. you can find them for about 3 Dollars US for a set of six. Might have to wait a couple of weeks with shipping from China. Once that's done and set, adjust the trussrod and shim the neck. You will be surprised how nicely it can play, and with the addition of a decent pickup, the sound isn't too shabby either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted July 25, 2015 Author Members Share Posted July 25, 2015 Yes, since I detuned the guitar and removed some of the strings the top has relaxed a bit - even where the fretboard extension dug into the rosette. I would still prefer to look inside with a mirror and see if the upper transverse brace is still solidly attached with no cracks and see if that monstrous neck block is still attached to the sides. The bridge is a two-part repair because of the crack running along the line of the bridge pins. This is the same issue that I had with my MIJ lawsuit Takamine and it turned out that one of the X braces below was both loose and cracked through. Again, I need to get a mirror in there to see. As for getting the bridge off - it's not too hard. Some carboard and tin foil to protect the finish on the top (which is crazed anyway) and a heat gun or clothes iron to heat everything up to around 140 degrees or so should get it off with just a little elbow grease. I just did something similar on my second guitar build so I'm not so squeamish as I once was. If the fretboard extension isn't glued down though, so much the better. The big trick is going to be setting the angle. If the block is loose, then I'll need to get creative. Deepend's tutorial mentions using epoxy, but I'm not down with that. I'd at least like to just use Titebond. Epoxy is too permanent and you only have so long to fumble around with it before you reach the point of no return. PS: the crack in the bridge I'm not too worried about. Once it's off I'll just set it with superglue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted July 25, 2015 Members Share Posted July 25, 2015 Since you need to remove the bridge anyway, you might want to take some measurements and consider one of these: https://www.allparts.com/GB-0851-0RF-12-String-Rosewood-Acoustic-Bridge_p_1598.html. Getting rid of the adjustable bridge would be a good idea. As for the fretboard extension, I've never seen one of those old Epiphone 12-strings that had the extension glued down. You should be able to remove the neck in one piece, then you can get to the neck block and do whatever internal work you need to do. The tutorial I linked was something to get you started, written by someone who's done a project like yours. You don't have to follow it religiously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted July 26, 2015 Author Members Share Posted July 26, 2015 It would be an easy fix to replace the bridge - or It wouldn't. The footprint of the replacement bridge could be completely different. Best to just repair it superglue IMO. Anyway, I got the neck off. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy. Before I loosened the bolts though I was able to flex the neck several degrees; the block is definitely loose inside the body. Just shimming will not do. That being said, I really need to vacuum the inside of this thing out. LOTS of dust inside and some chalky white residue too. I hope it's not mold. PS: it looks like the zero fret needs to be replaced too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted August 3, 2015 Author Members Share Posted August 3, 2015 Some pics of the neck pocket: It looks pretty clean, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted August 4, 2015 Members Share Posted August 4, 2015 ^ Now that I'm home and can see the pics, it doesn't look that bad. I'd guess the block is supposed to be glued to the top, back and side. Looks like the glue gave way. It'll probably require some ingenuity to fix but when you're done it could be a nice guitar. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted August 4, 2015 Author Members Share Posted August 4, 2015 Yeah, there's some sort of failure in the glue joint on one of the surfaces but I can't figure out which. The top looks to be secure so based off the gap between the side and the block would be where everything slipped out of place. Now that the strings and neck are off the top around the sound hole doesn't look as bad. From what I understand, this is very similar to what happened with my old lawsuit Takamine. That guitar has a dovetail joint though and I already paid a guy to reglue the slipped block with epoxy. Well, that guitar is also downstairs in my workshop and is in need of a new top as well. Removing the neck on that one has been problematic but I may finish the job to practice getting at the innards of this one less destructively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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