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Posts: 888
Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | This used to be the easiest playing 12 string I've ever touched. But now, the action is too high...even for a hack like me.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bxu4su8c93hbov3/Viper%2012%20Bridge%20Disa...
My real concern is that I need to take an ax to my ax. Can something like this be repaired? Is there still anyone at the mother ship doing repairs? Looks like I'll need a new top at a minimum. |
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Location: Utah | Give Mr. Budny a call. I'm sure the mini-Mother repair shop can put it back together. |
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Posts: 888
Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | Didn't know there was a mini mother ship these days...woohooo! Where can I find a phone number? |
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Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Look HERE
or, John[dot]Budny(at)kmcmusic[dot]com
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Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | Cool. Thanks OMA.
Also, you probably don't remember this, but a couple years back, you talked me into buying a Sweetwater T that had come up for sale. One of the best purchases I've ever made. Still love it every time I pick it up. |
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Location: Frozen Tundra of Minnesota | WHOA!!!! That is NASTY!!! I am so sorry that happened to your beautiful guitar!!!
John is great! I have 2 in there now being repaired. Thank God they are still there!!
I hope that they can fix this for you! |
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Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | I had a 1658 CL that was damaged in transit by UPS, factory took the top down to wood; couple of years later even with good humidity, bridge came up like your photo...came back from the factory as perfect. Send it in and enjoy it when it comes back. |
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Posts: 848
Location: Canada | Looks just like what happened to my 6751. I got it repaired at my local luthier for about $200, still played and sounded great but the finish around the bridge never recovered. Really should have sent it to the mothership for a new top. |
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Posts: 888
Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | Sounds like the original mother-maxi ship would have no problem with this repair because they would have access to manufactured Tops. But I'm concerned Mother-mini will not have a new sound board to use. But we'll see what John has to say. Cross your fingers for my sweet guitar. |
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Location: SoCal | In my case and on a natural -4, the top was taken to bare wood for the UPS damage...
When the bridge later went to 45 degrees with damage to the finish, somehow by whatever magic they were able to reafix the bridge and you can not see where there was any damage to the top. The remaining crew should be able to help him out.
So, have faith in John and his guitar wizards  |
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Posts: 2315
Location: Pueblo West, CO | Hmmm... What I'm not seeing is the screws used to hold the bridge down.
I see the MOP dots used to hide the screw heads, but where are the screws and the screw holes in the top?
Are they present, but just not visible in the pic? |
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Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | Base of 1658 and 1659 Custom Legend 12's have three MOP but as to the 1658 that was referred to above - I may be wrong but I am confident that the bridge had been attached by glue only, also appeared to be a lack of glue. |
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Location: Pueblo West, CO | It looks to me like the bridge was glued to the finish and relied on the adhesion of the finish to the top to hold the bridge on. |
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Location: Jet City | FlySig - 2015-03-15 12:22 PM Give Mr. Budny a call. I'm sure the mini-Mother repair shop can put it back together. Um... is that a USA model? I thought USA Viper strings routed through the body? I doubt they'd mess with it at the mothership if it's a Celeb.
Edited by Damon67 2015-03-16 4:50 PM
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Posts: 848
Location: Canada | DanSavage - 2015-03-16 3:29 PM It looks to me like the bridge was glued to the finish and relied on the adhesion of the finish to the top to hold the bridge on. See the hole in the top? That's not the bridge coming off the finish but a severy dehydrated top splitting and giving in to the 12 string pressure. |
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Location: Jet City | Please ignore my post. I saw another Viper EA58 and noticed the same pines bridge |
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Posts: 888
Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | This is a USA made Guitar EA58 12 String. It appears the glue joint remains entirely intact. But appears the black finish ripped away from the wood on 1/2 of the Bridge. On the other half, the wood pulled up and remained attached to the underside of the Bridge. Here's 2 more pictures.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hvaf6bbkvp6qw8s/DSCN0451.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/awynda2sfjj1olz/DSCN0450.JPG?dl=0
Here's what John Budny had to say: "We should be able to replace the bridge and do some finish touch up for you on this."
So it doesn't sound to me like he will be able to replace the Top...which is what I'd have preferred.
Finally, here's the link to what this guitar looked like a few months ago when I bought it. It was sooo beautiful.
https://reverb.com/item/151045-ovation-viper-ea58-2000-black
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Posts: 888
Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | Sadly, John Budny confirmed today that a new top is out of the question....bummer. |
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Posts: 2315
Location: Pueblo West, CO | The last pic shows what I thought. The bridge was glued to the finish and not directly to the wood. The glue joint failed when the top layer of wood on the treble bout peeled off the rest of the wood. The top wood split right down the center glue joint where the two halves of the top wood are jointed together during the building process. That's why the split is so clean. (6 strings on one half, 6 on the other)
I believe this is why Ovation started screwing the bridge to the top. Originally the top was finished in the conventional manner, i.e.: bridge location masked, top finished, bridge masking cut out and bridge glued directly to the wood.
Then someone (probably a corporate bean-counter) decided it would be cheaper to finish the whole top and glue the bridge to the finish. I guess the thinking was that the polyester finish had a strong enough grip to the top wood that it would hold up under the tension of the strings.
They started having many such failures and then someone (probably the same bean-counter) decided the screws/nuts were a way to keep finishing the tops the faster way, but not have as much warranty work with popped bridges.
The plastic posts your pic points out are the nylon alignment pins that locate the bridge in the correct location on the top. They do nothing for strength.
Yes, on the acoustics the MOP dots cover the screw heads. It looks like the Viper uses an acoustic bridge, but without the screws/nuts. My 1655 has the same three dots, but actually cover the screw heads.
This is a bummer. As d'ovation says, you could have a local Luthier glue the bridge back down, but the finish may not be able to be repaired.
Edited by DanSavage 2015-03-17 11:55 AM
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Location: Texas | I would feel confident that John and Co would send back your viper looking like it had a new top. Their craftsmanship is beyond compare. |
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Posts: 888
Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | Hi Jay. I hope you're right but it's hard to understand how they could make such a catastrophic failure look new. Sadly, with a failure like this, I think the value of one of my favorites has gone from $1000 to $100....bummer. But if the guitar still sounds good, I can start using it as a loaner. When I'm teaching a youngster or have a friend over to jam, we'll still be able to enjoy it. |
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August 2003
Posts: 888
Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | Sadly, the costs to repair my $1000 12 string viper is $750. I loved this guitar but it's looking like I'll be bringing her home to use for parts. |
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Posts: 848
Location: Canada | Yeah sorry to hear, for that amount you could probably get a pretty nice replacement with enough patience. |
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Ouch! Anyone seen this before?