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Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 1900
| A friend of mine had an acoustic-only 1st generation usa custom balladeer; it needed the neck straightened, so I adjusted it as much as I thought was cautious and installed new light guage strings, which basically then pulled the neck right back into it's original bowed condition, so I am assuming this guitar has been sitting for years with a bowed neck and it's basically "set" that way; now this friend wants to advertise on ebay and sell it, and to me it's not worth $200; so maybe someone would consider it worth sending back to ovation for an overhaul if that could done cost-effectively; any opinions or advice? |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | if he is the first owner it may be a warranty issue call John or Kim in service and ask for a repair estimate. |
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Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 1900
| He's not the original owner, I asked him about that before I worked on his guitar; you know how it is...I have adjusted ovation necks that were a dream to adjust, and then there are the ones that give me this gut feeling that the truss rod is about to "pop" and then there's no turning back, so to speak... |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | If the neck is bowed, i.e. too much relief, the rod should be tightened. If it's as tight as it will go & the neck is still bowed then you have a problem. There are a number of possibles here. one is that you are being over cautious & should continue to tighten the rod-nut. If that doesn't fix it the worst that can happen is that you strip the threads on the nut, which can be cured. Another possibility is that the rod has snapped either along it's length or at it's anchor at the heel, in which case you should be able to remove it through the adjustment pocket. This will need a new rod, which is do-able, but is a skilled job that's not cheap. Try taking the adjustment nut off completely, use a little graphite lube or release oil on it and see if it moves easier. |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Paul has some good ideas to try, but there is a strong possibility that a guitar that old has been left setting somewhere with string tension and high temperatures causing the fretboard to slip where it is glued to the neck. This used to be corrected by applying clamps to reverse the bend and gently heating the neck to slip it the other way with the truss rod loose. Then it can be adjusted again, this repair should be done by an expert and at the factory if possible, but I have seen it done at a local repair shop successfully. |
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Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 1900
| Excellant advice, paul and bailey; i am going to suggest the owner send it back to ovation or sell it on ebay; a competent guitarist/tech might even consider it a good investment; if it was my guitar i would remove the strings, let it sit in a consistent atmosphere, then adjust the nut 1/8 of a turn every other day or so; in a week it would be straight again, or it wouldn't....to me this guitar isn't worth $200 to begin with, much less paying ovation that much to repair it. |
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Custom balladeer question
