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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 613
Location: Zion, Illinois | A bought an Elite 12-string model 1858 off of e-bay that was broken. It had a bad crack from the sound holes all the way down the front of the guitar (see previous post on guitar repair question). Ovation said they would replace the top for $450. My local repair shop said they could glue the crack for $100. I decide to try to glue it myself and if I mess up, send the mess to Ovation.
Well the glue job turned out great (beginner's luck). I put a new set of light gauge strings on it. The problem now is that the action is so high. Any suggestions about how to get the action down. I have removed a couple of shims that were under the saddle, but that didn't help much. And it looks like the truss rod is inside the guitar and I don't know what kind of tool it would take to attempt an adjustment.
Any suggestions?
Bradley |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | to adjust the rod on an elite you need to have the tool that is made for ovation. well I guess it would make it the eaiest. Call the service department John or Kim can sell you one they are not expensive.
without seeing the guitr but just from your description you may need a neck reset not uncommon on a 12 string of any brand really. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 613
Location: Zion, Illinois | Sadly, that's what the repair shop said. My wife was very impressed that I was able to glue the crack in the top. I'm not good enough to do a neck reset. Guess I'll have to call Ovation and have them fix this guitar.
Bummer
bradley |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 873
Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | how did you repair the crack just out of curiosity? i repaired a six string balladeer and it has held so far. cracked from bridge to lower bout. it was a $150 guitar with a great case and i already needed to re glue the bridge so i took a shot. it needed some other cosmetic repair which i skipped. i wanted a good guitar to play at night on the beach, usually only firelight so it could be ugly. darned if it didnt turn out to a favorite. maybe because it was dead and i fixed it there is a little extra partiality, but i can wear this one out and save the good ones for when they can be seen too. it was actually a fun little project. i'd probably make any luthier cringe, because i got into my boat building stuff to fix it. and lets just say it aint breaking THERE again!
my 1982-8 has bolts that appear to hold on the neck. is that glued as well? the finish work around that area is really clean. i like just looking at that collectors edition. someone built it that liked their work. russ |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 613
Location: Zion, Illinois | I bought a book on guitar repair that gave a few tips. The main problem was there isn't any large center sound hole on the Elite that I could use to get a clamp on to the crack to bring the edges together. What I ended up doing is this. I open the large hole in the back of the Elite and measured the distance beween the brace near the crack to the back of the guitar. I cut some wood dowels to the length I had measured, then sanded them down so that when inserted into the guitar it would push the top into position. I worked the glue into the crack just like the book said to do and inserted the wood dowels. to push the ends up together. Then I used masking tape to pull the ends crosswise together using the method from the book I had bought (Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine). Twelve hours later I removed the tape and cleaned up any glue beads. One fixed crack!
I haven't done anything to fix the guitar cosmetically, there is a dime size piece of the finish missing. Even the guitar repair shop I was going to take it to said that they can't do anything with the finish because of the way Ovation are finished. What I was going to try do to is use super glue to fill in the areas where the finish is missing. However if the neck needs resetting and also because it needs some fret work, I thinking of sending it back to Ovation. Repairing cracks is one thing, resetting necks and a fret job is beyond me.
Bradley
[ March 19, 2002: Message edited by: Bradley ] |
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1858 Neck adjustments
