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Ovation 1768 - Help with Sinking Top and Belly

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davegardner0
Posted 2016-10-27 7:39 AM (#529520)
Subject: Ovation 1768 - Help with Sinking Top and Belly


Joined:
October 2016
Posts: 13

Hello all,
New member here, I'm hoping to get some help with a new to me Ovation that's in need of some serious love. I'd like to see what my options are for getting the guitar back to playable/stable condition.

The guitar is a 1768 deep bowl elite. I've been wanting a cutaway elite for a while and finally pulled the trigger on this one on eBay last week. Unfortunately when it arrived I quickly saw that its in terrible condition.

The top is severely sunken below the strings, and bellied behind the bridge. The fingerboard drops above the body but is also separated from the top. There is a large crack behind the bridge and a small crack under the strings (this 2nd one might just be in the finish). The guitar is pretty unplayable as the action is sky high towards the heel of the neck.

On the good side of things, the bridge doesn't seem to be separated from the top. I took a look inside and didn't see any loose braces or other obvious signs of damage, I think the braces are warped along with the top. I guess maybe this guitar was left in a hot attic with the strings at tension for a long time?

I contacted the seller who offered to refund me in full, but it just seemed easier to not ship the guitar back. So I ended up keeping the guitar with a partial (almost full) refund. So I thought I'd see what my options are as it would be cool to get this guitar back into playing condition. I payed almost nothing for it so my other option would be to sell it and try to recoup the rest of my costs, maybe someone else would be more interested in the project.

I've done some work on guitars before, but mostly on solid body electrics: (a refret, setup/action including nut slots, a full build including french polishing, and lots of electronics work). On acoustics I've made a new saddle from scratch but not really much more than that. Still, I'm pretty handy (engineer by day) so I'm up for some DIY depending on the complexity/risk.

So, what are the options on what can be done for this guitar?

Thanks for your help!!

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Damon67
Posted 2016-10-27 1:11 PM (#529525 - in reply to #529520)
Subject: Re: Ovation 1768 - Help with Sinking Top and Belly



Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6992

Location: Jet City
Hi Dave, welcome to the club. Those are great guitars, too bad about yours.

You need to post this in the Bottom Feeding Luthiery Guild section. I've updated your status so you can post throughout the site.

Good luck!
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davegardner0
Posted 2016-10-27 2:48 PM (#529527 - in reply to #529520)
Subject: Re: Ovation 1768 - Help with Sinking Top and Belly


Joined:
October 2016
Posts: 13

Hi Damon, cool I'll repost over there. Thanks for the help!
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