blargfromouterspace wrote:There's a similar split on my 83 SC1, but at the nut/fingerboard side of the neck rather than the back middle as on yours. A luthier I took it to for a setup because it never played right said it was likely caused by the truss rod being turned to the point that its split the wood.
Does it play okay or is it really awkward? Could be that it once had a twisted neck that may have been repaired but not refinished?
Interesting, thanks for posting. Sorry to hear that. Since it is on the other side (it is clampable) i wonder if you could extremely carefully (with a high ear) tighten the rod to open it, clean it out, then glue, back all the way off the rod, and clamp it... You could block out the fret board at that point and re finish, re fret... Without seeing it, that is what i would do if it were mine... or take it to someone i had confidence in. I would test if first cleaning it out before test clamping to see if you could even get it shut that way, with the rod backed off. How big is it, maybe it even needs a wedge to not stress the back of the joint at this point, but hopefully just wood glue, or wood clue with hardwood sawdust. You might need to "squeegee" and wipe the glue in moving along the length of the crack...
Like i said in my first post
it plays and feels great. Take all this ( and what i said above) with a grain of salt,
I am not a luthier, just a mechanic that happens to play and have had several guitars along the way that needed work....
...It for the most part plays excellent.
From what i can tell, it's faults at the moment lie at the plastic nut that has dried out and has gaps on the side (i guess it shrunk at the sides, not sure, it is just a plain plastic nut), i can slip a shim under it at the sides, and it rocks if you push it. There is some extremely slight sitar effect that i isolated to the bridge with my ear.
It only frets out a bit when you crawl up onto the tongue, but they are not terrible, this has been common on a lot of guitars i have had and easily fixed. These look to need a little bit of a fret hammer, and a light dressing. Since it sat for a long time and had very tarnished frets, going gently over it with a block and high grit showed where things need to go, its not bad. I'll get to it soon.
The truss rod on mine works as it should, neck is straight, no weirdness. It only starts to fret out up on the tongue. When i got it, the truss rod was not very tight. I think mine had the opposite issue of yours (in regards to tension), it sat with full string tension in the back of a box truck for years in a highly variable climate. I think your issues do sound as though it could have been over tightened, as that would push the fingerboard side out...
Check out the cut away picture from the owners manual.
But, yea, mine seems stable, i hope it is. I agree with what Elwood said about getting it sealed to help keep it stable. That will also show me if it moves, as the finish will crack again... I'll post a pic when i take the finish on that "crack"/crack down to the wood.
I highly doubt it has ever been repaired based on the way it the finish is, that glue joint was hard to get on camera.