What To Do With This "Dehydrated" 575?

[JackBaruth]

Tonight I went out to buy a Heritage that I saw on Craiglist... about a 50 mile drive each way out into the country but I found the place pretty easily. This was a Natural 575 listed for a flat $1000 and pictured without a case. Good examples of natural flamed 575s seem to fetch between $1800 (easy) and $2200 (optimistic main dealer price) so I thought at a grand I could live with some imperfections... I also had some concerns that it would be stolen or damaged in some unusual way.

 

The home was very nice and the fellow who let me in had a photo of him playing the 575 at a local jazz fest. He represented to me that he had purchased the guitar new in 2002 and the "S" serial supported that.

 

 

As you can see, it looked VERY nice and had almost no evidence of play wear. The old canard, "OMG IT LOOKS BETTER THAN A NEW GUITAR HANGING ON THE WALL AT GUITAR CENTER" applied here. But wait....

 

 

The headstock sticker was a little off, but that's okay. The shocker came when I went to play it. The action was HIGH. Like, old-school big band high. Sure enough, the neck was laterally straight but had a big bow in it. It was strung with 13s but slacking the strings didn't fix matters. The owner showed me a $130 receipt from a well-respected guitar shop in town. In 2008, this shop diagnosed the guitar as "dehidrated" (yeah, I know) and placed a rosewood spacer in the bridge to keep it from buzzing at the twelfth fret.

 

 

I went around the guitar looking for checking, et al, and only the headstock is checked. It's as if it was left out somewhere where only the neck could get baked by the sun. In all other respects this is an excellent guitar.

 

I'd like to get the HOC's opinion on this. I had originally gone out to get the guitar with the intention of selling it to one of the two HOC members who had expressed serious interest, but after evaluating the neck bow and deciding to buy it anyway, I want to make sure that anybody who considers buying the guitar understand the full story.

 

This is my thinking on it:

 

1) First I'll have my luthier evaluate the thing to make sure it can't just be exposed to some steam and tensioned back into place.

 

2) If that isn't the case, I will consider a neck reset and/or steam pressing of the neck.

 

3) I know for a fact that I can have Aaron Cowles in Kalamazoo completely re-neck the thing for well under a thousand bucks, bind the fretboard, and put an inlaid headstock on. Ever since going to PSP IV (and taking delivery of my G-brand "Doves In Flight" I've had a real thing for five-piece curly necks. I could do a natural finish five-piece neck on it and still have less than two thousand dollars in the guitar.

 

Any other opinions/options are always welcome!

[lifewithasong]

Man, that bridge pickup is MAXED OUT in its height! I don't know if my experience is typical, but when I was looking for a 575 last year, I went through several--two of which exhibited problems similar to what you are describing. In addition, two of them had sinking tops, where the bridge and pickups had to be cranked up like that for the guitar to be playable. On my last one, there was that "rise" where the neck joins the body, meaning that the guitar needed to either have the fretboard shaved and re-fretted, or else suffer high action for avoiding fret buzz.

 

I'd be cautious about this one--if it were me, I'd look elsewhere. But you might be more motivated than I to put maybe 200.00-300.00 into it to have things worked out.

[zguitar71]

Sounds like the wood was not dried properly and processed too soon. I would stay away from it unless it was very cheap. It would be a great guitar to learn some luthier skills on.

[Kuz]

Run, Forest, Run...........

[bolero]

I think Jack has already bought it?

 

 

I would slack the strings & try adjusting the truss rod, with a little force to help straighten the neck

 

also leaving it inside the case with one of those little case humidifiers ( I use a "guitar oasis" one on my acoustic, but they have that foam stuff as well ) for a couple weeks, refilling the device daily....might do something

 

just for comparison, here is a "seems like it's beyond repair" acoustic that Taylor fixes using this method...this amazed me, there are 2 in this series Bob posted, very interesting

 

 

 

 

[bolero]

it's almost like someone stored it leaning on/above a baseboard heater?

 

to be safe, before I actually did anything to the guitar I would show it to a good luthier & get some pro advice

[JackBaruth]

Just to be clear, I did buy the guitar. The body looked completely fine, the top, back, and sides are gorgeous, and it has no electrical issues. And I bought it expecting that it might need a new neck.

[yoslate]

Of course the action will be that high, with the bridge set up that way. Where's the bow in the neck? First five frets? Middle of the neck? A shot from the nut toward the body would be informative. What's the action measure at the twelfth fret? What's the status of the truss rod? Loose? Cranked down? Broken?! What's the neck doing as it joins the body? What's the nut look like? Inquiring minds want to know....

[fxdx99]

For a grand, you probably did okay. As for the high action, I'll put a buck down that you're spot on - it's gotten too dry in the Michigan winters and the top has collapsed some causing the neck to be at the incorrect angle. Bet a neck reset needed. Let us know what your luthier says.

[JackBaruth]

Aaron's agreed to take it on, so this Heritage will be returning to Kalamazoo tomorrow.

 

I'm secretly hoping the neck can't be salvaged. Five-piece maple, ebony board, green abalone inlays, here I come. Wonder if I can figure out a way to put a flowerpot on the headstock