Farida OT22 and Humidity - BRIDGE REPAIR

[MorrisrownSal]

I have a Farida OT22 (cheap $379 Gibson LG2 knockoff)

 

Great sounding guitar - VERY lightly built, and VERY prone to low humidity damage. I have already had to have top crack glued 9 months back.

 

 

Fast forward to this winter. I left it in a case at my parent's house in Brooklyn NY, so that I can play it when I visit them. The last month has been heck in terms of humidity, and now the bridge - she lifts.

 

 

 

You can also see the crack from last winter in these photos.

 

Note also that the bridge is the very thin traditional bridge style, as opposed to the more robust modern LG2 American Eagle bridge style.

 

I will get it fixed. Russo's will repair and re-glue. Even though from a financial perspective, a $379 guitar is typically not worth the expense I put into her - crack, bridge, bone and nut and saddle - she plays too nice and sounds too good to discard.

 

Question. Russo's can take the bridge off and reglue... but also notice that it has the thin traditional bridge for these types of guitars, and not the beefier one you see on J45s and LG2-AEs today. Do you think it would be more robust or "combat-ready" if it had the beefier bridge? And if the same bridge is kept, should Russo's just "shoot glue in there", or should they take off, sand, and reglue?

 

While it is not perhaps financially smart to fix the guitar, I am going to. I like it. I guess I just have to spring for a hard case and put a humidifier in it at my folks' house.

[Stubee]

I don’t think a heavier bridge would help at all as far as bridge lift; a function of surface area more than weight, if I catch your question right. If you mean footprint or surface area, more area to glue might be less prone to let go, but I wouldn’t bank on it much. I’ve seen plenty of large footprint bridges come unglued. I’d just stick with that nice bridge. My AJRI has done well with one for 15 years of MI heating seasons, with just a minor bit of attention to humidity.

 

I believe the best way to fix is remove & reglue, but that doesn’t appear very loose. If it’s secure elsewhere a bit injected under it & clamped might work.

 

On storage: I’ve left a guitar in a heated Mi cottage thru a winter with no problems, but had another one go bad, so it’s partly fate. To not tempt it so much, you could try a couple of in-case humidifiers instead of one. Like a soundhole + one of the little plastic ‘cans’ in the case?