Russ Chastain

I traded my old Texan-12 today... but my favorite guitars are still Epiphones.

I've decided to sell this guitar (FT-160N TEXAN-12). I worked some hot hide glue under the bridge (couldn't find any internal problems with it) and when I tuned it up that was holding fine, but one of the new strings broke. I've decided to sell it off, guess I'm just a six-string guy. It will come with the el cheapo hard case that I got with it and I'm willing to ship at the buyer's expense. Pics/details available via email. Neck block has been repaired very well. The adjustable bridge is all there. Anyone interested, please make an offer. If it's improper for me to offer it for sale here, please let me know and I'll correct my error. I looked at the rules and didn't see anything about it. Thanks! Russ

I strung it and tuned it up. She made a good bit of popping as I tuned her up, and some of the tuners are very hard to turn while others are easy. After she sat overnight I noticed the bridge lifting; if it wasn't for the screws in the bridge it would almost certainly have pulled loose already. The neck repair is holding very well. Now to decide whether to keep her or trade her off. I sure can't live with these tuners like this; I'll have to fix or replace them. I don't know why they are inconsistent, they all came apart and went together exactly the same and I made sure that every part went back in the same place from which it came.

Turns out, the neck block (NB) had come partially loose from the side and completely loose from the top (sound board). The top was slightly broken and warped under the fretboard. Someone had been into be before and tried slopping some wood glue here and there, and the sound-hole end of the neck had been shimmed in the cutout for it in the NB. I mixed up some glue using Knox gelatin and first glued the NB to the side. Then glued the top down to the NB. Left it overnight, then today I made some blocks to glue on each side of the NB. I went simpler than TommyK's blocks - I ripped the old weathered sides off an old rough-cut 2x2 piece of oak I had lying around, and then ripped it on a diagonal - so I was left with two pieces with a triangular cross-section. I used two pieces of that triangular wood for my braces, one on each side of the NB. I took a few pics, but need to get them off my phone to upload 'em. I also gave the tuners a complete going-through. They were pretty grody. The glue appears to be holding well. I'll have to leave it alone until after Christmas and then I'll put it back together, see if the neck pocket needs that shim or not, and give it a try.

I recently traded for an old FT-160N that has this problem. It was unstrung when I got it, so the extent of its problems wasn't obvious. But the binding is coming apart to one side of the neck, there are cracks emanating from the corners of the neck cutout in the guitar side (where the heel ought to be), the sound board is warped under the end of the fingerboard, and the neck + neck block are loose enough that they readily wiggle around inside the guitar. I don't much mind having a project, so unless I find it's beyond repair I'll probably be happy enough with it - unless it turns out to really suck, action-wise, when I'm done. It appears to have all the parts for the adjustable saddle. Some of the tuning keys are loosey-goosey, might try to tighten them up when I tear the tuners down for cleaning & lubing. The shiny finish has quite a few cracks in it. I picked it up so I can try a 12-string... hope it doesn't turn out to be a regrettable decision. I've only been playing guitar for about 16 months. I figure I can always sell or trade it off if I don't like it. But I really like my Epi AJ 18S VSB and I LOVE my Epi Masterbilt AJ-500RE NS, so I expect to not hate this one. Thanks for the post about the repair. I'm going to look at what I have when I tear it down, and either adopt your repair or devise my own plan. I had the wife pick up some Knox gelatin today, so I'll be able to whip up some hide glue when the time comes.