Baldrigo

Years ago (50!) I had a Kalamazoo Epiphone FT-110 with an adjustable bridge that had lousy tone - as I recall it sounded dead, even with new strings. I took it to a really good luthier who fabricated an insert to replace the adjustable bridge, using wood (rosewood?) that matched the bridge, with a bone saddle, and the guitar suddenly sounded much, much better. His theory was that the insert (tightly fitted and securely glued) transmitted the string vibrations to the top much more efficiently than the steel adjustment screws that raised and lowered the original adjustable bridge. If you can find the right luthier willing to do the job it might be an option, if the crack in the bridge can be clamped/glued, especially since he or she will set up the guitar once the insert is installed. He or she could also address the neck problem. That might be easy to fix since (if I recall correctly) your guitar has a bolt-on neck. In general though I agree with the other posters. If you replace the bridge, nonadjustable is the way to go.

I have a 67 EC-100, and it's a really good instrument. $350 is a steal for one of these guitars. The identical gibson from the 60s (the C-1) model seems to be selling for upwards of $800 on Reverb, and some of those appear to be pretty ratty guitars. If I didn't own one already I'd be all over this one.

I have two vintage Epiphone classical guitars, a 1965 EC-100 ("Madrid") and a 1967-68 EC-300 ("Barcelona"). They are just about identical to Gibson classical models C-1 and C-4 made concurrently in Kalamazoo. But these two models are very different in construction. The EC-100 has solid spruce top, mahogany back (one piece, appears to be solid) and mahogany sides, typical Epiphone peghead shape, 35mm tuner roller spacing, and a dovetail joint neck. The EC-100 has a solid spruce top, maple back (two piece, probably solid) and maple sides, typical Spanish peghead with 39mm roller spacing and a French heel/typical Spanish construction. Both have a zeroth fret and the blue union made Kalamazoo label. The EC-100 has printed model/serial number on the label, as was the usual practice at the time. EC-300 has the model/serial number handwritten on the label. Did Gibson/Epiphone subcontract the EC-300/C4 models to Spanish luthiers? Or (more likely) did they choose a Spanish luthier/model to copy? Some small details in the construction of the EC300 make me wonder if these were made by hand, by a luthier. Anyone out there have any information? I can post pictures if anyone wants to see them .