Setup Question

[EVOL!]

The history: Two months ago my wife and I went out of town. A friend of hers offered to watch our puppy and when we got to her place to drop off the dog I saw a big guitar case with the Gibson logo on it. I asked if I could check it out and when I opened it there was a beautiful Gibson Dove with no strings. The story goes that my wife's friend's older sister dated a guy with boat loads of money. He bought this guitar, left it at the sister's house for months, and after they broke up she kept it. My wife's friend is going to learn guitar so she took it. I offered to set it up for her, but she said she had someone to do that already. Fast forward to last Saturday when my wife's friend came over for a BBQ she brought the guitar with the request, "can you set this up for me?" NP. I had an extra set of strings and a humidifier. Btw I have no idea how old this guitar is (have not looked up the serial no.) or how long it was in a case with no strings.

 

Present: I busted the guitar out last Monday and strung it up. The strings were fretting out around the 11th fret and when you stuck your face into the sound hole it did not have the strong fragrance of wood. Assuming the top had dried and sunk some, I filled my Planet Waves humidifier, put it in the guitar, and closed it in the case for a three days. Took the guitar out three days later and found it to be in better shape, but the high strings still fret out from about the 9th to the 14th frets. I did two separate 1/4 turns of the truss rod (counter clockwise to loosen it). Action on the low frets is about where I would want it w/ the bottom strings are clearing well, but all the strings, *especially* the high E, are still fretting out near the 12th fret. It does play and sound killer up to the 7th fret. My wife's friend is a beginner so she'll be fine for now with this guitar learning all of the open and first position chords. Wish I could have learned on a Gibson Dove.

 

At this point is it best for my wife's friend to take this guitar into a tech because it is probably a combination of the saddle needing to be raised and maybe some neck planing or (hopefully) some fretboard hydrating? After reading up more on setting up acoustics, string clearance at the twelfth fret is not a truss rod adjustable thing. I am used to setting up electrics where you have more flexibility with raising/lowering the bridge. The top string's slot on the nut does appear to be deeper than the others, but if that was the cause I would expect it to fret out on the lower frets too.

[drathbun]

Sounds like the classic 14th fret hump. The guitar has dried out and the body has sunk at the soundhole taking the fretboard extension with it and voila the hump. Also sounds like the guitar was left unhumidified without strings. I would suggest continuing to humidify the guitar. Keep filling the soundhole humidifier until it no longer goes dry. Then, the best thing to do is take it to a qualified guitar tech who can sort out the neck angle, truss rod, saddle height issues.

 

The saddle might be find once the guitar is back in shape and the neck has the correct relief.

[EVOL!]

Also sounds like the guitar was left unhumidified without strings.

 

It was and I am not sure for how long. My guess is at least a year; if not more. Wanted to cry when I saw it. Why would someone abuse such a beautiful instrument?

[drathbun]

It was and I am not sure for how long. My guess is at least a year; if not more. Wanted to cry when I saw it. Why would someone abuse such a beautiful instrument?

 

Mostly ignorance. The good news is, it shouldn't be too difficult to get it back in tip top condition.

[brians356]

It takes weeks or months to get a dried guitar back into shape by humidifying. Three days doesn't tell you anything. One simply cannot rush this process.

 

Brian Adams

Reno, NV (I know dry climate!)

[watchunglava]

It takes weeks or months to get a dried guitar back into shape by humidifying. Three days doesn't tell you anything. One simply cannot rush this process.

 

Brian Adams

Reno' date=' NV (I know dry climate!)[/quote']

 

 

This is very true , you need to re humidify this correctly. slow and steady wins the race when it comes to this. buy a case humidifier , as well as a sound hole humidifier. use the sound hole humidifier until it stops going dry. check on it every 3 days at first , it will take longer after the first few times. when the sound hole humidifier is done with , keep her in the case with the case humidifier for at least a couple weeks , checking once a week or more often depending on your situation ,to refill the humidifier .

 

use fret dr. on the fret board first thing . this will take at least 6 weeks. store it in the case without strings , and with all tension removed from the truss rod .

 

she should be fine . you should clean and polish the finish using virtuoso.

 

good luck

[sfden1]

Personally, I would take it to a good tech or local luthier. Hydrating it can't hurt, but there may be other things going on a well. For instance, one or two of the frets may be too high. No harm in having someone with a lot of experience diagnosing these things take a look at it.