Advice: Epi Granada / 120T top sink problem
Hello everyone / anyone,
I have an Epi Granada (same as a 120T, I've included a generic pict) and over the years the top has kept going down. Over the last decade I went only acoustic, but kept this around and switched this too to 13s for consistency and I think that sped up the top sink. I always tried to put it away with the strings down a step but I went and put it away in the case without de-tuning, forgot, stored it, and didn't get back to it for over a year - bad thing that was. It's really in a bad way now, bridge all the way up, only playable on first 5 frets.
The old school way to fix this was to pull the frets and plane the fretboard downward to improve the angle and get the bridge down, and then refret. I find that nasty, and too expensive right now for this guitar, plus the original frets are still perfect. I'd seen hollow bodies in my travels that had had a block forced in under the bridge to keep the top from falling further, too late for that I guess.
So, any newfangled luthiery wizardry to jack up a top and reinforce it? I certainly recognize that without any pickups to pull and given the extreme thinness of this guitar that getting inside must be bear. Is a neck set the best solution? Even possible here? What are my options for getting this inexpensive but extremely excellent vintage guitar fixed up? TIA for all advice.
I have an Epi Granada (same as a 120T, I've included a generic pict) and over the years the top has kept going down. Over the last decade I went only acoustic, but kept this around and switched this too to 13s for consistency and I think that sped up the top sink. I always tried to put it away with the strings down a step but I went and put it away in the case without de-tuning, forgot, stored it, and didn't get back to it for over a year - bad thing that was. It's really in a bad way now, bridge all the way up, only playable on first 5 frets.
The old school way to fix this was to pull the frets and plane the fretboard downward to improve the angle and get the bridge down, and then refret. I find that nasty, and too expensive right now for this guitar, plus the original frets are still perfect. I'd seen hollow bodies in my travels that had had a block forced in under the bridge to keep the top from falling further, too late for that I guess.
So, any newfangled luthiery wizardry to jack up a top and reinforce it? I certainly recognize that without any pickups to pull and given the extreme thinness of this guitar that getting inside must be bear. Is a neck set the best solution? Even possible here? What are my options for getting this inexpensive but extremely excellent vintage guitar fixed up? TIA for all advice.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ron Frazier on
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Sounds like the neck needs reset.. Is there a truss rod and can the neck be streightened?
Ron
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Permalink Reply by samhill on
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There is a truss rod (headstock adjust) but the problem goes beyond a truss-rod adjustment. A neck set would be the practical approach, though I've only heard of this being done on acoustics to counter top-rise issues. I'm just not too sure how easy they come off Gibsons in general, or this one in particular, or what the limits are here. If anyone (FF?) knows how doable (and safe/risky) this would be and what I'd be looking at for cost, more or less, please chime in! I do want to save this guitar, as far as I'm concerned it's every bit as fine in every way as any top of the line old Gibson - attribute to them in the old days, and that Melody Maker sc pu it carries flies like a butterfly stings like a bee. TIA again.
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