Warped BODY!!!

[nonamemx]

Hello wise people.

I have a 1969 Yamaha FG-230 12string acoustic.

I got it for $100 at a pawnshop, about a year ago. Wow. That was last summer. Last month of school. Wow, time flies.

But anyways, The body. . . .is warped

Its not the neck, its the body. The part of the body where the bridge rests is risen up. I could get some pictures if they are absolutely necessary, but there isn't much to see besides a warped body.

How can I fix this?

Somebody told me I should get a damp rag, put the rag in the body, let the moisture absorb into the wood, and put a brick wrapped in another rag to flatten out the body.

Would this be a good Idea?

It only cost me $100, Its got scratches and dings all over it, I dont really care about appearance, Just playability.

Thank you SO MUCH!.

[nonamemx]

Oh, Shoot, Im sorry for the triple post, I kept getting a "Mail error" when I posted it, so I didn't think it worked.

[Brian]

This Tutorial might help you out, plus it is a good read too

[nonamemx]

Hmm. Thats pretty close to the problem, but its almost the whole face of the guitar.

That job would be a nightmare without his handy little camera, would the wet towel Idea work?

[Southpa]

You would have to do it all by feel. If the top is warped then there is a good chance that bracing and/or bridgeplate has separated from the top. Thats a very notorious problem with 12 strings. I've seen a few brands (EKO, Yamaha, Norman for example) where this has happened. Just take a small steel ruler, or anything thin and flexible, and run it around all the bracing/bridgeplate glue joints looking for gaps. Once you've located them then they will have to be cleaned up, reglued and clamped firmly. It depends on how separation happened in the first place, either shoddy manufacturing, tuning too high or some other kind of abuse like fast, extreme temperature/humidity changes.

Fixing the guitar can be a royal pain in the butt. I've used small syringes for administering wood glue to those areas and found its easier to do just one brace joint at a time. You will also have to devise various ways of clamping the bracing to the top once glued. There are special clamps you can buy that have the reach, otherwise a snug fitting 2X4 block, cut to just the right size works well for the deep inside work. I've resurrected a few guitars using this method and found that the warpage is greatly diminished when done.

[Drak]

Southpa is right on, but you might very well spend more on the acoustic guitar bracing clamps than the guitar cost you to begin with.

This happens to budget line 12-ers all the time.

Maybe call your local guitar shop and have them fix it for you, unless they try to take you for a royal ride.

Worst case scenario and you don't mind making a sacrificial lamb out of it, remove the top and fix it properly, reassemble it and refinish the entire guitar.

If you do your research right, the $100.00 cost of the guitar will be your entry fee into the world of acoustic guitar repair, since you will probably have to make a new brace or two, and you might want to add a brace or two.

Approached the right way, with learning in mind, you stand to learn a -helluva- lot by the end of it.

It's all in your outlook.

I don't like the wet rag approach much, you could further ruin it if done improperly.

[nonamemx]

Well, hmm

Im 16, an electronics guy, not really a woodworker. Im not sure if I have the know-how to do this, how hard would it be to fix this?

I know you cant give me a price, but in what neighborhood would the cost be to have it fixed? Just the top is warped. I looked inside, vacuumed a big wad of spider's nest/dust clump (ew. . .a bug fell out . . ) and I couldn't tell if anything was unglued like you said.

It has bizarre aysemmetrical bracings, something like this: (red is the bracings on the top) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v39/nona...abracingtop.jpg

Thank you for your help

[Boggs]

I am the original owner of an FG230 and it had the same problem. I did end up resetting the neck and also I installed a JLD Bridge Doctor which helped resolve this issue. Boggs

[joej]

Here is my 2 cents -- it costs WAY too much to repair something like that.

(me = amateur, so take this all with grain of salt)

So, try to fix it yourself. You don't have to be an expert, but you do have to fully know the issues before you do something. Being 16 just means you're more willing to learn than older folks :-)

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So, use this forum. But first, nail the problem:

- get a compact mirror (small makeup mirror a girl would have in her purse)

- get a pen light

- get an artists palette knife or some thin, flexible metal blade

Hold the mirror inside the guitar & use the penlight to peek around.

Take a careful look at where the braces are against the top soundboard.

Any gaps? Try slipping the palette knife between soundboard and bracing.

Any loose braces would need fixed -- like the post before this: need to figure out how to clean the gap/joint well enough, get some new Titebond original glue in there, and clamp it. Plan ahead: cut a 2x4 or some kind of wedge to push the brace up (when glued) and plan on laying something heavy on top to help push the soundboard down.

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Back to checking -- make sure to give a good look at the neck block. Any looseness between sides and it? soundboard and it?

That bracing up near the neck block (from your pict) doesn't look complete.

Is there a transverse brace running across the guitar above the sound hole?

Are there little "popsicle" braces between neck block and sides?

If not, and there is a problem there ... I've added a little wedge connecting the neck block and soundboard (along the side of the neck block. I've done that when the soundboard cracked along the neck block (another 12-string problem in some guitars)

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If none of those problems -- then post up what you've learned. But, I expect loose braces somewhere up near the top.

-- joe