This guitar came into my shop yesterday. Initially for a new nut and saddle, fret dress and setup. On the surface it's one of thousands of Ibanez Gibson knockoffs. But this one came right at the "lawsuit" and is apparently one of only around 50 made of this model (Concord 755) before production shut down. So somewhat interesting in terms of history, if not aesthetically appealing.
The owner is the original owner who bought it new for $100 about 40+ years ago. Got a deal due to a chip in the soundboard finish. It's his baby and favorite acoustic, so he wants it to continue to live and make music.
He says it plays great and has a low action. This seems a bit surprising given my inspection, and that he says it has never been worked on. Immediately obvious was a severe hump and dip in the soundboard from the bridge. Somehow the hump and dip must have equalized out to keep the saddle at about the same height.
It's got a definite twist in the neck that I'm not going to do anything with.
But the main issue that I need to tackle is the bridge, which is separating from the top. I think the only reason it hasn't pulled off completely is the bolt on the back edge. I can get a feeler gage almost 0.3" under the back side. The gap will not close with clamping pressure.
So, the question for all of you is the best approach to this. Is anyone familiar with the glue they used and how easy it will be to pull the bridge? Then, new bridge or use the old one? The current one is actually quite thin, with a shallow saddle slot that had a relatively low sadddle (again I'm not sure that this guitar has not been worked on). But I'm hesitant to make it any thicker, as that will change the string height. Another issue is that the truss rod is locked in place. Apparently has never been adjusted, so even doing a fret dress and leveling is suspect since I can't straiten the neck (currently slightly back bowed without string tension.
My thought is to make the new nut and saddle (both the original plastic ones are cracked) and string it up to tension to see where the neck and string height settle in. Then see how much bridge/saddle height I have to work with. Then pull the bridge. If it comes of cleanly and I can get it to lie flat once everything is cleaned up, then reattach it. If not, then make a new bridge and attach. The setup will then pretty much come down to nut and saddle height only, since I can't adjust the truss rod.
Sound reasonable? Am I missing anything?
Thanks!
