Hi from newbie in SW France - S6+CW

I have a 2002 S6+CW that I got as a salvage/repair guitar for $50. It has the QI pickup. The guy had it sitting in a closet for 10 years since college after someone sat on it and broke a brace and cracked the back. And it has some heavy gouges in the top. The most obvious thing was there was a visible bend in the neck were it met the body. The action was about 1/4" at the 12th fret. A neck reset and gluing the broken stuff has made it playable, although I don't play it. It was bought to learn how to repair those things.

But that has nothing to do with your question. What's most important is how the guitar is set up. That's what makes it playable or not. Check out my setup guide. acousticguitarcabin.boards.net/thread/166/acoustic-guitar-setup It will over explain what to look for. You need to check the Neck Relief, Action, and Nut Height. The Neck Relief needs to be checked first. If it is high it will make the action high too. Proper nut height makes the guitar playable in the first few frets. The action can be lowered by sanding the bottom of the saddle, but not much. At some point a neck reset will be required, which isn't horribly expensive for this guitar since it has a bolt on neck, but the fretboard is glued on. You can check the neck angle with a 24" scale. Place it on edge on the fretboard and see where it contacts the bridge. If it's more than 1/32" below the bridge, the neck angle is probably no good. One possibility is to sand the top of the bridge lower, allowing the saddle to be sanded lower.

Look for worn frets. There are typically divots in the first few frets for the higher strings on a guitar this old. Slight divots are OK. Too deep will cause fret buzzing. High frets and low frets will cause buzzing too. High action will hide fret buzzing. Low nut slots will cause fret buzzing. Hit every note on every string, listening for any buzzing. This can be expensive to fix if frets need to be replaced. It's possible the existing frets can be leveled and recrowned.

Check how well the bridge is attached. A slight crack under the back of the bridge is OK. If you can slip a piece of paper under the bridge more than 1/4" the bridge needs to come off and be reglued.

Check the area behind the bridge for bulging. A slight "belly" is normal. If the bridge is tipped forward and there is an obvious bulge there could be a broken brace inside.

Check for cracks on the top. This happens often in guitars that weren't kept properly humidified. Cracks in the top should structurally cause a problem, but extended low humidity can cause parts become unglued as the contract at different rates. The same goes for a guitar that was kept in too warm of a place or over humidified.

OH YEA!!! WELCOME!!!!!

Thanks for the welcome guys and particularly CTGull for all the great info. I'll be checking the guitar out very thoroughly and will let you know how it goes.

Taz , welcome to the Cabin. I hope you like it here. Also hope your S6 search goes well - they are great guitars, and have a lot of sound in them. A friend of mine has a CW S6, it's been a great player for many years. His has the factory Q1 system in it.