Post by TonyKgull on Apr 3, 2017 13:31:46 GMT -5
So, last week, I pulled out my Taylor to play for a bit. All was good until I put the capo on the second fret to play a song. Noticed the strings were buzzing, well, the 2 high strings anyways (B and e).
I look down the fret board and *gasp!* there's a slight hump in the neck right where the heel/body meets the neck. The relief was a bit much as well. I thought, "Dammit! Not my Taylor!"
I had this problem before in a couple of guitars and ended up selling them cuz the tech I had at the time could not fix it. I did not want this solution this time. *sigh*. So, I start googling "neck hump" and how to fix etc. One of the first things I come across is this silly video of a guy fixing the neck hump in a classic Gibson. How? By simply humidifying it.
I thought, "No way. It can't be that easy. Is this simply because I let her dry out a bit too much?"
Well, I put her in her gig bag, put 2 good damp homemade sponge-in-baggy case humidifiers, 1 in sound hole, 1 behind the neck just above the body. Closed the gig bag with both zippers up at top, then sealed it off with a plastic bag and a clip, just at the top where the zippers meet because that's not a great seal. Left it like that all week (5 days).
Pulled her out today to give her a try. No wasting time. First thing I did was tune her up (was a bit sharp of course, so had to tune down then up) put the capo on 2nd fret and play same song. Well lo and behold! Buzz is gone.
I looked down the neck, can still see a "bit" of a bend and a "bit" of a hump (neck was perfectly straight when I initially brought her home), but a big difference from 5 days ago. So, I just decided to play her for about an hour, enjoy the tunes, then redamp the sponges and seal her up again in the gig bag. Should be good as new in another few days.
It's just amazing how much an acoustic guitar, even a laminate back and sides one, can be affected by humidity or lack thereof. I'm just glad that silly video showed this was an easy fix. I have no idea how I did not think of or discover this somehow the first time around with the first guitars I had this problem with. Ah well. All's well that ends well.
I look down the fret board and *gasp!* there's a slight hump in the neck right where the heel/body meets the neck. The relief was a bit much as well. I thought, "Dammit! Not my Taylor!"
I had this problem before in a couple of guitars and ended up selling them cuz the tech I had at the time could not fix it. I did not want this solution this time. *sigh*. So, I start googling "neck hump" and how to fix etc. One of the first things I come across is this silly video of a guy fixing the neck hump in a classic Gibson. How? By simply humidifying it.
I thought, "No way. It can't be that easy. Is this simply because I let her dry out a bit too much?"
Well, I put her in her gig bag, put 2 good damp homemade sponge-in-baggy case humidifiers, 1 in sound hole, 1 behind the neck just above the body. Closed the gig bag with both zippers up at top, then sealed it off with a plastic bag and a clip, just at the top where the zippers meet because that's not a great seal. Left it like that all week (5 days).
Pulled her out today to give her a try. No wasting time. First thing I did was tune her up (was a bit sharp of course, so had to tune down then up) put the capo on 2nd fret and play same song. Well lo and behold! Buzz is gone.
I looked down the neck, can still see a "bit" of a bend and a "bit" of a hump (neck was perfectly straight when I initially brought her home), but a big difference from 5 days ago. So, I just decided to play her for about an hour, enjoy the tunes, then redamp the sponges and seal her up again in the gig bag. Should be good as new in another few days.
It's just amazing how much an acoustic guitar, even a laminate back and sides one, can be affected by humidity or lack thereof. I'm just glad that silly video showed this was an easy fix. I have no idea how I did not think of or discover this somehow the first time around with the first guitars I had this problem with. Ah well. All's well that ends well.