Post by CTGull on Sept 25, 2022 17:30:19 GMT -5
HIS STORY: When he went away to college (LIU - CW Post) in 1968 he was walking across a common area, you know, grass, trees, and students sitting in the grass playing an instrument here and there. One of them was playing a 12 string, and just listening to him play every day chords on that guitar was mesmerizing to him. That is when he got the fever.
He got a six string Harmony and played that for a long time, then went to a six string Ovation later on. When he got the Ovation, he had started playing some gigs in Maine. He was homesteading in Maine then (1978 or so) and he built a house out of a barn he had torn down with some friends. As a construction worker (Millwright/Welder) it was always feast or famine, and, during a (brief) feast he decided to fulfill his 12-string dream. He found her in a music store in Brewer Maine, used (of course) but in very good shape, and singing like the 12-string in his memory banks from long before. He thinks he gave them $150 for it in about 1980, and it has paid him back many times over.
As time went by, he noticed that bar chords became really hard first, then later, impossible. He has retired now, and he wants to honor that guitar and return it to an easier action for his hands, which have naturally aged along with the rest of him.
He originally contacted me 7 months ago about buying a saddle. I asked some questions and mentioned having done over 50 vintage FG neck resets. He was considering driving down from Maine to deliver it. I heard from him again 1 months ago, inquiring again about meeting. He had gone thru COVID. But I was recovering from COVID so I asked if we could talk again in 2-3 weeks. I contacted him a couple of weeks ago and we decided to meet at my work when I got out. He texted me a link to follow him on Waze, since he had a 5-6 hour ride. He got there 2 minutes later than expected, pretty good for suck a distance!! We talked for 1 hour 10 minutes, probably one of the best conversations I’ve ever had, very diverse, we had lots of stuff in common to talk about.
OBSERVATIONS: There's the usual dings and scrapes, along with a patch of wear thru the finish at the lower right edge of the pickguard. The pickguard is loose and almost off. There's a strap button on the top side of the heel. The octave G is missing. The bridge pins are not original, they are white with a black dot. He had loosened the strings and pushed them to the sides of the nut to remove a pickup, which left the endpin jack hole open. There is a noticeable belly behind the bridge, and a slightly belly in the upper side of the lower bout. I tuned it to "D". Oddly, the nut action is high for most strings, only low for the G. The neck relief is good low E and barely there for the high E. The action is a little under 1/8" low E, and a little under 7/64" high E. The neck projects 3/32" below the top of the bridge (hitting the first & last frets), with a .015" gap in the middle. The saddle sticks out of the bridge .09"/.10, the bridge is .31" thick. The belly behind the bridge is 1/8" per side.
The pickguard is almost off.
Tuned to "D" the is pretty much zero break angle for the rear strings.
And a decent belly in the top and bridge tip.
Near 1/8" action.
He got a six string Harmony and played that for a long time, then went to a six string Ovation later on. When he got the Ovation, he had started playing some gigs in Maine. He was homesteading in Maine then (1978 or so) and he built a house out of a barn he had torn down with some friends. As a construction worker (Millwright/Welder) it was always feast or famine, and, during a (brief) feast he decided to fulfill his 12-string dream. He found her in a music store in Brewer Maine, used (of course) but in very good shape, and singing like the 12-string in his memory banks from long before. He thinks he gave them $150 for it in about 1980, and it has paid him back many times over.
As time went by, he noticed that bar chords became really hard first, then later, impossible. He has retired now, and he wants to honor that guitar and return it to an easier action for his hands, which have naturally aged along with the rest of him.
He originally contacted me 7 months ago about buying a saddle. I asked some questions and mentioned having done over 50 vintage FG neck resets. He was considering driving down from Maine to deliver it. I heard from him again 1 months ago, inquiring again about meeting. He had gone thru COVID. But I was recovering from COVID so I asked if we could talk again in 2-3 weeks. I contacted him a couple of weeks ago and we decided to meet at my work when I got out. He texted me a link to follow him on Waze, since he had a 5-6 hour ride. He got there 2 minutes later than expected, pretty good for suck a distance!! We talked for 1 hour 10 minutes, probably one of the best conversations I’ve ever had, very diverse, we had lots of stuff in common to talk about.
OBSERVATIONS: There's the usual dings and scrapes, along with a patch of wear thru the finish at the lower right edge of the pickguard. The pickguard is loose and almost off. There's a strap button on the top side of the heel. The octave G is missing. The bridge pins are not original, they are white with a black dot. He had loosened the strings and pushed them to the sides of the nut to remove a pickup, which left the endpin jack hole open. There is a noticeable belly behind the bridge, and a slightly belly in the upper side of the lower bout. I tuned it to "D". Oddly, the nut action is high for most strings, only low for the G. The neck relief is good low E and barely there for the high E. The action is a little under 1/8" low E, and a little under 7/64" high E. The neck projects 3/32" below the top of the bridge (hitting the first & last frets), with a .015" gap in the middle. The saddle sticks out of the bridge .09"/.10, the bridge is .31" thick. The belly behind the bridge is 1/8" per side.
The pickguard is almost off.
Tuned to "D" the is pretty much zero break angle for the rear strings.
And a decent belly in the top and bridge tip.
Near 1/8" action.
