The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #124246   Message #2743120
Posted By: mandotim
10-Oct-09 - 06:29 PM
Thread Name: Guitar Bellying Dang
Subject: RE: Guitar Bellying Dang
Hi olddude, sorry, I forgot to answer your other question; a neck reset is indeed an option, but on Martins (they have a dovetail joint) it's a bugger of a job to get right. Most 'luthiers' put shims in rather than re-cutting the joint, but in my opinion this is unstable and affects tone. Also, it doesn't treat the underlying problem, it just relieves the symptoms by realigning the fretboard with the warped top. The top bellying is usually caused by either humidity/lack of humidity or (more commonly) one or more of the braces, usually around the bridge plate, not doing their job by either warping or coming adrift. If you don't fix these problems you end up having to reset the neck over and over again, ending up with a very odd-looking instrument. There was an example of this I saw recently, a 1920s Gibson H4 mandola for sale that had the neck at a very weird angle. Nice instrument, but virtually unplayable by the time I saw it. Just needed new tone bars, but the neck was beyond repair by by this time. (Opposite problem on mandolas of course, this was top sinkage rather than bellying!)
Tim