I bought an acoustic guitar at a warehouse sale a couple months ago. There was a slight buzz around the 12th fret of the high E string, and I've been delaying going for a neck adjustment. Over the past month the buzzing got worse.. horribly worse. The high E won't play, and all the other strings now buzz. The neck definitely moved/warped over this time, and I have 2 questions:
1. Why did it warp? Since the guitar was bought at a warehouse sale, I've always been concerned maybe there's some secret problem with it. But I think I'm just paranoid... because the other thing is that I've been leaving it hanging on the wall near an electric baseboard heater about 4 feet away. That seems more likely the culprit, correct? (Really stupid on my part, but lesson learned).
2. What do to? I gave it in for an estimate, and they said that it needs more than a neck adjustment.. he said he has to re-glue the neck. Should I have him do that? It's more expensive than I expected, and I'm worried maybe I messed up the guitar permanently.
Thanks in advance!
Not sure where you live but I'd bet the heater is the cause also. Get it away from there ASAP. As for correcting it I'd take it to a guitar luthier and let him take a look.
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What he's talking about sounds like a neck reset It's a fairly major job.
Many of the glues used in guitar building tend to soften with heat and humidity. So I'd agree that the heater sounds like culprit.
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So I looked like I was deep
Heat sources are not your friend. The parts of the guitar closer to the source will lose humidity more quickly, and that can cause warping.
As Kent noted, guitars are built with hide glue, which softens when it's heated. That's done so you can heat a guitar and disassemble it if it needs structural repairs. Hide glue runs like syrup at about 160F, but the tension of your strings against the wood can start causing damage at much lower temperatures.
Last summer I had a student whose guitar started coming apart during her lesson. Right before my eyes I could see her action getting higher and higher. Turned out her father had taken her out to eat lunch before her lesson, and they'd left the guitar in the trunk. Then they came to lessons... and after less than an hour in the hot car trunk, her neck joint was soft enough to start shifting.
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Hi. Thanks everyone for your responses.
Yup, I think the first estimate was for a reset. But I took the guitar to someone else for another opinion and he fixed it without a reset. I'm not sure exactly how, but I think he adjusted the truss rod and I noticed the saddle is much higher. It plays good now, the neck looks straight, but there's a slight buzz on the thicker strings around the 3rd fret. I don't think I'll take it back to him yet but instead I will wait a few months for another setup. It sucks being a beginner player not knowing much about fixing guitars...
And the extra heater in that room is now off. The heater WAS my friend... but not anymore.
You don't have to make the room uncomfortably cold, just move the guitar and heater away from each other.
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
