Busato Neck Problem

Michael Bauer

Oh, Frater, bring several! That looks dangerously good!

klaatu

Michael Bauer wrote:

Oh, Frater, bring several! That looks dangerously good!

Yes, and while you two are scarfing down the pastries, I'll run off with the Busato(s)!

Bones

Be 100% sure what the problem is before you even consider messing with the neck. Messing with the bridge is the most forgiving (just buy a replacement and play around with it that way you can always go back to the original if it doesn't work out). Is it that the neck is not centered on the guitar or is it as simple as the bridge just needs to be moved side to side or just move the grooves on the bridge where the strings go over the top to align them with the neck.

Moving the tailpiece is the next most invasive operation and I would leave that up to a pro-repair guy if you are not handy that way (no offense).

If you are not 100% sure where the problem is, have a good luthier check it out. They will have straightedges etc and can zero in on exactly where the issue is. Remember that nothing is perfect and that is true of hand made guitars so it might be just a matter of 'splitting the difference' and doing something non-invasive like a new bridge to make it totally acceptable.

Jeff Moore

I've seen this one on old guitars. I believe Bob's answer is exactly right. The body has given way just a bit so the neck has moved towards the cutaway.
I'd keep the old bridge (for a number of reasons) and just have a new bridge installed. Moving the moustaches (if I understood you right) would allow you to fix the alignment, but putting a new bridge on and cutting string slots where they now need to be, eliminates invasion of any kind, and will get the alignment just where you want it.

Sounds like you need a fret job bad, but that's a separate issue and an easy diagnosis.
I've had two necks creep in the way you describe. I wouldn't do a reset but under more pressing circumstances or at all given what Bob shared.

A new bridge is something I like doing so I can perfect intonation, string alignment, string height, etc all at once to my own wants without any demo work at all!

Michael Bauer

I agree. I planned on taking pictures last weekend, but holiday distractions (i.e. guests!) overwhelmed my time and the condo isn't really bright enough in the early evening this time of year to get good detailed shots. I plan on taking some tomorrow. The bridge slots are already offset noticably, which makes me think the best solution might be to move the tailpiece. It would look strange, but how many people examine the end of a guitar that closely to see if the tailpiece is centered? Anyway, I have gotten sage advice from "Busato Bob" Holo, and from Craig Bumgarner, so we'll see what thoughts the experts have after seeing the pics.

Jeff Moore

Moving the moustaches and tailpiece put them in "the wrong spot". Just doing a bridge further to the right (looking from above) than the current bridge buys you time to find someone who can rebuild and reinforce the stuff Bob was talking about, but I wouldn't alter the guitar in such a way that you will have to redo the temporary fixes that are really just compensating for a sagging neck block and bracing structure.
When you take care of the underlying problem, you don't want to also have to undo the "fixes" and put them back where they were to begin with.

Michael Bauer

So, I haven't taken pictures because my wife's camera is on the blink and the cell phone camera isn't producing clear enough images in the murky semi-light of a Chicago December afternoon. But...with the help of guitar tech extraordinnaire Geoff Benge here in Chicago, I was able to determine that the neck is pretty straight after all. The real problem is the fretboard work on the high-E side, which is undulating, not up and down towards the strings, but sideways, narrowing and widening the distance from the strings to the edge of the fretboard. It created the illusion that the neck was crooked because it was closest to the strings from the 7th to the body, and since I kept falling off the edge, I assumed the neck itself was off. This was reinforced by the fact that the bridge had been cut off-center by whomever did the fretwork in order to get the strings as far as possible from the offending edge. It didn't accomplish much besides torquing the tailpiece.

So the fix should be easier. Geoff thinks a new fretboard, a refret, and a new bridge will solve the problem, since the neck itself doesn't seem to be affected, just the fretboard. I don't know who did the work, but he should be banned from ever touching an instrument again. So I am buying the guitar and fixing it, and the seller gave in enough to cover the expense of the repair. This is actually way better than I had thought it would be, as the repair should be minimally invasive. I wasn't the original fretboard anyway.

My only worry now is whether the unusual glue that Busato used should be an issue in this type of repair. I would guess not as long as we can avoid a neck reset, but I would love to hear that confirmed by the experts. Is there a repairman in the US that I should consider having do the work that has plenty of Busato expertise? Repairing cracks is one thing, but neckwork on a Busato scares the crap out of me, given that the neck is a three-piece laminate. Geoff is really good, but Busatos are unique beasts, and I don't know what risks, if any, would be involved in installing a new fretboard. I'm probably worried about nothing, but Bob and/or Craig, do you have any thoughts. I'll try again for cell phone pictures in the better llight of the morning.

Bob Holo

If the fretboard is straight and the movement is side to side then you don't have an issue unless you're pulling the string off the side of the fretboard and perhaps even then a movement of bridge slots will solve the problem.

If you like it and it plays well enough (most vintage rigs don't play perfectly) then buy it and love it. If it plays better with the bridge notches moved to one side... then move them and play it and love it...

If it doesn't play well and the heat of removing the fretboard concerns you, you can have the fretboard planed off as it has no monetary value if it is a replacement... or depending on whether Jeff's rigged up for it, he can rout & bind the fretboard to bring the side of it out. But... ... ... my guess is you'd have noticed an undulating fretboard side as it departed from the line of the neck. If it is flush with the side of the neck, you probably have an undulating neck.... very little can be done about that without narrowing the neck.