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An old friend dropped off an old Norman guitar that he'd bought for his wife 42 years ago. He said a couple of strings wouldn't stay in tune, and could I get it to a reasonable playing condition.
I've only done work on my own guitars, but figured I couple do some basic set up on it.
When I took a closer look, it turned out to be a basket case!



When I took the strings off, I inspected the braces, and found that the upper X brace was tapered to nothing, and fell short of the linings by 1", and the lower X didn't reach the linings either.

These guitars were built without a heel, and a neck attachment much like an electric guitar.

The neck is completely let into the top and a neck block that tapers down to about an inch deep at the back of the guitar.

It looked like the neck design and bracing weren't going to allow for any simple fix for the high action and top issues.

I thought that maybe I could put to practice what I learned at Hesh and David Collin's fretting class, and make the fret board more playable. That wasn't going to happen, either. The factory fret levelling hadn't been re crowned, and had taken the frets so low that I couldn't re level and crown them.
Polishing the frets and fret board, new strings, lowering the nut slots, and tightening several loose tuner posts was the extent of what I could do.

I saw these guitars at a local music shop in the mid 70's, and the owner told me that the two owners of Norman guitars had a falling out over the heel design. One left, and started Lys Guitars ( I have a Lys 12 string, with a heel ). For obvious reasons, Norman guitars soon adopted a more traditional design!

Alex


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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Alex, looks like a project. Could you address some of the action height with a tapered shim in the neck pocket?

Unusual guitar might call for an unusual solution

I have used neck shims on Fender style guitar to get just the right saddle height:
http://www.stewmac.com/Materials_and_Supplies/Bodies_and_Necks_and_Wood/Electric_Guitar_Bodies_and_Necks_and_Wood/Electric_Guitar_Necks/StewMac_Neck_Shims_for_Guitar.html

I have never used one of these Bridge Doctors, and cannot for the life of me figure out how you end up with a tone anything like the guitar started with - but there are countless reviews saying these work in flattening the belly on older, less valuable guitars. But this may be a match made in heaven for this guitar. Let me be very clear, I have no reason to believe this thing works in an acoustically sound way, have never used one myself, and don't know anyone personally who has - this is just throwing out an idea I read about once in a forum - but it would be cool to see this guitar in playable condition again.

http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Tools_by_Job/Tools_for_Bridges/JLD_Bridge_Doctor.html

Is it dehydrated?

My friend really didn't want anything major to be done, and I told him that unless I had to replace the tuners, that I wasn't going to accept any payment, even for the strings. I think his wife just plays some cowboy chords, and not very often at that. There was zero fretboard wear, so that shows lack of play, for whatever reason.
Once I stung it up, it played ok in the first five frets, and sounded ok, as well.
I don't think hydration had a lot to do with the sunken top. Top, back, and sides are ply. The back still has a good dome to it, but the braces were let into the linings, whereas the top X was over carved, and untucked.
I thought about a shim under the neck, but any benefit would likely be short lived as there isn't anything to resist the tension of the strings. If the neck block were "C" shaped instead of "L" shaped, it would help resist the force of the strings.
It's funny how so many factory guitars are being overbuilt - thick tops, wide flat topped braces with little tapering. This one is just the opposite. I can't think that there was any other reason to build a guitar this way other than it could be slapped together quick and cheap. The guitar case that it is in probably cost more than the guitar did!
My friend was pretty happy that it had new strings on it and the frets and fret board were nice and shiny, so all is good!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Hi Alex! Welcome to our world!

Normans were kind of crappy guitars but nonetheless they often were important to someone and someone's memories and development as a person. When that's the case they can be priceless even though the rest of us think that they are utter junk....

Greg's suggestion on shimming the neck is a good one and these are easy to do that on with this bolt on neck. I'm also wondering, like Glen if it's dry since this is the season and out of commission guitars often live in the driest parts of someone's house.

Sometimes the goal or a suitable goal for something like this is exactly what you've done, get it playable in the most economically possible way forward. That often reminds the client what a horrible piece of shirt.... it was and then they are no longer keen to go any further with it.

Nice to see you doing some repair work my friend and remember call me if I can ever help.

Thanks Hesh! My friend was so pleased just to have new strings on it, and cleaned up a bit!
I told him that there were a few issues that could be a bit invasive, and take more time to repair, but he just wanted it playable for Christmas, as he gave it to his wife as a Christmas gift 42 years ago.

I certainly won't be actively looking for repair work to do, but I regularly help out friends, and sometimes their friends with cabinetry, renovation, and some construction problems they may have. I enjoy doing this, because I remember the people who helped me out when I had absolutely no knowledge on these subjects, and I owe it to them to pay it forward. So if the occasional guitar comes my way, and I think that I can handle the repair - or ask you guys how to proceed - I'll go ahead, and have some fun, and make someone happy!

Sometime, I'll try my first neck reset on my Lys 12 string. While most of my co workers spent their first GM pay check in a bar, 36 years ago, I bought the guitar!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker