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Hi I stupidly bought one guitar too many
A 1966 gretsch double anniversary from a seller in toronto Ontario, There were many pictures and though the down the neck photo was fore shortened and out of focus down the neck but the seller assured me over the phone that the neck was staright, action was good and their was no need of a neck reset, only a slight bow as all guitars need, (I assumed he meant for relief) and I was excited and wanted the guitar so I believed him. It arrived after the usual UPS fiascos but it looked like the package and the original case were undamaged and hadn't suffered any abuse. i took the guitar all excited and WHOOOAA super high action and a total banana neck. Some of the worst neck bow I've seen on a guitar considered to be 'playable" (maybe with a *^&%*&^ slide!. i thought okay. I'll see what the truss rod can do> I've set up all my own vintage electrics, done refrets and adjusted many a truss rod successfully and with no mishaps. i like adjusting truss rods, I think it's cool how it works. Anyway it seems not all the way out but not super tight with plenty of room for adjustment so I give it a 1/4 turn, no difference in the neck, okay another 1/4 turn..no differnce, and another, no difference. and another...that's a fair bit of adjustment and the rod is getting very tight but NO difference in the crazy neck bow.. So I back it off. all the way off, no differnce. I try tightening it up again., but slower with 20-30 minutes between turns, no difference.The truss rod is clearly not broken, It is tightening and loosening. It just isn't doing anything and the neck has this huge warp.
The bridge (which has had the feet almost sanded off(hard to see in the original photos) is an old tunematic which can be lowered considerably but will bottom out on the bridge pickup(normal height) before the action gets even close to playable (and I like action a little higher than most), Even just clearing the pickup all the frets past the 12th are bottoming out like crazy and there's a huge dip in the middle. It looks like somebody planed the fretboard at the nut as it's really narrow at that point (about 1/8') I tried to talk to the seller but despite my experince both in playing and my own repairs and setup he insists i's a great playing guitar that has perfectly normal action. I tried sending pictures with rulers. he said it was only a few tiny mm...(.oh boy!) and a setup could fix it easily. I pointed out that I tried all the usual setup things to no avail..and it clearly needs a reset and maybe some neck straightening.. and lt's a lot of work. Here's how it came it makes my other double anniversary look like a speed metal guitar!!)

some more pictures with the strings totally slacked off and the rod snugged up, no change in the bow
Th last one is the guitar strung up with a straight edge to show the bow, note the narrow fretboard at the nut. the red dotted fret in the close up is the 7th, the 9th has scar in the finish next to it

Send it back, it was misrepresented.

And send Guido to break his thumbs while you're at it.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Does Guido know Bubba? We can send them both!

You need a luthier, or a lawyer. Ideally, a lawyer who moonlights as a luthier on the side. He'll either fix the guitar or fix the seller


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A Luthyer? or a Lawhier?

Sorry to hear about your raw deal.

Here's a trick from Dan Erlewine I have used with some success to help the trussrod do the work on a badly warped neck.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtKzL3n0fgc