Alvarez RD-8 Repair

[ravynkb]

My main guitar is a 10 year old Alvarez RD-8. This is a fantastic guitar, but over the years, she's developed a few quirks and issues.

The biggest one being when I pulled all the strings off to do a full deep clean, the bridge came off. The first time I noticed that the bridge was lifting, and the guitar had the dreaded belly starting, I had a luthier friend reglue the bridge. That was about 2 years ago.

The other things that I need to do with her are; replace nut bridge, possibly replace the nut, file and dress the frets, fix the annoying 14th fret wave, and possibly replace the bridge backing plate.

I am currently working on removing the belly. To do this, I have taken a wet cloth on a tray and put it inside, closed up the sound hole and used a thin book inside the case, closed the case, then set a large book and small weight on top. The theory is that the sealed inside will over humidify, allowing the wood fibers to relax enough to gently go back to true.

Once she is true, I will look at the backing plate. If it is cracked, I will need to replace it, which is fine as I may need to replace the whole bridge if I can't unbend that.

From there, I will tackle the neck wave and frets.

Finally, measure from nut to the 12th, double and check that the bridge and peg holes still line up. If not, I'll move the bridge.

I plan on this being a long project over several months, and will be posting photos along the way.

** I have many more photos of the rulers in various crossing of the guitar face, and will check those same lines in a couple weeks.

And yes, I will slowly start to accumulate the correct tools.

[Deleted]

your off to a good start!
EB

[antares]

I can tell you're up for the challenge and I freely admit I'd think twice, but as Eddie said you're off to a good start and having a workshop facility to carry out all this is a large part of the battle. Keep us posted please. I learn from all the builders on here.

e&oe ...

[ravynkb]

Dec 21, 2019 16:15:30 GMT -6 antares said:

I can tell you're up for the challenge and I freely admit I'd think twice, but as Eddie said you're off to a good start and having a workshop facility to carry out all this is a large part of the battle. Keep us posted please. I learn from all the builders on here.

e&oe ...

There's no workshop space. This is just on the floor next to my desk. Lol

[ravynkb]

Update on flattening of the face, this comparison is 2 weeks into flattening the face.

I need to be careful and not add too much weight at this juncture, so as not to pull the ribs down inside.

I adjusted the truss rod today so the neck is straight. Still have the 14th fret hump, which I am thinking I'll need specialized tools for.

Far as the nut goes, I will be ordering nut files to cut them slightly, and removing the nut to lower the string action.

The bridge I still need to build this idea I have for bringing that back into true, and I need to replace the saddle. Hopefully I can get the 14th fret hump out, and when I measure for intonation and bridge placement, I won't need to fill holes and drill new peg holes. Hopefully I won't need to carve a new bridge either.

[dnic]

Wow that is quite an improvement on the top hump.

Since you're getting nut files, hopefully slotting files, I would leave the nut in place and just adjust the string height that way. Then file the top of the nut down if need be. When the nut is tapered, and most are, taking the height off the bottom makes the nut narrower from front to back.

The 14th fret hump can be addressed with a short straight edge and glued on sandpaper. 6"s long will be fine for the sanding beam. Can also use use a short level the main thing is that it's very flat. You're only going to be sanding down the 14th fret to the end of the board. The sound hole end. So 4-6 frets. If you use a level only put sandpaper on about 6" of. Tape off the rest of the frets from #12 to the nut. Concentrate on the 14th and last fret to start with. When you start to see sanding marks on fret 13 you have gone far enough. Work from about 320 to 600 grit. You will need to crown and polish after that. I won't go into all that here there are plenty of YT videos on this topic. I have addressed the process several time on my own YT channel. Hope that helps.

[ravynkb]

*** UPDATE ***

Step one of the repair is finished! In the 3 layer photo, top to bottom; 1 month, 2 weeks, day of bridge separation.

I wasn't intending to go for convex, but I think that will help in the long run as the strings will pull tension back. I'm going to hydrate the guitar again, but without any books this time.

To help correct the 14th fret hump without sanding that whole area or doing a fret board removal, I was originally planning on fishing or creating a tiny scissors jack and slowly push from inside the guitar under the bridge, then I came up with a better idea. At least I think i did.

A bowed tension board on the neck, where the curve will push right at the 14th and slightly before. There will be an over hang that fit inside the guitar, under the fret board area, butted against the inside neck joint. Counter tension on the board with come from the head stock side, from a strap around the neck that can be twisted with a rod for more or less tension. Pretty sure that will work...


Still need to look inside the guitar with a mirror and see if all the braces are still glued and not cracked. And see if I need to replace the bridge backing plate.

I have a simple, but slight complicated idea for flattening the bridge. I'll take a few wood clamps, and I'm thinking soft pine, and slowly press the peg hole area between the plates until it's flat or mostly flat, then do the same for the whole bridge bits. I'll likely need to carve some bridhe shape relief into the top board to help. The saddle has to be replaced.

Since the nut has some grooving, I'll try to get that down by filing, but have ordered a replacement in case. And yep, still need to dress the frets.

[Deleted]

Looking good!
EB

[antares]

Agreed. You're making good progress aided by your hold back and think for a while approach. That's a skill every bit as much as the conventional techniques.

e&oe ...