wileypickett
Senior Member
BACK STORY:
This guitar was first mentioned here in Sept, 2012:
http://letstalkguild.com/ltg/showth...neapolis-1000!-Now-With-More-Pictures-(/page4
Despite the poor shape the guitar was in, there was definitely interest in it. But the seller refused to ship and the guitar slipped off our radar until Jan 2014, when it turned up on eBay and our own Darryl Hattenhauer snapped it up at the BIN price of $1100.00.
However, the seller -- who had apparently been out getting coffee when they were handing out brains -- shipped the guitar in nothing but a soft case. That's right -- no box, no packing materials, shipped from Minnesota in the dead of winter! Darryl naturally refused delivery and back it went to the seller and back up it went on eBay. Our discussion, some of it pretty amusing, is here:
http://letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?179539-JV-72-1-100-please-tell-me-I-didn-t-get-scammed
About this time I showed my wife Nora the ad on eBay and we ooohed and aahhhed over the guitar. Not knowing what might have occurred during shipping, I was no longer seriously interested in it, but Nora, unbeknownst to me, had decided to buy it for me as a surprise!
WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING:
The guitar was supposed to have been on our doorstep six days after it was shipped. When it was more than a week overdue however, Nora 'fessed to me her scheme and I contacted the seller. UPS tracking showed the guitar had shipped from Minneapolis to a way-station 40 or so miles away from the city -- and then just sat there. The seller and I went back and forth with me asking him to put a trace on the guitar or issue a refund, and him telling me to be patient, that I was going to LOVE the guitar, etc., etc.
Three weeks after it had shipped the guitar had still not left Minnesota. The seller, who'd promised a refund if the guitar hadn't arrived within one more week, now begged me to wait another week, which I did. Nothing. Finally I filed a claim with eBay.
Imagine our dismay when eBay decided in the seller's favor -- he got to keep Nora's 1100 bucks, yet we had no guitar!
I called eBay and spoke to a woman there. Cynical about eBay I may be, but I have to say she was GREAT! She explained that eBay is obliged to make a decision within a certain time from when a claim is filed, and that since the guitar was in UPS's system this was sufficient evidence, they felt, to show that the guitar was in transit.
However, after viewing UPS's tracking info and seeing that the parcel hadn't even made it out of the seller's home state yet, she suggested I appeal their decision, which I did. Ultimately eBay decided that if the guitar didn't arrive within one more week, they'd issue a full refund. It didn't and they coughed up. (Because eBay concluded that they had erred the money came out of their pockets, not the seller's.)
At this point more than six weeks had passed since the guitar was shipped. I assumed it was lost and had all but forgotten about it when a couple weeks later a woman appeared on my doorstep with a big package -- UPS had delivered the guitar to an apartment building a half mile away, where it had just been sitting in the lobby. (UPS tracking still showed the guitar was in Minnesota!) After sitting unclaimed for several days this woman examined the box, found my name and address on it and GPS'ed her way to my house. I was flabbergasted and thanked her profusely.
Once I saw the box, I understood why it had gotten lost. The seller had shipped the guitar in two small boxes taped end-to-end. Both boxes were used and still had address labels on them, which the seller hadn't bothered to remove or cross out! He printed my address with water-based ink. it got wet and was barely legible which made the two printed labels the more likely addressees. (The boxes were flimsy and the tape was barely holding them together, but at least the seller had filled them with "packing material" -- and by "packing material," I mean garbage.)
THE FREAKY PART:
The old ship-to address on one of the boxes was for that nearby apartment complex, which is how the guitar ended up there. Now what are the odds that a box that had been SENT TO someone living a half mile from me in Massachusetts would, one day, somehow, find its way to Minneapolis, where this idiot would pick it up, pack my guitar in it, and ship it to within a half mile of its original home?!
OK, FGD (Free Guitar Day) -- yaay!!
But before I could get too excited I discovered there were many problems that hadn't (surprise!) been disclosed by the seller in his eBay ad.
UNDISCLOSED:
--Intonation bad -- harmonics at the 12-fret and notes at the 12th-fret WAY off.
--Binding cracked / loose in NINE separate places, seven on the body, two on the neck.
--Impact dent to the the top with a crack running from it to the edge.
--Two of the tuner winding-threads stripped. When you tightened them to bring the strings to pitch, they'd go only so far before snapping back and unwinding.
--Bridge lifting.
--Bulge behind bridge and area around soundhole warping inward. If you sighted across the guitar from its waist, the soundhole, rather than looking round, looked a like a Pringle!
--Finish crazing to top (visible in last photo). This may have occurred during the cold winter months the guitar was in transit.
Add to those the problems the seller HAD disclosed:
--Deep gouges to the back of the neck.
--Gobs of Epoxy POURED around the soundhole, then covered with clear plastic.
WHAT TO DO?
Since I had no money invested in the guitar I decided to have it repaired, even though it was questionable whether it could actually be made playable again. The following was done:
--All loose binding reglued.
--Gouges to the back of the neck lacquer filled.
--Crack reglued and cleated.
--Areas around the repairs relacquered, fine-sanded and polished.
--Compensated bone saddle made to replace the plastic one.
--Two broken tuners mailed to Grover, who replaced them (for free!) under their Lifetime Warranty policy.
THE HARD PART:
This even my luthier was wary of, so I decided to tackle it myself. (I'm no Fixit, but I have SOME skills.)
--I removed the plastic patch on the bass side of the soundhole in order to get at the Epoxy.
Why was Epoxy put there in the first place?! I suspect the previous owner, when he found the top warping, had the brilliant idea of "strengthening" it by pouring Epoxy around the soundhole.
This accomplished nothing, of course, but since the top appeared undamaged under all that gunk, I taped off the surrounding area and gently sanded off the Epoxy, which took forever as the Epoxy was thick. I went slowly and used very fine sandpaper. Eventually I got it all off (without going through the lacquer). The area above the soundhole, if not perfect, is vastly improved.
Now, how to deal with the the most challenging problem -- the warped top?
When a guitar top bulges up behind its bridge, the area in front of the bridge tends to droop inward. Picture the letter S lying on its left side side: as the top humps up in back of the bridge, it dips down in front.
I had noticed when installing Bridge Doctors on some of my other guitars that they not only flattened the top behind the bridge but also corrected any slight warping in front of it.
Here, the problem was WAY more than slight. But I installed a Bridge Doctor and once the dowel was just snug I laid the guitar on its back and super-hydrated it using two water-soaked sponges in a plastic container inside the soundhole, which I covered with a towel. I tightened the dowel a full turn or so every 24 hours keeping the guitar hydrated between turns.
Within four days the top had noticeably improved and by the end of two weeks it was flat behind the bridge and nearly flat around the soundhole. As you can see from the photos, today the soundhole is virtually round again. I didn't have to have the old saddle slot filled and a new one routed in order to correct the intonation problem.
Since the intonation is now virtually perfect it appears the BD -- by itself -- corrected the problem. (Hooray Bridge Doctor!)
I bought some turquoise chips, mixed them with (wait for it) clear Epoxy and filled the BD bridge hole with that rather than with the MOP dot they provide, and added a few other turquoise touches here and there.
SO, AFTER ALL THIS RIGAMAROLE, HOW'S IT ACTUALLY SOUND?!
In addition to having a big, airy sound, and being very responsive, this guitar has an unusual quality that's hard to describe -- you hear sounds while you're playing that seem to come from somewhere else and don't seem to be of your making.
The first day I spent any real time with the JV72, I stopped playing at one point because I thought someone was ringing my doorbell. A number of times I was sure my phone was ringing while I was playing!
By now I've gotten used to it, but there are some complex (and very cool) overtones being produced by this guitar. I play fingerstyle in open tunings and this phenomenon sometimes occurs when I'm playing my 12-strings, but not with my other six-stringers.
So, after many years of zero maintenance, abuse, and questionable attempts at repair -- and of being lost in space for two months -- this guitar is now doing its thing again and doing it remarkably well considering all it's been through.
Glenn Jones
This guitar was first mentioned here in Sept, 2012:
http://letstalkguild.com/ltg/showth...neapolis-1000!-Now-With-More-Pictures-(/page4
Despite the poor shape the guitar was in, there was definitely interest in it. But the seller refused to ship and the guitar slipped off our radar until Jan 2014, when it turned up on eBay and our own Darryl Hattenhauer snapped it up at the BIN price of $1100.00.
However, the seller -- who had apparently been out getting coffee when they were handing out brains -- shipped the guitar in nothing but a soft case. That's right -- no box, no packing materials, shipped from Minnesota in the dead of winter! Darryl naturally refused delivery and back it went to the seller and back up it went on eBay. Our discussion, some of it pretty amusing, is here:
http://letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?179539-JV-72-1-100-please-tell-me-I-didn-t-get-scammed
About this time I showed my wife Nora the ad on eBay and we ooohed and aahhhed over the guitar. Not knowing what might have occurred during shipping, I was no longer seriously interested in it, but Nora, unbeknownst to me, had decided to buy it for me as a surprise!
WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING:
The guitar was supposed to have been on our doorstep six days after it was shipped. When it was more than a week overdue however, Nora 'fessed to me her scheme and I contacted the seller. UPS tracking showed the guitar had shipped from Minneapolis to a way-station 40 or so miles away from the city -- and then just sat there. The seller and I went back and forth with me asking him to put a trace on the guitar or issue a refund, and him telling me to be patient, that I was going to LOVE the guitar, etc., etc.
Three weeks after it had shipped the guitar had still not left Minnesota. The seller, who'd promised a refund if the guitar hadn't arrived within one more week, now begged me to wait another week, which I did. Nothing. Finally I filed a claim with eBay.
Imagine our dismay when eBay decided in the seller's favor -- he got to keep Nora's 1100 bucks, yet we had no guitar!
I called eBay and spoke to a woman there. Cynical about eBay I may be, but I have to say she was GREAT! She explained that eBay is obliged to make a decision within a certain time from when a claim is filed, and that since the guitar was in UPS's system this was sufficient evidence, they felt, to show that the guitar was in transit.
However, after viewing UPS's tracking info and seeing that the parcel hadn't even made it out of the seller's home state yet, she suggested I appeal their decision, which I did. Ultimately eBay decided that if the guitar didn't arrive within one more week, they'd issue a full refund. It didn't and they coughed up. (Because eBay concluded that they had erred the money came out of their pockets, not the seller's.)
At this point more than six weeks had passed since the guitar was shipped. I assumed it was lost and had all but forgotten about it when a couple weeks later a woman appeared on my doorstep with a big package -- UPS had delivered the guitar to an apartment building a half mile away, where it had just been sitting in the lobby. (UPS tracking still showed the guitar was in Minnesota!) After sitting unclaimed for several days this woman examined the box, found my name and address on it and GPS'ed her way to my house. I was flabbergasted and thanked her profusely.
Once I saw the box, I understood why it had gotten lost. The seller had shipped the guitar in two small boxes taped end-to-end. Both boxes were used and still had address labels on them, which the seller hadn't bothered to remove or cross out! He printed my address with water-based ink. it got wet and was barely legible which made the two printed labels the more likely addressees. (The boxes were flimsy and the tape was barely holding them together, but at least the seller had filled them with "packing material" -- and by "packing material," I mean garbage.)
THE FREAKY PART:
The old ship-to address on one of the boxes was for that nearby apartment complex, which is how the guitar ended up there. Now what are the odds that a box that had been SENT TO someone living a half mile from me in Massachusetts would, one day, somehow, find its way to Minneapolis, where this idiot would pick it up, pack my guitar in it, and ship it to within a half mile of its original home?!
OK, FGD (Free Guitar Day) -- yaay!!
But before I could get too excited I discovered there were many problems that hadn't (surprise!) been disclosed by the seller in his eBay ad.
UNDISCLOSED:
--Intonation bad -- harmonics at the 12-fret and notes at the 12th-fret WAY off.
--Binding cracked / loose in NINE separate places, seven on the body, two on the neck.
--Impact dent to the the top with a crack running from it to the edge.
--Two of the tuner winding-threads stripped. When you tightened them to bring the strings to pitch, they'd go only so far before snapping back and unwinding.
--Bridge lifting.
--Bulge behind bridge and area around soundhole warping inward. If you sighted across the guitar from its waist, the soundhole, rather than looking round, looked a like a Pringle!
--Finish crazing to top (visible in last photo). This may have occurred during the cold winter months the guitar was in transit.
Add to those the problems the seller HAD disclosed:
--Deep gouges to the back of the neck.
--Gobs of Epoxy POURED around the soundhole, then covered with clear plastic.
WHAT TO DO?
Since I had no money invested in the guitar I decided to have it repaired, even though it was questionable whether it could actually be made playable again. The following was done:
--All loose binding reglued.
--Gouges to the back of the neck lacquer filled.
--Crack reglued and cleated.
--Areas around the repairs relacquered, fine-sanded and polished.
--Compensated bone saddle made to replace the plastic one.
--Two broken tuners mailed to Grover, who replaced them (for free!) under their Lifetime Warranty policy.
THE HARD PART:
This even my luthier was wary of, so I decided to tackle it myself. (I'm no Fixit, but I have SOME skills.)
--I removed the plastic patch on the bass side of the soundhole in order to get at the Epoxy.
Why was Epoxy put there in the first place?! I suspect the previous owner, when he found the top warping, had the brilliant idea of "strengthening" it by pouring Epoxy around the soundhole.
This accomplished nothing, of course, but since the top appeared undamaged under all that gunk, I taped off the surrounding area and gently sanded off the Epoxy, which took forever as the Epoxy was thick. I went slowly and used very fine sandpaper. Eventually I got it all off (without going through the lacquer). The area above the soundhole, if not perfect, is vastly improved.
Now, how to deal with the the most challenging problem -- the warped top?
When a guitar top bulges up behind its bridge, the area in front of the bridge tends to droop inward. Picture the letter S lying on its left side side: as the top humps up in back of the bridge, it dips down in front.
I had noticed when installing Bridge Doctors on some of my other guitars that they not only flattened the top behind the bridge but also corrected any slight warping in front of it.
Here, the problem was WAY more than slight. But I installed a Bridge Doctor and once the dowel was just snug I laid the guitar on its back and super-hydrated it using two water-soaked sponges in a plastic container inside the soundhole, which I covered with a towel. I tightened the dowel a full turn or so every 24 hours keeping the guitar hydrated between turns.
Within four days the top had noticeably improved and by the end of two weeks it was flat behind the bridge and nearly flat around the soundhole. As you can see from the photos, today the soundhole is virtually round again. I didn't have to have the old saddle slot filled and a new one routed in order to correct the intonation problem.
Since the intonation is now virtually perfect it appears the BD -- by itself -- corrected the problem. (Hooray Bridge Doctor!)
I bought some turquoise chips, mixed them with (wait for it) clear Epoxy and filled the BD bridge hole with that rather than with the MOP dot they provide, and added a few other turquoise touches here and there.
SO, AFTER ALL THIS RIGAMAROLE, HOW'S IT ACTUALLY SOUND?!
In addition to having a big, airy sound, and being very responsive, this guitar has an unusual quality that's hard to describe -- you hear sounds while you're playing that seem to come from somewhere else and don't seem to be of your making.
The first day I spent any real time with the JV72, I stopped playing at one point because I thought someone was ringing my doorbell. A number of times I was sure my phone was ringing while I was playing!
By now I've gotten used to it, but there are some complex (and very cool) overtones being produced by this guitar. I play fingerstyle in open tunings and this phenomenon sometimes occurs when I'm playing my 12-strings, but not with my other six-stringers.
So, after many years of zero maintenance, abuse, and questionable attempts at repair -- and of being lost in space for two months -- this guitar is now doing its thing again and doing it remarkably well considering all it's been through.
Glenn Jones
Last edited:
