marius
Member
Finally getting around to an update on my F30R purchase discussed here.
As discussed in the thread, the seller was reselling the guitar on eBay shortly after buying it on Reverb and the guitar did come with some gremlins that still need some work, but all in all I am very happy with the guitar.
As with most guitars we've seen from the NH era, the wood is stunning with tons of silking on the top.
The finish damage disclosed in the eBay auction is barely noticeable in some light / from some angles, but is definitely more pronounced in others.
However to my dismay, when I received the guitar I discovered two soundboard cracks extending from the fretboard to the sound hole that were not included in the eBay description. I contacted the seller to share my concerns; he claimed not to have noticed the cracks but immediately offered a full refund if I returned the guitar, or a partial refund if I chose to keep it. After a close inspection of the neck angle, neck block and upper transverse brace, I was confident there was no shift in the neck block and chose to keep the guitar. I had already saved money off the BIN price with a Best Offer and the partial refund he offered was enough to still make me happy with the investment in this guitar. Also, I accept some blame for not noticing the crack(s) in the eBay ad to begin with; the seller didn't mention them in the ad, but the treble side crack is visible in the auction photo of the sound hole had I just looked close enough.
A close inspection of the top shows that it is partially sunken in some areas (this is already improving with proper humidification). Couple this with the fact that the neck block actually has a heel that extends nearly to the upper transverse brace, I am confident that the top wood under the fretboard extension has stayed solidly in place while the top sunk/shrunk around it causing the cracks. This also explains the need for the bridge re-glue that resulted in the finish damage to begin with.
With that I have one final note to demonstrate the competence of whoever was maintaining this guitar previously, possibly the same person who botched the bridge re-glue. Only after deciding to keep the guitar did I restring it. At this point I cleaned and oiled the fretboard and pulled the saddle to do the same on the bridge. Upon pulling the saddle I found that it had been sanded very low and had a bone shim in the slot below. The shim fit very snugly in the slot and I thought it would be difficult to remove but when I pushed on one side it popped right out! This is because underneath the bone shim (of uneven thickness) I found an ebony shim with a taper on one end!
It is still going to take a bit of time to get it sorted out and properly humidified but it will be a labor of love, because make no mistake I love this guitar. It plays like butter and I love the tone, especially on the low end. From the interior inspection, it appears the treble side crack was sealed at some point with CA glue and the bass side has not fully opened up, plus they run under the fret board so I'm not terribly concerned about movement but once it is properly humidified I'll probably bring it in to be cleated anyway. In the meantime, does anyone know where I can get a drop in saddle that will fit?
As discussed in the thread, the seller was reselling the guitar on eBay shortly after buying it on Reverb and the guitar did come with some gremlins that still need some work, but all in all I am very happy with the guitar.
As with most guitars we've seen from the NH era, the wood is stunning with tons of silking on the top.
The finish damage disclosed in the eBay auction is barely noticeable in some light / from some angles, but is definitely more pronounced in others.
However to my dismay, when I received the guitar I discovered two soundboard cracks extending from the fretboard to the sound hole that were not included in the eBay description. I contacted the seller to share my concerns; he claimed not to have noticed the cracks but immediately offered a full refund if I returned the guitar, or a partial refund if I chose to keep it. After a close inspection of the neck angle, neck block and upper transverse brace, I was confident there was no shift in the neck block and chose to keep the guitar. I had already saved money off the BIN price with a Best Offer and the partial refund he offered was enough to still make me happy with the investment in this guitar. Also, I accept some blame for not noticing the crack(s) in the eBay ad to begin with; the seller didn't mention them in the ad, but the treble side crack is visible in the auction photo of the sound hole had I just looked close enough.
A close inspection of the top shows that it is partially sunken in some areas (this is already improving with proper humidification). Couple this with the fact that the neck block actually has a heel that extends nearly to the upper transverse brace, I am confident that the top wood under the fretboard extension has stayed solidly in place while the top sunk/shrunk around it causing the cracks. This also explains the need for the bridge re-glue that resulted in the finish damage to begin with.
With that I have one final note to demonstrate the competence of whoever was maintaining this guitar previously, possibly the same person who botched the bridge re-glue. Only after deciding to keep the guitar did I restring it. At this point I cleaned and oiled the fretboard and pulled the saddle to do the same on the bridge. Upon pulling the saddle I found that it had been sanded very low and had a bone shim in the slot below. The shim fit very snugly in the slot and I thought it would be difficult to remove but when I pushed on one side it popped right out! This is because underneath the bone shim (of uneven thickness) I found an ebony shim with a taper on one end!
It is still going to take a bit of time to get it sorted out and properly humidified but it will be a labor of love, because make no mistake I love this guitar. It plays like butter and I love the tone, especially on the low end. From the interior inspection, it appears the treble side crack was sealed at some point with CA glue and the bass side has not fully opened up, plus they run under the fret board so I'm not terribly concerned about movement but once it is properly humidified I'll probably bring it in to be cleated anyway. In the meantime, does anyone know where I can get a drop in saddle that will fit?
good luck with it & best wishes. By the way, I was once told by a luthier on those fretboard extension cracks, that it is all a matter of what is going on underneath (as you have already it seems examined and investigated to the fullest). And that it can then range from " minor to disastrous!" 
