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I am presented with one of these Ibanez Talmon Acoustic/Electric type guitars. The string action is nearly 3/4" at the 12th fret. I need to know what type of neck construction I'm looking at. More specifically, how the neck is joined to the body and what the best approach will be to do a complete neck reset. This is one of the worse cases I've seen for need of a neck reset. I'm not 100% yet what the bracing situation is at this time. I'm about to find out real soon though.

I'm suspecting to find need for a neck reset and failed bracing at the same time. Although, one may negate the other. I do not have the instrument in hand yet. I'm working on photos at this point. Nasty looking photos. I'm anticipating the possibility of a neck reset while also anticipating the need to repair braces on the top.

If anyone has any useful information on the construction methods used on these Acoustic/Electric Ibanez Talmon guitars, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Wick

I'd have to see pics but these are bolt-on necks like a Fender so it's not really a neck reset in the acoustic guitar sense it's more of a shim the neck to refresh the neck angle. The neck construction should be obvious if you have a pic of the back you will see it's a bolt-on neck.

Shimming the neck pocket is not unusual to have to do on bolt-on neck, Fender style instruments. However for the neck angle to be 3/4" off this instrument has major structural issues and/or neck relief issues but again I need to see pics, please.

A proper neck reset in the acoustic guitar sense might cost 2 - 3 times what one of these cost new. With this in mind these are generally not something that anyone does major work on favoring to simply purchase a new one.

_________________
Ann Arbor Guitars

Actually, it is a set neck guitar. This is one of those slim-style set neck acoustic/electric guitars. It has the typical truss-rod adjustment accessed via the sound hole.

It initially appeared to simply need a truss rod adjustment. As I tightened the truss rod it appeared to be straightening out nicely. I gave it a test-strum and I heard a loud "thud" and the neck immediately snapped back into it's bowed position. From that point forward the truss rod turns with no change or effect on the neck. The truss rod has failed somehow. I'm currently considering how to address the repair as cheaply as possible. The guitar isn't worth much to start with, but this isn't a repair for profit. It's more like a project guitar. Therefore I'm willing to try experimental methods on it. If I can repair it cheaply, I plan on giving it away to one of my left handed guitar students whos parents can not afford the expense of buying their child a guitar.

Update: I've dug deep into this guitar today for about 2 hours. I've decided that I need to remove the neck and fingerboard completely. I expect to replace the truss rod. After that, I'm going to reset the neck to allow for more action adjustment on the instrument. I would prefer to have more adjustment possible as opposed to less. Being a cheaply made guitar, added adjustment may prove valuable in the future. In short, I'm going to just do this repair the right way instead of finding a cheap way out. The only real cost to me is my time. Since this is a project instrument that I'll work on in my "off" time, it doesn't matter to me. It may technically be the most expensive Ibanez Talman TC10LE in the world when I get finished with it. I will gift it away none-the-less. And it will possibly be the best playing TC10LE in the world when that happens.

I'm bothering to do this for two reasons. 1) practicing my trade 2) to give a kid a nice playing guitar 3)It's a Zen thing