Official Luthiers Forum!

X ray it Todd, bet you can find someone that would sneak it in. I do it all the time, get two views, front to back and a true lateral and it tells you a lot.

Also, I've seen several Eastman archtops that must have had unseasoned wood in the Maple necks as they developed excessive relief that could not be corrected with the truss rod within the first couple of years of playing. Eastman replaced these guitars. This might be what's going on and the truss rod was over-tightened in an attempt to get the neck straight. Fixing the rod might not solve the problem.

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

These are the views you want. It's all digital these days so you can see it on a computer monitor and play with the resolution and then put them on a CD. Let us know what you find!

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Often a really good magnet will give a good enough indication of where the rod ends.

I just read about that in the Stew-mac Trade secrets book one. It was on the last page of "volume 9" in the book, and was refering to Guild necks where the end was between the 13th and 14th frets. I didn't see a reference to archtops, but it does mention the procedure.

Kent