DIY Gone wrong:

This is a 1970 or 1971 Epiphone Caballero.  This picture was taken after I did a few things to make it a playable instrument.  You see, besides a more mysterious problem, it had some "Do It Yourself" (DIY) work done to it, and not in a good way.

Whoever owned this guitar before my client, had made a new saddle for it, by gluing two pieces of a rather soft plastic together, and cutting a slot down the middle in which they glued in a piece of fret wire.  It was very low, most likely to make up for high action due to the top bowing out over time.  They really should have reset the neck, because a saddle height at least 3/8" over the top is needed for an acoustic instrument to produce an even tone and good volume.  Originally it had a height adjustable saddle made of a metal U-channel with a hard plastic saddle in it.  The kind that has a thumbscrew at each end for the height adjustment.

I have replaced many of those saddles myself, but with Bone not plastic, and always compensated for precise intonation.  Whoever made this one must have bought some fret wire, and since it is only sold in quantities for a whole guitar or more, I think the person who made this saddle was going to, or already had re-fretted another instrument, or was even building one.  And going by the work on this instrument I do not think it turned out very well!  This is the nut they made out of the same soft plastic, and I swear my grandmother could have knitted a better one!

The frets on this guitar were original, not put in later.  Thank god for that, as it would have been a mess!  They did although show enough wear, that some leveling and re-crowning was in order.

What it needs:

So it looks like I have my work cut out for me:  It needs a new saddle and nut, a neck reset, and the frets are in dyer need of leveling.  Of course as happens quite often, I will find more that needs attention once I get going on it, just how it sometimes goes.  The goal is to end up with a well playing instrument that can be enjoyed for years to come, anything else would be a waste of my clients money, and be pointless.

Neck reset:

I start by resetting the neck, because I want to get some more height on the new saddle.  As I have done before, it is a matter of making a tapered and well fitting shim for the underside of the neck pocket:

Since the screws were more than just a little rusty, I cleaned them up a bit:

Since one of the screw holes was stripped out, I closed it off, and re-drilled it so that the neck bolt had something to bite into:

After establishing a good neck joint I leveled and re-crowned the frets.  This guitar has a zero fret.