Well, the Yamaha turned out to be a lemon. I was right in thinking that there was a significant problem with the neck and the luthier said that it fix it correctly it would need a reset. At three times what I paid for it at the silent auction. So he and I talked a bit about my choices. He said that he can still do a decent set up, tweak the truss rod a bit and file down the nut slots and saddle, but it would really only be noticeable at the top of the fretboard near the nut. The frets down the length would still have a significant high action. Well, this sounded ok to me since I don't really know how to do anything past the fifth fret anyway. He did say that he'd be able to salvage the nut and not have to fabricate a new one (again, a significant cost). So, I told him to go ahead with the setup.
I'm planning on putting some silk and steel strings and letting the kids mess around with it. The little bit I was able to play it, it does have a decent sound for fingerpicking. I'll write a bit more once I have it back from the luthier.
Labels: cheap bastards, guitars
