Mosrite Balladere Damage Prevention Question

[Green Bear]

I finally want to get around to turning the Balladere I bought a year ago into an everyday player. From what I've read on the forum they are very prone to cracking and breaking in several different areas.

If I take it to repair shop, is there anything that I can recommend be done to prevent it from full on breaking in the first place? Mine has 3 small surface cracks on the top, and I want to prevent them from developing into full cracks. Additionally, I want to avoid the neck problems I read about in this thread: http://www.mosriteforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1032&start=0&hilit=Campbell

I've been too scared to restring it and apply full tension. I've left the original strings on it and outside of a quick demo I put up on the boards the strings have put basically not tension on the guitar since I've owned it. I don't have a high resolution picture at this time, but hopefully this picture is good enough to at least get some information from knowledgeable posters.



Thanks in advance

[handbrake]

As you understand, this behavior is pretty typical for the Mosrite acoustics. The bracing under the top does not extend all the way to the sides. So, although the front is semi-rigid, the whole panel tends to sink due to forces created by string tension. The stress cracks you're seeing are a result of the "dishing" that's taking place. Having said that, I'm not actually sure what to do about it. You could remove the top and install new braces that reach the kerfing, but that's pretty invasive.

Anybody else have thoughts?

[Deke Dickerson]

The biggest problem with the Mosrite acoustics is the wood itself. Semie jumped whole hog into making acoustic guitars without really researching what was needed in terms of the proper wood. It seems that he bought wood that wasn't aged correctly, assembled the guitars quickly, and used methods for acoustic building that were unorthodox. The end result is that I've never seen a Mosrite acoustic that wasn't cracked severely.

There were other problems with them, for instance my guitar has a buzzy truss rod that buzzes at certain frequencies....and I've seen several where the bridge pulls off the body.

You quickly run into a cost-benefit problem on these things, because it's pretty easy to get 500-1000 dollars in repair costs on these things, on a guitar that isn't worth more than 700-800 maximum.

That being said, i actually like the sound and playability of my Mosrite Balladere and in the newest issue of Vintage Guitar magazine there is a short writeup on the Bakersfield Sound exhibit in nashville, and you can see a picture of Rose Lee Maphis playing my Mosrite acoustic on that show.

Deke

[Green Bear]

Thanks for the additional info. I plan on taking it in Saturday and am hoping to get somewhat of an estimate for work based on these comments (I'm going to give them to the luthier)

I bought it on a whim without doing research (I'd never run across or heard anything on a Mosrite acoustic before). Basically, thought it would be really cool to own and use a rare acoustic as an everyday player so I bought it and now I'm deciding that I'm at the crossroads.

1) Get it beefed up
2) Keep it hanging on the wall
3) Sell it

I'd hate to sell it as I'm not in dire need of a few hundred bucks (thankfully), but at the same time I hate to just see it hang. And I don't mind dropping money in it if I knew it would never have any problems in the future. I just don't want it to be a money pit that is constantly having to be worked on. Why oh why did I just have to buy it????