Overheated Guitar
Source: Guitar Neck Repairs
The Overheated Guitar:
By this I don’t mean a guitar that was played by a hot guitar player, just so you know. 
I want to talk about this issue as you will see this sad situation all too often.
The Cause:
Most often the cause of this condition will be keeping the guitar in an enclosed car all day, during a hot sunny day, or worse yet, baking in the truck of the car. It matters not if the guitar is in a case. This may delay the devastating effects for 30 to 60 minutes, but the heat will migrate into the case as well.
Other causes can be simply leaving the guitar in the sun or leaving the guitar next to a hot radiator too long. Most guitars use glues that are very sensitive to heat and soften under these circumstances. In fact, we guitar repairmen depend on this characteristic of glue to dis-assemble and re-assemble guitar parts.
How To Confirm A Guitar Has Been Subject To Overheating:
Quite often an overheated instrument can have similar symptoms to other ills that plague our fragile guitars. It may at first appear to be a simple case of a bridge glue failure or a bad guitar action adjustment. You have to carefully investigate the situation to confirm this.
Look For A Loose Bridge and Glue Strands:
One sure wayto find out is this: If the bridge has lifted, slide a thin Putty Knife or Artists Spatua between the bridge and the guitar top plate. If you feel resistance, like obstructions to pushing the knife into the opening, the guitar has heated up enough to soften the glue. The glue leaves strings attached to the top because it turns to a liquid state. After the guitar cools down, the glue again hardens and these strings carry a good portion of the tension that is placed on the bridge.
Secondly Look For Bowed Necks and Shifted Fingerboards:
Another condition you can observe is a shifted fingerboard and a bowed guitar neck. As with the overheating of the guitar above, the glue beneath the fingerboard liquefies, the neck is pulled forward or upward by the string tension and the fingerboard slides slightly do to this action. After the guitar cools down the glue sets up in the new fingerboard position and it appears as though you have a severe neck relief problem that needs to be repaired. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Lastly, Look For Mis-formed and Loose Pick Guards:
Look at the picture at the beginning of this article. Do you see any other condition that will tip you off as to an overheated guitar? If you said the pick guard, you be be absolutely right. See how it is lifted around the perimeter and the pick guard itself became softened and mis-formed. This baby must have really been hot.
Brace the Client For Big Repair Bills:
When you get a guitar inyour shop that has been subjected to this much heat, you are likely to find a lot more problems that are not as visible. You may have reseated bracing, loose bracing, loose purflings and bindings, top and back plates lifting away from the linings, necks that need to be reset and on and on. If it is a cheapie guitar, it is probably destined for the bone-yard. If it is an expensive guitar…well just brace the owner for that big repair bill.
Tags: guitar bridge repair, guitar repair, heat stressed guitar, overheated guitar
