The Collings Forum

Greetings Waterlooians:

I bought a Waterloo WL14 about 6 years ago and have taken moderately good care of it, hydrated in case when the weather was getting dry (hot or cold.) Great guitar, great sound, wonderful touch. A few years ago I moved to a more consistently humid and not-as-cold climate and more or less stopped worrying about humdification (but still did sometimes.) I don't live in a place with extreme ranges of temps, humidity, and that is pretty consistent.

Recently I have noticed that the belly is slightly bulging behind the bridge raising it up about 1/8". Still plays fine for me (not doing a lot up past the 8th fret or so) and sounds great as always, but I'm worried about it getting worse. I have read that this is at least in part due to the ladder bracing instead of X bracing.

1. What's the fix for this?
2. Does it, will it, stabilize and stay where it is or continue?

Thanks much in advance,
Carlos

Carlos, in reality most guitars develop a bit of a belly. They're only called "flat tops." It happens whether they're ladder or x-braced. It's hard to tell if & how much it will continue to change. Like the guitars they're modelled after, Waterloos are lightly built and that's why they sound so good. Just keep an eye on it.