Fender Coronado II Basic Maintenance Help

I recently acquired a 1967 Coronado II and am looking for some information on basic maintenance. While I have been playing guitars for many years, I am only starting to learn about maintaining them. I've done a fair amount of research but have found very little information specific Coronado II maintenance and upkeep. I'd like to be able to perform basic maintenance on this (and all my) guitars to avoid spending money unnecessarily. That said, I will be taking this to an experienced luthier in a few weeks, so I'm just looking to get this guitar in "living room" condition, if you know what I mean.

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Full Frontal by erikzen, on Flickr

The guitar itself is in OK and playable condition. You can tell the guitar has been used in its 45 years of life. There are a fair number of scratches and dings in the finish, but the same can be said for me. For the most part, it appears to be an original standard red finish on the body with non-matching black headstock. However, someone many years ago painted the back black, with some kind of textured paint. It has a plastic feel to it; it almost feels like the back of an Ovation acoustic guitar, but you can see the original finish below in a few places where it's worn off.

I do wonder if the pickguard is original. The screws holding it on do not match (one is slotted, the other phillips) and I have not seen any other photos of Coronado IIs with black pickguards. There also appears to be one non-original screw in the neckplate (telltale sign of other issues?).

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Back Black Paint by erikzen, on Flickr

The bindings throughout are in great shape, both on the neck as well as around the body and f holes. However, on the body there seems to be some kind of patina. I'm not sure if this is dirt and age or the actual finish. There are spots where the top layer seems to have been scratched off, revealing a lighter color beneath, closer to the neck binding. Otherwise the body binding has turned a cream or light yellow color. The neck binding does not have this same patina. The neck seems to have a small nick that is under the finish. There is also some slight discoloration. It's not clear to me if this is from a repair or if this is the original finish. The neck does not seem to be refinished but I'm by no means an expert on this. The photo was taken with a macro lens so the crack appears much worse in the photos than with the naked eye.

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P3174593 by erikzen, on Flickr


The electronics all seem to work properly. There is no scratchiness to the pots but there is some hum. This can be almost completely mitigated by the position of the guitar in relationship to the amp. It does not seem to be any worse than most single coil pickups.

Overall it is a very playable guitar with a great sound. As I've read elsewhere, the sustain is not great but the guitar has other redeeming qualities.

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Bridge by erikzen, on Flickr

Just to illustrate how much of a neophyte I am when it comes to guitar maintenance, when I first got the guitar I removed all the strings to clean it. Ooops! Off popped the bridge as it is floating. I was able to get the guitar strung and in tune but I need some advice on adjusting the bridge properly.

Is there a specific height the bridge should be at and if so, how do you measure and adjust it? I've played around with it a while and I understand the basic concept, but I'm just guessing for the most part. When I received the guitar the strings, while old, were not buzzing. Now I find that they are buzzing a bit. It can be mitigated to a certain extend by adjusting the bridge height with the thumb screws but I can't seem to get rid of it completely. Also, just raising the height doesn't eliminate it. There seems to be a "sweet spot" where it sounds best, but I can't find it exactly.

Likewise with the screws for the saddle bridges. I'm concerned over the low E in particular. The screw slots (phillips) on that saddle screw seem slightly buttered up. I'm afraid of stripping it altogether and getting a screwdriver in under the strings is difficult. Is there a specific screwdriver size, make, length, etc. recommended for this job?

While discussing the bridge, is there any maintenance that can or should be performed on it? Should it be taken apart further and cleaned somehow? The saddles are a bit rusty in places. Should the screws and springs be lubricated? Assuming I can comfortably get at the saddle screws, are there any tips to setting the intonation? It is not terribly off (except for the low E, of course) so I could live with it for a while until I can get it to the shop if that makes the most sense.

Also, the buzzing may be related to the string gauge. I currently have D'addario XL lights (.10) on it. I also have a set of D'addario Chromes (flatwound) (.11) handy. I can of course purchase other strings. When I got the guitar the strings did not seem that heavy, but looking in the guitar case there was an empty pack of GHS .13s in there. What string gauge would people recommend?

The neck looks like it could use some relief but I think the best way to make any truss rod adjustments would be to remove the neck. I really don't feel comfortable doing that and will be taking the guitar into an experienced luthier soon. The only reason I'm thinking about tackling any of this myself is because the guy I want doing the ulitmate setup of the guitar is very busy and in high demand. It will be a few weeks before he's able to get to my guitar, but I also don't feel comfortable giving this guitar to the tech at my local music store.

But just for argument's sake, let's say I was to take off the neck. What would be the pitfalls and problems to watch out for?

Any other advice or tips you experienced Coronado fans can offer are much appreciated.

Sorry for the long post but maybe this could become the official Coronado maintenance post. I look forward to hearing others' experiences.

Thanks for reading!