Is this a crack or a finish issue

sunshinewelly

Took delivery of an alvarez 12 string and its a complete dog. Action is 5 mm at the 12th fret.

Tried a truss rod adjustment and still can't get it lower than 4 mm

On the heel where it joins the body there is a crack 

Not sure if it's a finish issue or worse 

It's not an expensive guitar but not what I woukd expect to find

https://imgur.com/a/BgJuyNm

ICBM

Can you post a pic? The combination of a very high action and a possible crack - especially if it's at the back of the heel - does make it sound possible that it's worse than just a finish issue.

sunshinewelly

Apologies now edited my post with a photo link

It's on the side of neck joint not bottom of heel 

ICBM

I would send that back if you can. That’s a crack in the fingerboard under the fret slot, showing up as a crease in the binding which has split the finish.

It means the whole geometry of the neck joint is slightly wrong and the neck has pulled up relative to the top, which is why the action is miles too high and the truss rod doesn’t fix it.

Tex Mexico

Defo send it back. If it's new and you just got it, any doubt at all just send it back. ICBM is likely right about what he's saying, and if that's the case the thing's a write-off.

sunshinewelly

Cheers both 

sunshinewelly

what i did notice is action seems to be very important on a 12 string. (more so than a 6 string). I have played some poor set up 6 string acoustics and have coped but on this 12 string it was literally impossible to play from the 7th fret upwards. 

my next purchase of a 12 string (if i do decide to get another and i am currently on the fence) will be to get one from a dealer that carries out a set up before dispatch. Whist i am content to set up an electric the thought of sanding down a bridge horrifies me

ICBM

sunshinewelly said:

what i did notice is action seems to be very important on a 12 string. (more so than a 6 string). I have played some poor set up 6 string acoustics and have coped but on this 12 string it was literally impossible to play from the 7th fret upwards.

Doubling the number of strings is like going up 40% in string gauge, roughly (square-root-of-two maths!), so a set of 12-string 10s has roughly the same tension as a set of 6-string 14s... and is equally hard to fret if the action is even fractionally too high.

In general I prefer to tune 12-strings down a tone from standard - vintage ones were designed to be, as light-gauge strings weren't available long ago - but I find most modern ones play and sound better like that too. You can capo at the second fret if you need standard tuning.