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just strung up, crack! what to do?
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Author:  JohnB [ Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:09 am ]
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Hello everyone,

I just strung up my first build and setup my initial setup which was a
fantastic feeling. I was playing on the sofa finding it hard to believe that i
had managed to make something that sounds half decent when i noticed
a 2" hairline crack running along the grain of the side of the guitar. It's
between the lower bout and the end block and is shown by the yellow
mark on the (pre-crack) photo below.



This is the best close-up of the crack i could muster:



Do you thing the string tension has pulled a pre-existing weakness open?
Anyhow i'm not sure how to fix it - that where you lot come in - i hope!

Thanks in advance,

John.
Author:  Rick Turner [ Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:17 am ]
Post subject: 
Ahh, time to learn the gentle art of guitar repair.   I'd cross grain cleat it using rare earth magnets to clamp several cleats in place.   Are you keeping this one?
Author:  JJ Donohue [ Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:33 am ]
Post subject: 
Sorry to hear of your crack. This is nothing compared to the crack repair that David Collins walked me through.

Check this out!



We all had a great learing experience on that one using fish glue and so far, nobody (including David) can tell where the cracks were.

I fully expect that you'll have the same result. Looking forward to another lesson.
Author:  JohnB [ Tue Sep 04, 2007 12:15 pm ]
Post subject: 
Rick,

Yes this guitar is for me. I learned so much making it - and made my
share of mistakes, at times feeling more like a repair man than a builder. I
have some R.E. magnets from when i cracked the back so it should not be
a problem to apply cleats. One question: would you try and work glue
into the crack or not - It's pretty tight at the moment?

JJ,

Yes indeed, yours was well and truly mashed! It's fantastic you managed
to save that beautiful wood, i'm sure it made a fine guitar. Do you have a
link to that thread or remember the title so i can search for it?

thanks both,

John.
Author:  BlackHeart [ Wed Sep 05, 2007 6:01 am ]
Post subject: 
Does anyone drill in stop holes? I think for the top it would be essential.
Author:  Rick Turner [ Wed Sep 05, 2007 6:11 am ]
Post subject: 
I'd try to jack up the area of the crack to open it a bit, then moisten it with very hot water and then rub in some hot hide glue. Quickly release the jack and you should see some squeeze out.

Prepare some cleats and very lightly glue the cleat tops to some RE magnets so they will just stay as you handle them. Then clean up, tape magnets onto the outside where you want cleats on the inside, apply some HHG to each cleat and pop them in place.   This may take several applications as you can't get the magnets too close to one another on the outside or inside or they will attract or repel one another.
Author:  JJ Donohue [ Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:01 am ]
Post subject: 
John...Here's the link to the Guitar Crash & Repair

In my case I used Fish Glue per David's recommendation. It works much like HHG but with a much longer open time. Sounds like Rick has recommended a tried and true method as well.

Good luck and keep us posted.
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