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Hi , this is my first post , I hope it's of interest and worthy of response !
I recently got hold of an old Goya guitar ,a lovely thing and in need of a lot of TLC. There are two struts loose on the back plus a buckling of the back near the end block around the joint of the two halves ,and the joint is giving up . Plus there is a strut loose on the top at the bass end of the bridge which has warped and started to pull away from the top . And there is a crack along one side.
So , all these things I can fix with varying degrees of confidance and ingenuity , but an awful lot easier if I were to take the back off completely . And one thought is that if all these struts are loose , is the gluing of the whole thing doubtful? Or do I say that the vintage quality of the guitar , all its' wood mellowing into place and settling down would be lost if I do something as drastic as take the back off? And if that IS the best road , how do i do it? I've soaked a back off in water once , but only on a very cheap guitar that didn't matter.. and it worked ok.
Any experiences you might have that would help , much appreciated .

Sorry, don't know the answer, but Welcome!

It would be much better for the vintage value of the guitar if the restoration was done in tack. I have no idea of the value involved here but do not soak the back in water. I would find a good instrument restorer for this job. To remove the back will require removing the binding as well as the back and I just think that if the instrument is worth the restoration I would go to a pro. removing the back on an old guitar is always risky.

Me either but welcome also!

I've seen quite a few Goya guitars, and I wouldn't put any of them in the 'high value, collectible-take to a pro restorer category'. If you are careful and do your research and use accepted techniques (no 'soaking off' backs!) this should be a good learning experience.
By the time you are finished you will have done a lot of work, so be prepared to be patient.
It sounds to me like you will find it much easier and more effective to remove the back. You will have to be careful that you don't let the shape of the body change during your repairs, or you will have major problems getting the back re-glued in place.
Perhaps you should post some pics so some more expert repair folks can give you advice here.
Cheers
John

Complete back removal is often much more work than you would
likely anticipate. It's best to build a mold for the body, and even then it
can be quite a challenge to line up all the edges when refitting and
gluing. Then the binding and touchup become much more involved as
well. It is rare that I find it worthwhile to completely pull a back. Pretty
much only for back replacement or when the entire glue joint has failed
like so many 50's/60's Gibson archtops.

There are of course exceptions, but usually if you pull the back for
convenience of back repairs you would be wishing you hadn't by the end
of the job. Pictures would be helpful. Even if it is an older and nicer model
this guitar is not going to be worth much. It certainly would not be worth
having the all this work done if you were paying a professional to do it.
Still, it's a big job to try on your own. Just don't ever soak any part of a
guitar in water again.David Collins39062.8165393519

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