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My first guitar. Almost done. Just brushing on some shellac, when the string I had it hanging by came untied and the guitar hit the basement floor with a resounding boom. (On the bright side, I think it was a G#).

The resulting damage is best seen in the picture.



I'm continually amazed by the innovative solutions that you guys have to the various challenged that are presented on this forum. Things I wouldn't have thought of. So I thought it best to run this by you all first in case I'm about to do something awful.

I think that I ought to be able to get the pieces back into position and wick some thin CA into the cracks, and I should be okay. I'll try to get some Titebond between the back and heel block first, push the pieces into place, clamp, and use the CA after the Titebond has set.

The crack stops at the first brace, and the braces appear to be sound.

I'm guessing that some of you have successful experience with similar repairs. I'd be much obliged for any input I get.

Thanks,
Ron Weaver

Heart breaking!

I think your fix sounds doable, one other thought would be to replace the back. Sounds like a lot to do, but you would probably be happier in the long run.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

I feel your pain Ron. Just last summer I had a noce little cocobolo guitar (same as our OLF #1) all finished with Pau purfling all around including the sides and was buffing it on the wheel when I caught an edge and it was thrown to the floor. Cracks all around the sides and the back. I plan to nail it to the wall above my buffer as a reminder to keep the edges away from the wheel.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Thanks, Lance. I forgot to mention that this guitar has no shortage of "blems". If you think it will be structurally okay, that's good enough for me.

Ron

John, I can read this guitar like a book of lessons learned. Each lesson has left its mark. Hopefully, I'll avoid the same mistakes next time.

Ron, if you can get the wood to fit back together, it will be fine with the CA treatment. But its important to get the wood back together like puzzle pieces, Nice and tight.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Please post some pictures after you fix it or I'll have nightmares,                 RedRed Ennis38814.4585300926

Stick some duct tape over it and call it rock and roll!

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Bummer Ron.

You might want to consider using thin hide glue rather than CA for your repair. CA has a tendency to darken the cracks making them even more visible. From what little I've used hide glue it seems to do a better job of making the cracks disappear.

Good luck with it, whatever you decide.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

My heart bleeds for you Ron. That really sucks. Ditto on the HHG...

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[quote]Please post some pictures after you fix it or I'll have nightmares,        & nbsp;        Red [/quote]



Good one Red!

Ron,

I had the same sort of thing happen to me on my first guitar although the damage wasn't as bad. I was spraying my guitar and had it hanging from the garage door runners. Well I turned my stupidity cap to maximum power and decided it would be a good idea to raise the garage door higher to get more ventilation. The door went up and cut the string holding the guitar! Doh! Down went the guitar in one of those slow motion scenes of horror. For a few seconds I stood there looking in disbelief.

Anyway all that seemed to have happened was the bindings around where the end graft meets the back got mangled. I glued them back as best I could and left it at that. Lesson learned! Note to self: don't raise the garage door to high when your guitar is hanging from it!

Hi Ron

Something very simular happened to me. You can check it out
at http://home.comcast.net/~mesquite8. Click on the "This is
sad" link. I was able to make repairs by using clamps to
close the cracks and letting thin CA glue wick into them.
The cracks are not detectable at all now.
My main problem and what you can see now is that the
herringbone strip pretty much exploded and some bits of it
were entirely gone. The repair turned out much better than
I had thought possible when I first saw the damage.

Davemesquite838814.5209722222

Ron, you have all my support Man! Don't know much about CA with cracks like these but i've heard it here a couple of times and it should be good, more experienced builders than me have used it with success. For me, i'd instinctively go with HHG but i'd wait till more people confirm that choice!

Hope you'll do fine for this one, best of luck!

Serge

Thanks for all the support, guys. Surprisingly (to me) I'm not too upset about this. I just want to correct it and get the guitar finished.

I appreciate the advice to use hot hide glue. I can see where that would make a less visible repair. I'll have to decide if I want to tackle the learning curve (and tooling up etc.) or if I can live with the CA? As Lance mentioned, I can always replace the back. (Oh, man, did I just write that???)

Dave's pictures of similar damage almost invisibly repaired were especially encouraging.

Red, I promise I'll post an "after" pic. But only if I think it will help with the nightmares, and not make them worse!

Ron

I guess I have a follow-up question. Am I going to get a sticky-gooey mess when the CA hits the shellac? I've got maybe 3-4 coats of shellac on it at this point.

Thanks again,
Ron

Sorry Ron, that really stinks! At least it sounds like you have a good attitude about it. That counts for more than anything.

Cheers!

John

Oh Ron... That really SUCKS!!! I woulda cried!
I'm coming in late here, but if it were me, I'd replace the back. In the long run it'll probably be faster than a nice fix & you won't have to explain the boo boo endlessly, everytime someone admires your guitar.
On the other hand... it makes for a good story (once the tears dry up.)
Oh yea... Steel hooks! they're cheap! And way more convenient than string or rope.

Ugh! You would not want to be near me for a while if that happened to me.

By way of encouragement, a little story: When I was at Sergei de Jonge's shop last summer, I saw a very nice guitar that his son-in-law Pat had made. It had been run over by a truck. No kidding. Smashed into many pieces. Glued back together. The repairs were not invisible, but it looked amazingly good, considering, and the guitar was, for all intents and purposes, good as new.

Good luck.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Ron,

My sympathies. I'm sure it will turn out fine for you. Plus, you seem to have an attitued about it that chalks it up to experience, something that I think is rare during a first build. I sure wouldn't have had your philosophical reaction if this had happened to me on my first!

I did do something similar, but on my then-new D-28 years ago. I was ill over it. Ervin Somogyi fixed it for me, at a very reasonable rate, though he may not have had the reputation then that he has now. Did a fine job of it too.

Hope to see pics!

Like your sig, BTW.burbank38814.6800925926

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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Two words..."Willie"...."Nelson"! You know, we've only ever seen his guitar "Trigger" from the front...you may have just duplicated Willie's "backside"!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

OW! MOMMY!
That really makes a good day go bad, doesn`t it?
A tip for those like myself who use string for such things, use nylon mason`s line. The stuff is pretty much unbreakable and the knots stay tight. Also has some stretch to it, so if something really needs to be wrapped tight...
Coe

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Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Coe, the nylon mason's line is exactly what I used! I think it's slippery enough that the knot must've worked its way loose. It might've been a shoddy knot (obviously it was), and my manipulations of the guitar on the string seemed to be all that it needed. I'm using a piece of wire now.

Ron

[QUOTE=L. Presnall]you may have just duplicated Willie's "backside"! [/QUOTE]

Do I dare, DO I DARE..... naaaa.

Ronn, I would use medium CA, it won't spread all over the inside of the box like the thin stuff will. Also, I don't think you'll have to worry much about the crack lines darkening to much, all the cracks look like they run along a grain line, so you won't see it if you do it right.

I had some thing similar happen to my first when I was taking the back off. I put a 6" long crack right down the middle on a grain line (not enough moisture when pull it off). Well I wanted to quit.

But I just used a little thinned out titebond and it worked out fine.

Here it is and to this day, I can't find the crack.

Rod True38814.7931712963

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Ron, since you say there are other flaws and you are still learning, I'd fix it, and I beleive since all the pieces are their you could make it invisible. I'll leave it up to the experts for the advise. My comment is about your one liner..
(On the bright side, I think it was a G#).

Way to go.. That drop could have ruined you weekend, but it sounds like it hasn't.
Mike

Hi, guys, it's me. I signed on from a different computer and couldn't remember my password. Had to re-register to get on so I could post these:

First, I pushed the wood back into place, and applied some CA to all of the cracks. The wood was mostly level, but not perfect.



Then I sanded it a little. This is looking very promising. I was able to get it level without too much effort.



After a couple of coats of shellac, it's pretty hard to see the repair. It ain't perfect, but all things considered, I'll take it.



Thanks again for all your input and support. My daughter said "You're lucky you found those guys". I think so too.

Note: My arm was too big to get into the bottom of the guitar through the soundhole! But I lucked out and didn't really need to. It would have been easier to be able to apply support from the inside while pressing on the cracks.

Ron WeaverComposite Kid38814.9535185185