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This poor Taylor was knocked off off something and landed on something and bam…. Cracked top.
It appears that there are no chips… just a top that needs to be brought back into alignment and glued.

I’m certain this would be easy for many of you, and I may find it simple as well, but I did want to ask:
How would you go about fixing this?
Cleat? Hide glue? Ca glue? Magnets?
Thank you for any advice.
I want to make sure this is something I can do before committing to it.
B



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Does it come together nice and tight at the moment? If not it may need to be hydrated first.

Did you look inside to see if any of the finger braces are popped loose? I still use tuning machine clamps to align the crack but many are using powerful magnets now too. Titebond would work fine for a crack like that also hot hide glue. I would avoid CA.

It should be easy to reach that crack with a deep throated clamp.

I’ll I have is this picture:) will put my hands on it next week


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If it's closed as is I would mix Titebond 50:50 with water and after washing my hands (very important Titebond will carry dirt from hands into crack... crack on guitar....) rub in the wet Titebond pulsing the crack from the underside to encourage the glue to wick in. When you can feel little beads on the underside then wipe the top clean of glue and apply a bead of full strength Titebond and pulse the crack again wicking the glue in. The thinner Titebond acts as a carrier to help the thick stuff get into the crack.

When I feel glue on the underside then I place wax paper on top of the crack after wiping off excess glue, then a clear plexiglass sheet (I like clear so I can aim my magnets) and then two top side rare earth magnets the good ones not the wimpy crap Lutherie supply houses sell but with at least 42 pounds of pull per square inch. Two on top, two on the underside with wax paper over them so you don't glue the magnets.

Wait a day, remove magnets, plexiglass and wax paper. Clean up with hot water and Bob's your uncle. You could cleat it but I don't see why it. It cracked because of an impact not being dry so cleating is optional and won't hurt anything, use a diamond shape with beveled edges no more than .050ish thick.

This as cracks go is as easy as they come to fix and the powerful magnets will ensure it's level when done.

I think everybody's advice is well-meaning, but I think learning top repairs on a Taylor, or any other high-end guitar is playing in the street. I think if ya gotta ask, ask a professional to fix it. The dollar cost of a professional repair is way less than the devaluation attached to a less-than-perfect amateur repair. Nice instrument, keep it nice.

_________________
Peter Havriluk

My methodology, when someone asks me to do a repair where I understand the process but have limited experience, is to take one of my own guitars and inflict as similar an injury as possible to it and then attempt a repair. Sometimes I’ll inflict several injuries and fix them different ways. Evaluating my results gives me accurate information about whether I was ready to attempt the work in question on someone else’s property.