Featured Restoration - Double Cracks!

Dear Guitar Enthusiasts,

Least expected the last 2 consecutive jobs were repairing cracked necks. Both guitars' necks were seriously cracked indeed. A Martin OM-28V came in first with a almost severed neck. A few days later a Takamine guitar arrived in two. Here are the pictures of both guitars' cracked necks.

Martin OM-28V

Takamine

The repair is of course to re-glue the cracked portions and get the guitar back in action. However many of my clients are not aware of a whole of details and considerations that come with a cracked neck repair job. This is where I play my part as a professional, i.e. to provide the best fitting repair options to suit their desires and budgets.

For cracked guitar necks, I provide these options.

1. Re-glue the cracked portions.
2. Re-glue the cracked portions plus reinforcements.
3. Re-glue the cracked portions plus reinforcements plus cosmetic touch-up

They simply differ in terms of the amount of jobs. I am not going to dive into elaboration of each option as I think they are pretty self-explanatory. However I welcome any queries regarding them if you deem necessary.

The Martin OM-28V
The owner was determined to have it fixed to last because he really liked the guitar. The crack was due a fall by his younger brother who has accidentally dropped the guitar. The owner has chosen my 3 option, that is to re-glue the cracked portions, reinforce its neck and perform cosmetic touch-ups on the affected areas. Let the pictures talk. The sequence starts from left picture and goes clockwise.

The Takamine guitar
The client who brought it to my workshop isn't the owner. He wanted to get the guitar repair for a friend who has pretty deep attachment to this Takamine guitar. At first, he has chosen the 2nd option, that is to re-glue the cracked portions plus reinforcements. Eventually I have decided to go all the way for this guitar because I think it would make the owner really happy. Again, let the pictures talk.

Thanks for taking time to read my posting!

Featured Restoration (A Sakura Dobro)

Just when you think it is safe and sound at home…

Place your beloved guitars on your guitar stands… a cleaning lady comes along and topple one of your beloved and something got to go…

The Sakura Dobro didn't survive the impact of toppling. The neck joint has given way, as shown in the above picture, the crack line started from the neck heel cap and propagated into the fingerboard extension.

My client has brought this Dobro to me for repairs. The interesting thing about repair is in its implied expectations. Some clients will expect a total reversion to brand new look and functional health as well. There are some who are more concern with the functional aspects than the cosmetics. After listening to my client's concern, I assured him that the Dobro is repairable in its functional aspects. Simultaneously I have emphasized the difficulty in restoring its cosmetics and the costs required.

Many clients are not fully aware that making a guitar from scratch can be easier than restoring an already completed guitar in certain aspects. In specific this repair, to camouflage the crack line along the neck-to-body joint will involve several tricky steps, each with some degrees of uncertainties thus taking more time and effort. It translated to higher repair cost eventually.

How much should one invest in repairing a guitar? This golden question has no model answer unfortunately. However these are the perspectives that affect the perceived value of a repair job, sentimental value, retail price of the guitar, brands, rarity, difficulty level of the repair job, client's expectations, etc.

To repair the Dobro, these are the major steps taken from start until completion.

1. Clean up the crack; remove flakes, splinters, from the crack areas
2. Devise the best clamping approaches
3. Rehearse the glue application and clamping processes
4. Execute the rehearsed process with accuracy and excellence
5. Allow for 24 hours curing of the wood glue
6. Remove all clamping tools and excess wood glue
7. Fine cosmetic touch-up on the repaired areas
8. Allow another 24 hours of "rest" before applying load on the guitar
9. Value added service (wip)
10. String up and set up

The interesting part of this repair was the gluing and clamping process. The key was apply glue to such tight areas and to clamp it effectively so that the crack areas made good contact. Simultaneously, the clamping tools should not leave any mark on the guitar. Given such a setting, many things could go wrong that will render the repair attempt ineffective. The mindset was to "measure twice but cut once." I learned that from David Greenwell of Valleys Guitars which is base in Australia.

Due to the accurate mindset, the repair processes could not be smoother. The Dobro guitar was restored to the owner's satisfaction. Surely I was very delighted with my client's reaction when he saw his restored Dobro.

More pictures;

Clamped for 24 hours

Clamped for 24 hours

Before & After

Before & After

String Height at 12th Fret

Thanks for reading

Featured Restoration (A Taylor Baby Story Again)

A young boy… eating

Finger Joint is cracked

In January 2011, I restored a Baby Taylor from a cracked neck heel (see picture below). This guitar is indeed a special one because there is a portrait of the owner’s son being drawn on the guitar top plate. The cracked headstock heel in the Baby Taylor seems to have brought remembrance to certain chapters of the owner's life. Suffice to say that the restoration of the guitar wasn’t simply a job I have done, it meant something to the owner. It was a great privilege for me then but deja vu…

The link to the previous repair posting: http://cadam7777777.blogspot.com/2011/01/featured-restoration.html

Last episode: Hairline crack

Anything that can happen will happen… the infamous Murphy’s Law strikes. During a missionary trip the Baby Taylor suffered another concussion on its headstock. The previously repaired joint gave way to the impact. The owner brought the “injured baby” to me for an assessment. Visually and structurally, the damage was more severe than the previous episode (see below picture). Previously, only the crown of the heel revealed a hairline crack this time the crack propagated around and within the entire neck radius.

Damage was more severe than previously

In summary, these are the steps I have taken to restore this baby once more…

1. Remove the old mahogany stub
2. Glue the finger joints seams an allow glue to set for 24hrs
3. Enlarge the existing cavity slightly
4. Make another mahogany stub that fits the enlarged cavity
5. Glue the mahogany stub into the cavity and allow glue to set for 24hrs
6. Trim off the stub protrusion and sand till flush
7. Re-finish the affected areas
8. Re-string and set up 

Apparently the steps aren’t very different from the previous episode. However there were a few tricky areas to note. I thought it might good to share it with guitar repair enthusiasts through this article. Without a doubt, you will find a myriad of ways to get it done and these were just the ways available to me.

Applying wood glue into the finger joint seams was a tricky thing to do. We know that wood glue doesn’t behavior like water and getting this viscous fluid into these finger joint seams will not be easy. I have read in the internet that applying a “special liquid” to transport wood glue into deep seams and crevices. My curiosity has driven me to hunt down this mysterious liquid but in vain eventually.

Part of my facts finding effort was querying full-time luthiers regarding the application of such mysterious liquid. However there was no answer to my query. While none have said that such liquid don’t exist, they have remarked that it didn’t make sense to “dilute” the wood glue in order to deliver it into crevices because it can be done mechanically. An assumption to this special liquid was introducing water to thin the wood glue. However it will cause the wood glue to loose its effectiveness. Anyone who knows about this special liquid, I will greatly appreciate if you can share this knowledge.

So how did I get the wood glue to those deep and narrow spaces? Actually it wasn’t that difficult and the method is perfectly logical. Simply flexes the crack joint a few times and the glue will be distributed into the cracks. Just make sure you apply glue generously. A thing to note is the amount of flexing force. Just get the job done and don’t totally over do it until things totally break apart.

The other tricky thing was enlarging the existing cavity (see below picture). In particular, lengthening and keeping the same cavity depth required some attention indeed. Setting up for routing the cavity has taken the most time because it wasn’t a flat surface and I have to take note of the truss rod.

Carefully the old stub was removed

Trimming off the excess stub can be deceptively easy. Anyone can simply sand off the excess and flush the stub surface to the neck. However, the neck possesses a radius profile. As I was trimming off the excess, I have to re-produce the matching neck radius. Failing which a flat portion will be seen along the neck. While it was not a structural issue it might affect the “feel” which is an essential quality to the owner.

After trimmed, sanded and refinished

The stub flushed in both level and curvature

Nevertheless it was done! Once again the Baby Taylor has been restored!

Once again, restored!

There is nothing God cannot heal, save, restore and renew.

Matthew 8:1-3

1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

-End of Article-