Help please to repair my son's acoustic guitar.
Viewed side on, the neck has started to pull away from the sound box by a couple of mm. The bit by the frets is still soundly attached. Son's music teacher said it will glue back but I'm not so sure. Teacher said "anyone can fix it who's handy with glue and a vice". Vice? It would need to be a big old vice to put a guitar in. The tension on the strings will surely spring the repair, I'm guessing.
My first instinct would be to release the string tension and drill and screw into the wood to pull the thing back into line. Glue it before tightening the screw. Hang the appearance, get a nice long brass screw into it to give it some strength. Never done a guitar before; are screws a no-no?
I've got basic handyman skills but I'm no luthier. Anyone any tips for me?
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Hawkeye,
I would be inclined to take it to a furniture maker for an 'opinion'.
Near us, there's one on the B6271 Yafforth Road, a couple of miles outside Northallerton.
It's in a converted barn and leaving Northallerton, it comes up on the lefthand side.
If they can't help, they might know a man who can.
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Don't use screws. Clamp it up and use Aaldite if it's not a "collector's piece".
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Speaking as someone with experience in furniture restoration H I'd say remove the strings, use a high strength wood glue and clamp for 24hrs min before re-attaching strings. I wouldn't screw it as guitar wood is a bit lightweight and it will look a bodge.
My reason for not using Araldite is it's so messy where it squeezes out. Wood glues can be wiped with a damp cloth and dry clear so no mess.
A basic used acoustic isn't that expensive on Ebay either so not worth going to a lot of trouble.
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>> My reason for not using Araldite is it's so messy where it squeezes out. Wood
>> glues can be wiped with a damp cloth and dry clear so no mess.
The problem with glue like "Evo-Stik Resin W" PVA or similar is that they take some time to dry properly, and if the joint is disturbed beforehand, it'll be ruined. They're not good at gap filling, either. Yes, Araldite or similar epoxies can be messy, but with minimum care it needn't be. One can, for instance, apply masking tape to the dry-assembled joint, then slit where the meetings are. You can clean it off (when "wet"!) with a bit of persistence if it's smudged. Polyester resins have pretty good gap-filling properties, too.
If it was for anything decent I'd go back to good old pearl glue. I don't think you can do much better than that (but probably not for this!).
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Thanks for the replies.
Iffy
I'm trying to do a DIY job because there's little money value in the instrument. There's a competent guitar chap in Richmond who did the electric guitar who I would use again if necessary.
FT
Helo birds, helo sky etc.
"Don't use screws." why not? Do they do something awful to the sound?
F
There isn't much value in it so a bodge would be acceptable. May remind son to take more care of it in future.
Last edited by: hawkeye on Sat 2 Oct 10 at 11:13
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Get some "resin W" or similar wood glue in the opening, and then remove the strings for a couple of days while the glue hardens properly.
It's the tension from the strings opening the gap, so I'd expect it to close up destrung.
Tell him not to drop it (again) when he gets it back.
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>> FT
>> Helo birds, helo sky etc.
>> "Don't use screws." why not? Do they do something awful to the sound?
Helo hawkeye - they're likely to actually weaken the joint.
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Heedless of the etiquette about not replying to one's own posts I thought I'd follow up my repair efforts.
Slackened all the strings, knowing that the Lidl electronic tuning "fork" will rescue the sound again.
Opened up the crack slightly across a fulcrum (torch) by weighting the box and neck with books. Tried to remove a bit of the old glue with sandpaper. Dampened the crack and left it for a few hours.
Applied Evo-Stik wood glue and led it down into the crack with some cotton (like flossing teeth).
Removed the fulcrum and weighted the centre of the box with books. Cleaned the excess glue away and left it for 2 days.
Touched up the cracked varnish with nail polish (it's enough to make a furniture restorer cringe, eh?)
It's taken a few days for the thing to settle down and keep its tune and the repair is just about invisible. I hope seeing the guitar and books in his room has reminded junior to take care of it in future.
Thanks all for your input.
Last edited by: hawkeye on Wed 13 Oct 10 at 10:32
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Acoustic guitar repair - Iffy
