Crack repair what caused my acoustic guitar to crack. Sometimes the best method is to contact the manufacturer and ask for a replacement dvd, or search for a used replacement disk through ebay or local secondhand stores. Feb 25, 2014 vintage kay guitar, crack on top and inside top brace is split causing the top to dish in. A slight crack or dent isnt impossible to repair yourself. Feel free to contact us for help in having a crack or ding repaired. I have several guitars with cracks to repair and have been watching a number of videos. Full guitar repair school course, esfir curriculum outline. Heres how to pull a crack together and glue it neatly and permanently.
Luthier tools, guitar parts, and supplies for instrument builders, repair shops, hobbyists, and players worldwide. Professionals will often repair a crack or ding for you, but it can cost you. Dan erlewine demonstrates how the stewmac crack repair tools work in this informative video. Now you can upload photos with your repair estimate request. November 08, 2012 cracks and divots, guitar builds and repair, martin, string instrument building and repair no comments heres the fingerboard extension and the main part of the crack. Martin guitar performs warranty and nonwarranty repairs on martin instruments at the factory. Contact your local guitar center store for pricing and more information about these repair and maintenance services. I had done some major crack repair restoration to bring it back to life. Knowing how to evaluate the seriousness of a crack will allow you to determine whether to call a repair person immediately or whether it might be ok to leave it alone for a little while. The guitar repair guide get answers and advice here. Acoustic guitar top crack repair cleating cracks n sealing outter.
Stewmac everything for building and repairing stringed. Check out the price list then describe your repair for us and well get you a live estimate. Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available. This guitar came into the shop last week, with a severely bellied top and a lifting bridge. This video shows many more discoveries of preventive maintenance not performed and. The crack, which developed mainly as a result of the guitar drying out, is located on the lower bout, extending along the grain from the treble side of the bridge to the binding next to the heel block. This instructable will show you how to repair a broken guitar neck and, depending on how severe the damage, how to do some minor cosmetic repair. Is it possible to speak to the repair person working on my guitar. If you own an acoustic guitar long enough, chances are good that youll have to deal with the repair of a crack in the wood. Aug 26, 2017 classical guitar gets crack repair daves world of fun stuff. This will limit the possibility of the guitar sustaining more unexpected cracks or surface scratches. The crack clamp uses a thin wire to pull the cleat into place. Depending on the severity and location of the crack, a repair is as simple as stabilizing the wood and applying glue to secure it. A cracked guitar side is a difficult fix, especially when the sides of the split are uneven.
However, this one was located in such a place that threw me for a while. Cracks in the body of your solid top acoustic guitar are often cause by physical damage to the guitar or shrinkage due to a lack of humidity. The focus of the shop operation is the building and repair of flat top acoustic guitars, but the shop also offers repair and complete restoration services on vintage and collectible guitars. Chuck levins is a fender certified repair center unconventional and exotic instruments will be priced on a casebycase bas. Luthiers mercantile international offers the largest selection of tonewoods, professional tools and parts for the custom guitar builder. How to repair cracks in your acoustic guitar guitar alliance. Nonwarranty repairs will be covered by a 90day parts and labor repair warranty. Now, an acoustic guitars top shouldnt be dead flat they are arched, typically with a 4. This is a type repair that i have done on many guitars before.
This video i put to use my new magnets and cleat the first crack in the bottom of the lower bout of the guitar top. Apr 14, 2018 the ultimate guitar crack repair tool and its for free. A washboard texture which looks somewhat like corduroy is one of the first signs of dryness. Dan erlewine shows how to pull a crack together and. Once a crack has been repaired badly, undoing the damage can leave your guitar in worse shape than before the repair. Vintage kay guitar, crack on top and inside top brace is split causing the top to dish in. Dec 24, 20 most of the worst and hardesttorepair cracks happen on a guitars top. I purchased one of these spruce strips to repair a crack in the sitka spruce top on my martin om. Repair system for cracked guitar tops a matched set of clear lexan cauls loaded with magnets. It is very important that you know how to recognize this and what to do about it should your guitar start to show these signs of dryness. Joe is also converting the instrument from a hawaiianstyle guitar to a spanishstyle guitar, and shares how he plans to do that. This usually happens when the guitar is allowed to dry out, causing the two halves of the top to come unglued at the center seam. Tips on repairing acoustic guitar cracks proaudioland. Crack repair guitar blog the official taylor guitars blog.
Today we repair a crack in the side of an acoustic guitar. A cleated humidity crack will not stay closed any better than a wellglued, properly rehumidified crack repair. In this video robertovenns director of training, john reuter, fixes a crack in muriel. Most acoustic guitar cracks can be sealed with good adhesive or glue. If you are interested in having repair work done at our factory, please contact customer service. Cracked acoustic guitar repair keith holland youtube. How to repair a crack in a solid top acoustic guitar our. Repairing and filling fingerboard cracks and divots on the. This is a most thorough yet userfriendly tool for musicians who wish to get better, compose, or simply play along. So, this time, instead of returning the guitar to the manufacturer for refinishing, i decided to fix the small check.
Jan 05, 2012 taylor factory service centers and uv finishequipped service centers can repair cracks and, in many cases, make them disappear completely. Acoustic guitar cracked top repair by randy schartiger. But, when the check is small, and on a new instrument like this one, the repair becomes something of a necessity, just to keep the instrument in salable condition as a new guitar. Today on in the shop, joe looks at a crack in the top of a gibson hg00, and walks us through the repair process. Guitar repair rates chuck levins washington music center. Acoustic guitar top crack repair continued, leveling and buffing.
The cleats woodgrain runs across the crack, not parallel to it, creating a strong repair thats also very small. Guitar center repairs is your goto spot for expert stringed instrument repairs, upgrades and servicing. Close the crack our crack clamp uses a guitar tuner on a smooth polyethylene base. Stewmac repairing willie nelsons trigger guitar facebook. However, the timing for the repair is critical because the separation often expands when neglected. A crack running from bridge to the bottom of the face. When the output jack on my archtop failed, ray flanagan loaned me his 1923 gibson l01. Our hardenedsteel cleat cutter creates thin round cleats of wood to be glued across a crack on the inside of a guitar. Jun 28, 20 a bellied top can cause high action, bad intonation, and a weak sound.
If the damage is extreme, we may suggest a neck or body replacement. If you have a picture of your guitar s condition, upload it to our estimator platform and well be able to get you an even more accurate repair. Acoustic guitar cracked top repair by randy schartiger guitar repair. Repairing and filling fingerboard cracks and divots on the martin guitar. The magnets hold everything together while you apply clamps. The guitar in question for this example is an epiphone les paul studio. Instrument repairs, maintenance and modifications guitar center. Same day shipping, free technical support, 100% satisfaction guaranteed. The video lessons and additional resources provided to help you better your skills is simply brilliant.
Now, i dont want to pretend i attended a professional guitar repair school. Hey here is pretty exciting video from my cousin mark earley one out and austin texas hes been the care taker of willie nelsons guitar trigger for all these years you know the whole the top that will is worn through it marks seal it up today so it doesnt run any longer and fix a crack on the top while hes doing this he gives us the whole history on trigger and how that guitar got to where. It may take some work and a few tries, but with the right tools you can shine up your guitar and make even a damaged guitar body look new. Dan is the worlds bestknown educator on guitar repair. This video i show how i level the guitar top cracks with single edge razor blade where i filled and sealed them with a very thin viscosity ca glue.
Give us a call to discus repair options and please be prepared to email a picture to us in order to receive the most accurate estimate. Located inside every guitar center store, our staff of experienced, certified technicians. He has also built and repaired guitars for luther allison, mike bloomfield, ted nugent, and other top artists. Kovacik guitars and fretted instrument repair was founded in 1995 by luthier steven kovacik, who has been building and repairing guitars since 1986. And since a cleated crack will often cause a split next to the cleat if the guitar dries out once again, you could end up with a repaired crack, a cleat, and a new crack beside the cleat. As a cleveland area luthier, its rare i get to perform with instruments that i restore or repair. The interior caul holds a featherweight wooden cleat while the exterior caul pulls it into place over the crack. Full guitar repair school course, esfir curriculum outline luthier school the purpose of this instructional block is to introduce the luthier school student to the various concepts concerning the dynamics and physical characteristics of electric, acoustic, and bass guitars via live demonstrations and extensive handson evaluations. This warranty will only cover the work performed and does not cover defects unrelated to the original reported problem and completed repair. Cracks around the screws of the electronics on electric models. May 18, 2017 the vat is very high and the tools are about 160 dollars to get here.