I donât have the money to buy a new guitar atm, and my old acoustic cracked on the side. It doesnât bother me that much, Iâm used to making due with what I have, but I was asking myself if I could maybe fix it, before it widens? Iâm generally OK with fiddly stuff, I do a lot of crafts with all kinds of materials from paper and yarn to metals and wood.
Is this doable? I do not want to destroy it more than it already is, and I have never done anything with musical instruments, which is why I havenât tried anything yet.
Honestly, I would go ask a luthier first. See how much it would cost to have them do it and get their opinion on how badly it needs it.
A side crack like that wont affect sound or playability , so the reason to fix it, as you state, is so it wonât get worse, and cosmetic.
However, if you fill it with glue and clamp it shut, it may work great, but it may not and the repair attempt really screws up future potential for a proper repair should you ever want or need to do that. So proceed with caution.
One thing I learned recently on another forum is that wood glues like Tight-bond form a chemical bond with wood and only wood. They do not bond to dry Tight-bond glue and cannot be removed from the wood they have already bonded to. They make a great strong connection, stronger than the wood, but if the repair fails, you are done. Best fix a crack with something else, unless you are sure you will do the repair correctly and finally. Maybe a hide glue, but I donât know what is best.
I tried to figure out âcleatâ, but the translation showed me stuff I doubt you used, like cleats at bicycle shoes or those things where you attach ropes in a sailboat Is it a peace of wood?
There are several types of âTitebondâ. Iâve got to look up this exact type of hide glue, but usually, you can clean up and remove hide glue later on. The original stuff is what violin makers also used and its my prefered glue for many tasks.
Yes you can fix that crack yourself but you need to re hydrate your guitar first. In the second picture I can see that the crack has opened up which indicates 2 things
your guitar is drying out
itâs solid wood so it is definitely worth fixing.
The Glue you posted is perfect for what you want to do. Hide glue can be removed from wood if the first first attempt fails for any reason.
The good news is the crack seems to be flat(one side isnât pushed above the other side) so you could re hydrate the guitar until the crack closes then glue a thin strip of wood to the inside of the guitar over the crack.
Great! Thank you for the link! With magnets! I had thought about some very thin wood like veneer so it would attach to the inside just by the glue and wouldnât need any clamps, but maybe some smaller pieces is a good way, especially with the (strong enough) magnet.
In fact, I think the wood âcleatâ can be quite thin, because normally, the glue should even work alone. Well, normally - I am just wondering @sevi if the crack came because of unnormal mechanical stress, or is there some tension in the wood and the wood was too dry or so?
Hi, Dominique Iâm looking now does the crack go all the way through ? Stitch above is right in all he is saying but still think about it before you start put a torch inside so you can see from the outside how open it is, it is a simple fix if you take your time but after that you need to prevent it happening again
I noticed that as well Nick There is also a mark on the right of the crack. Has it hit something maybe, After glueing the side gentle and I insist gentle pressure from some clamps would help in closing the crack until the glue dries, but I doubt this will be something he has at hand
If the guitar is worth less than $500, it probably doesnât make sense to spend money with a Luthier. Gluing and clamping the soundboard separation with wood glue makes sense. If the side-crack isnât separating, Iâd consider flowing some thin superglue into the crack and letting it wick into the crack. Follow this with some activator to harden it completely.
Plenty of YouTube videos from luthiers showing how they repair stuff.
It may not be the prettiest repair, but it will keep the guitar together long enough for you to save for a new one.
At times I wish I was close by I would come and repair it for her but Iâm sure she will be able to glue it itâs not that bad a job, I would also consider using super glue but I use fine tip applicators to stop it going all over but it will work
@sevi May I ask where you live? Your guitar looks extremely dry. Looking at the picture some more I noticed the fret board is showing signs of cupping. This would mean your guitar has been drying out for quite awhile. Do you humidify it at all? It will be a totally different guitar if you could get some moisture back into it and would last you a very long time.
Knowing how dry your location is would help in the best method to re hydrate your guitar.
Wow, ok, thatâs so many answers, thank you all so much <3
How do I hydrate my guitar properly? And how often? (I live in Germany, no special humidfying arrangement yet). When I got it from my mum back in February, I coated it with sunflower oil, because people on the internet said it needs oil, and that was what I had on hand. Beginning to think this was kinda stupid? It did help a little, but the guitar came out of storage and hadnât been played or handled for 50+ years before. Not by someone who would know to do this, anyway. It was a bit of a fixâer uppa, lemme tell you^^ I learned quite a lot about what you can do to make it easier to play, but apparently not enough for proper maintenance. Is there a cheap option for a good oil to do this with?
The crack is not just in the wood, the two sides have ever so slightly shifted so one is over the other, even if you cannot see it in the picture. I am tempted to re-align them with gentle pressure of my hands, but I know this can go awry easily, and I would welcome any tips.
The glue says itâs âreversible bondâ, so that should be alright.
The top is not coming away from the body, that was just a trick of the light in the picture. Thank the guitar gods, because that wouldnât be as easy.
Guitars donât need oil they need Humidity from the air. All oil does is seal the wood and with no moisture there it will do more harm than good.
You should buy a hygrometer to monitor the Relative Humidity in you home. There are inexpensive one or the fancy oneâs with an app.
There are a few options to re hydrate your guitar without spending any money.
The easiest and cheapest way is to get a plastic dry cleaning bag large enough to fit the guitar in and close up the top. Take a moist sponge (not wet) place it in the bottom of the bag place your guitar inside the bag Not touching the sponge and blow the bag up with air. If you can hang the bag some where out of the way it would help. Check the sponge every day and keep it moist. This could take months to get the guitar humidified properly but the good news is you can still play it just put it back in the bag when not playing it.
Once the guitar is humidified you can store it in itâs case with humidipaks or if youâd like to keep it out on a stand get a room humidifier to humidify the air in the room where you keep your guitar in the winter.
You can buy bags to hang your guitar in if you find it more convenient than a dry cleaning bad.
Is it a peace of wood?
