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Repairing a guitar case


Howie22

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So, I bought my new (used) Larrivee a few months ago. However, the tolex covering of Larrivee case that came with it is coming apart.

This case is made a little differently than my older Larrivee case.

Essentially, the glue is just not holding. There are no tears or anything, the tolex is just coming loose. At first, I just noticed it on a piece of trim. Then, the top trim near the hinges is loose, and the actual tolex on the sides of the case is coming unglued as well.

This is a little more than duct tape or stickers will fix.

Is this something that can be fixed? DIY, or where would I take it? Would it cost more to fix than it would be worth?

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Without pics its hard to visualize your problem. However, I have corrected similar sounding problems over the years on guitar cases and even on amp coverings by using 3M spray glue.

Generally it is a good idea to take your time and carefully mask off the areas you don't want the glue to go, just like you were using spray paint. That can be accomplished with paper tape and newspapers.

I don't know if that suggestion helps or not. Post a few pics and let some people look at it.

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Believe it or not, I had one that looked almost that bad back when I was in the Army. The tape, however, was cloth and OD in color. We called it missile tape, not duct tape. We all had a big roll of it in our lockers. Mine was right beside my box of BA-30s and two or three extra rolls of toilet paper I always stole and stashed away whenever the latrines got resupplied. Couldn't afford to run out of TP! There were times when that stuff was like GOLD!!

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Quote Originally Posted by Howie22 View Post
So, I bought my new (used) Larrivee a few months ago. However, the tolex covering of Larrivee case that came with it is coming apart.

This case is made a little differently than my older Larrivee case.

Essentially, the glue is just not holding. There are no tears or anything, the tolex is just coming loose. At first, I just noticed it on a piece of trim. Then, the top trim near the hinges is loose, and the actual tolex on the sides of the case is coming unglued as well.

This is a little more than duct tape or stickers will fix.

Is this something that can be fixed? DIY, or where would I take it? Would it cost more to fix than it would be worth?
If it all comes off you'll still have a case.

Sounds like the glue bond is no good. Maybe the stuff was a bad batch or applied improperly. Who knows/cares at this point. I think the entire covering needs to come off. The latches are assembled to the case after the Tolex is applied so you'll have to cut around them. Then clean the exposed wood up as well as you possibly can and paint it black or (?) color. You may have a little bondo filling to do but with careful prep it should look fine. If you prefer to save yourself the effort, replace it. I don't think spot repairs are going to get it done and looking right. Paint it and make it a sticker case.
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Try a place that does automobile upholstery work. The headliner (ceiling) in your car/truck is similar: fabric glued to a backing. They should be able to reglue the Tolex or replace it with something else (i.e., vinyl upholstery "fabric"). Bear in mind, I don't know how much it would cost and a decent hard case is $40-60 locally (St. Louis) on CraigsList.

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Quote Originally Posted by Pitar View Post
If it all comes off you'll still have a case.

Sounds like the glue bond is no good. . .If you prefer to save yourself the effort, replace it. I don't think spot repairs are going to get it done and looking right. Paint it and make it a sticker case.
Yeah, the glue bond is the problem. I agree that spot fixing it isn't going to "solve" the problem. It'll just be a band-aid for now, and I will probably have to keep doing it as more stuff comes off.

I may mess around with it and see. For now, the guitar will go into my beater guitar case, which is one of those Gator Lighweight foam cases.
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A buddy of mine had the same issue with his Gibson F-5 (mandolin)'s case...so, he stripped all the vinyl off and covered it with an epoxy paint...it now looks kinda like a fibre-glas case and is pretty much bullet-proof.

He did this about 15 years ago and it still looks a lot like it did when he first re-did the outside...pretty tough!

Googled this for you: http://www.ehow.com/about_6611136_ca...d-floors_.html

I've been thinking about doing this w/ No. 1' (Guild JF-4)s Larrivee case, myself, as it's getting pretty worn-looking. Likely would be painted white. Looks like a gallon (around $25) would be more than plenty.

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Okay, so here is the picture.

2012-10-09_10-41-24_107.jpg

I'm thinking that the "glue it back down" option will just be constant short term fixes and won't actually ever fix the problem. I obviously won't know that until I try. I also don't know how I'm going to get that one little trim strip to glue back down without making a giant mess of everything.

My favorite idea so far is Terry's idea to completely strip and sand it then paint it with black epoxy paint. (You can always count on Terry for some "off the wall" yet ingenious solution). I'm sure that will be a ton of work, though. Oh, and a quart of epoxy paint costs about the same as just getting another case off of craigslist!

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Anybody know what kind of case this is? It's on CL in my area right now at a pretty decent price. Owner doesn't know anything about it. Said they got it from someone else with a Rogue guitar. I don't think Rogue would come with a hard case, though? It has green fur inside.

CLHardCase.jpg

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I think TAH's idea is awesome. 3M spray glue is pretty incredible stuff, but from the picture (am I just seeing things?) it looks like your Tolex may be a little stretched out. Probably just going to be a big pain to reattach it and who knows if you're gonig to have to do it again a million times. If it was me, I'd rather just make something unique out of it, like Terry suggested.

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The right glue, like gorilla snot (3m weatherstrip adhesive), and a little patience will put that case right again. They call it gorilla snot for a good reason. It's tough.

IDK what that case on Craigslist is going for, but this is a pretty good deal if you just want to find another.

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Quote Originally Posted by Howie22

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Anybody know what kind of case this is? It's on CL in my area right now at a pretty decent price. . . .

 

No clue what brand it might be but it couldn't hurt to take a look at it. Looks to be pretty decent.
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Quote Originally Posted by DeepEnd View Post
No clue what brand it might be but it couldn't hurt to take a look at it. Looks to be pretty decent.
Scouring the MF website, it looks nearly identical to the Silver Creek case, which gets great reviews.

No idea, though. It's $40 on CL.
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I wasn't able to get that case off of Craigslist. cry.gif

So, with some Goo Gone, Gorilla Glue, black duct tape, a little patience, and a little ingenuity. . .I have a case that I can use - at least for the short term.

For the larger piece of trim around the top, I was able to pull the areas up that were already loose. I cleaned the glue residue with Goo Gone, then used Gorilla glue to reattach them.

For the small trim around the bottom, I completely pulled it off and cleaned the glue residue with glue gone. Then, I ran a strip of the black duct tape all the way around the bottom of the case, essentially making a new piece of "trim." Since the duct tape is black and has some texture, it matches reasonably well to the case and doesn't look too bad at all.

It's not a long term fix, though. I tried to reattach part of the main tolex that was coming loose, but the Gorilla Glue just isn't a good solution for that. It is not a fast setting glue and requires some degree of pressure to make it adhere. It just wouldn't hold the tolex, and there was no good way to apply pressure overnight on the curves of the case. At a later date, I'll look at removing that duct tape and working on the loose tolex using a faster setting adhesive (like the 3M Weatherstrip Adhesive or DAP Contact Cement).

So, for now, my case works. All in all, it cost me about $7 for the Goo Gone and duct tape. I already had the gorilla glue on hand.

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I'd strip the covering off completely, fill, sand, sand, sand some more and then paint that sucker with a good Rustoleum black enamel. Or, get a couple rolls of radio controlled airplane covering and re-do it. Nah. Paint is better. Tolex is overrated. How about a yard of some floral print fabric and then bond it with Weldwood contact cement? I recovered the speaker grills on my Fender Acoustasonic that way and then seized the cloth with a brushable clear epoxy (Z-Poxy) thinned with alcohol (denatured, folks) to give it stiffness. Or, how 'bout a zillion stickers and then seal them like they do with decoupage? My wife painted a design on the case of a Guild F-412 I had with gouache paint. It was lavender, gold, white, mint green, and other vibrant colors. I sealed it with a spray clear and it looked really nice. Embarrassing to be seen with it but very artsy. I was a hit walking down Las Olas Blvd in 'Lauderdale with it as well as when visiting downtown Key West.

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Quote Originally Posted by Pitar View Post
It was lavender, gold, white, mint green, and other vibrant colors. I sealed it with a spray clear and it looked really nice. Embarrassing to be seen with it but very artsy. I was a hit walking down Las Olas Blvd in 'Lauderdale with it as well as when visiting downtown Key West.
I'm beginning to suspect that you may actually have been the first guitar player to busk around Times Square with nothing but a cowboy hat, boots, and your underwear !

icon_lol.gificon_lol.gificon_lol.gif

Paul
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Quote Originally Posted by Pitar View Post
I'd strip the covering off completely, fill, sand, sand, sand some more and then paint that sucker with a good Rustoleum black enamel.
That may be something that happens in the future, if the problem worsens.

TAH suggested epoxy paint, and I liked that idea. However, epoxy paint costs about as much as another case would cost.
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