Members faroutbob Posted February 11, 2007 Members Share Posted February 11, 2007 how screwed am I? Apparently I slacked on the humidifying and it has a crack straight down the middle from the bridge to the butt of the guitar. Can this be fixed? The guitar plays and sounds fine. Should I bring this to my set up guy and have it filled or something? Didn't Willy Nelson play a guitar with a giant hole it? I guess my main concern is that the guitar might become unplayable and only suitable for firewood. Any input is appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knockwood Posted February 11, 2007 Members Share Posted February 11, 2007 It should be mostly fixable if it's a humidity issue. I would definitely take it to your tech. First thing that'd have to happen is the guitar needs to be rehumidified. Taylor has some good information on their website. There is a video on their site somewhere, if you poke around, where Bob Taylor walks through the entire rehumidifying exercise using Dampits. If you follow this link and open "Understanding Humidity," this should be a start.http://www.taylorguitars.com/see-hear/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members T.B. Posted February 11, 2007 Members Share Posted February 11, 2007 Info about cracks - http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/cracks.htm It's fixable. Get it to your tech immediately but until then rehumidify your guitar in it's case. Here's a tip Freeman Keller posted a week or two ago.http://www.bryankimsey.com/humdifier/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members faroutbob Posted February 11, 2007 Author Members Share Posted February 11, 2007 It should be mostly fixable if it's a humidity issue. I would definitely take it to your tech. First thing that'd have to happen is the guitar needs to be rehumidified. Taylor has some good information on their website. There is a video on their site somewhere, if you poke around, where Bob Taylor walks through the entire rehumidifying exercise using Dampits.If you follow this link and open "Understanding Humidity," this should be a start.http://www.taylorguitars.com/see-hear/ Thank you. I just watched the humidity videos and am going to get to work on rehumidifying. I'm such an idiot. I'll let you know what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bjorn-fjord Posted February 11, 2007 Members Share Posted February 11, 2007 This may sound strange but it may be better to get the guitar to a tech before rehumidifying it if you can do it immediately. The reason is this: Cracks due to low humidity can sometimes be best repaired by rubbing glue into the crack and then rehumidifying the guitar. As the guitar reaches 40% or so the expansion of the wood will force the crack together better than any clamp could do. A small cleat or two on the underside of the soundboard will ensure that the crack will never revisit its horror upon you. I have performed this repair with results that were virtually undetectable (after a little lacquer overspray and buff-out). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KATMAN Posted February 11, 2007 Members Share Posted February 11, 2007 I fixed a problem like that myself. I put some Gorilla Glue in the crack,then afterwards when the glue dried,I sanded it down with some fine wool steel.I don't have a Martin either,so you might want it checked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hudman Posted February 11, 2007 Members Share Posted February 11, 2007 This may sound strange but it may be better to get the guitar to a tech before rehumidifying it if you can do it immediately. The reason is this: Cracks due to low humidity can sometimes be best repaired by rubbing glue into the crack and then rehumidifying the guitar. As the guitar reaches 40% or so the expansion of the wood will force the crack together better than any clamp could do. A small cleat or two on the underside of the soundboard will ensure that the crack will never revisit its horror upon you. I have performed this repair with results that were virtually undetectable (after a little lacquer overspray and buff-out). +1 Take it to a tech before doing anything to it. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO GLUE IT! The February 2007 edition of Acoustic Guitar advises against gluing a crack yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dan Hall Posted February 12, 2007 Members Share Posted February 12, 2007 how screwed am I? Apparently I slacked on the humidifying and it has a crack straight down the middle from the bridge to the butt of the guitar. Can this be fixed? The guitar plays and sounds fine. Should I bring this to my set up guy and have it filled or something? Didn't Willy Nelson play a guitar with a giant hole it? I guess my main concern is that the guitar might become unplayable and only suitable for firewood. Any input is appreciated. Thanks! Bummer Bob! That's like backing into a parking bollard with your new corvette. I've done stuff like that and it's pretty hard to be philosophical about it. It ain't the end of the world, you might have had if fall off the stand and break the headstock off. That would be worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members polynices Posted February 12, 2007 Members Share Posted February 12, 2007 how screwed am I? Apparently I slacked on the humidifying and it has a crack straight down the middle from the bridge to the butt of the guitar. Can this be fixed? The guitar plays and sounds fine. Should I bring this to my set up guy and have it filled or something? Didn't Willy Nelson play a guitar with a giant hole it? I guess my main concern is that the guitar might become unplayable and only suitable for firewood. Any input is appreciated. Thanks! can you go into detail about how long and how dry, where you live, type of home heating, etcetc.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members faroutbob Posted February 12, 2007 Author Members Share Posted February 12, 2007 Thanks for all the input. I won't even tell you what I've been doing as for care. I've gigged with it quite a bit and basically just throw it back in the case but sometimes I leave it out. I've done that a lot the last few weeks. I have gas heat. I haven't been humidifying it at all. I've always just taken for granted that would never get bad enough to crack. The Taylor video is the exact problem I have... crack is in that exact same place. I could only find one damp-it today between 3 music stores but will get more tomorrow night hopefully with a trip to guitar center. I'm going to go through his 5 day routine with sometimes using multiple tubes for the first couple days. According to that video, they did the glue/finishing work at the end. To be honest, I don't even care about the sight of the scratch.. I just want it to be as strong as possible as I will continue to gig with it. Thanks for the input and I will let you know how it turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oldskool Texas Posted February 12, 2007 Members Share Posted February 12, 2007 With all due respect to Willy Nelson, his guitar should never be used as an example of acceptable instrument care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members learn'r Posted February 12, 2007 Members Share Posted February 12, 2007 sorry Bob. get 'er fixed and let us know if you are satisfied - be interesting. with an all house humidifier set at 65% I am getting 37% and in case low 40's. Forecasts show warming up - that will help us all I hope! here's hoping for the best on your Martin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members markwayne Posted February 12, 2007 Members Share Posted February 12, 2007 Oh man. I'm sorry to hear that. That's one of those things that has got to give anyone a pain in the pit of their stomach just hearing about. You know, years ago when I was retrofitting my basement as a studio I removed all the AC vents from one room to avoid vent noise while tracking. The upside is that, although this room gets pretty cool in the winter (I'm in Atlanta, so it never get all that cold in there.), it doesn't get nearly as dry as the rest of the house in the winter. Since I rarely track acoustic drums these days it has since become my instrument storage room and I've found I don't have to work nearly as hard to keep my instruments stable. In the depth of winter (~30F outside) with all doors closed the room stays around 50F with an RH of about 40. Of course if you are much further north, this won't be an acceptable solution. Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members smatel Posted February 12, 2007 Members Share Posted February 12, 2007 This may sound strange but it may be better to get the guitar to a tech before rehumidifying it if you can do it immediately. The reason is this: Cracks due to low humidity can sometimes be best repaired by rubbing glue into the crack and then rehumidifying the guitar. As the guitar reaches 40% or so the expansion of the wood will force the crack together better than any clamp could do. A small cleat or two on the underside of the soundboard will ensure that the crack will never revisit its horror upon you. I have performed this repair with results that were virtually undetectable (after a little lacquer overspray and buff-out). How long could one wait before getting a repair like this done? I have a low end Patrie ? "classical" guitar with a similar crack. I put it in the case and haven't played it for over ten years. I liked the tone when I bought it... just never got around to gettin' the repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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