Split sides

Talk about musical instrument construction, setup and repair.

Moderators: kiwigeo, Jeremy D

Post Reply
pj2
Gidgee
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:19 pm

Split sides

Post by pj2 » Wed Sep 30, 2009 2:20 pm

I am starting to 'assembly' my guitar, cutting bent sides to length etc. And one of the sides have split in the middle for about half the length of the sides.

I have quickly put a whole lot of glue on the split and clamped it, hoping for the best. Any ideas ?

Paul B

Post by Paul B » Wed Sep 30, 2009 2:43 pm

Yeah, turf it and get another pair of sides. You'll only be storing up trouble for down the track.

Of course, not everyone will agree with me, but that's what I'd do.

Rick Turner
Blackwood
Posts: 311
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:22 am
Location: Santa Cruz, Ca.
Contact:

Post by Rick Turner » Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:30 pm

Make a thin bodied guitar...
Rick Turner
Guitar Maker, Experimenter, Diviner
www.renaissanceguitars.com
www.d-tar.com

User avatar
Allen
Blackwood
Posts: 5259
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 5:39 pm
Location: Cairns, Australia
Contact:

Post by Allen » Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:05 pm

Waste not, want not Rick :lol: I like that idea.
Allen R. McFarlen
https://www.brguitars.com
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

User avatar
Hippety Hop
Blackwood
Posts: 175
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:18 am
Location: Moorabbin

Post by Hippety Hop » Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:17 pm

Then he'd be stuck with an orphan side.

Tim you could toughen it up with a strip of carbon fabric & epoxy.

Cheers Hip.
[img]http://planetsmilies.net/not-tagged-smiley-10140.gif[/img][img]http://planetsmilies.net/person-smiley-1062.gif[/img]
Hippus Erectus

User avatar
Allen
Blackwood
Posts: 5259
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 5:39 pm
Location: Cairns, Australia
Contact:

Post by Allen » Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:35 pm

No, he just needs to flatten the remaining 1/2's out and build some ukes with them Hip. Then he'd really be in the groove. :D
Allen R. McFarlen
https://www.brguitars.com
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

Hesh1956
Blackwood
Posts: 1418
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:58 am

Post by Hesh1956 » Wed Sep 30, 2009 11:32 pm

Paul B wrote:Yeah, turf it and get another pair of sides. You'll only be storing up trouble for down the track.

Of course, not everyone will agree with me, but that's what I'd do.
I agree with Paul and this is what I would do too - turf that sucker.... :D Unless of course you wanna build a thin body guitar as Rick suggested too.

When you don't know what to do when something like this happens ask yourself this question: Do I want this issue to come back and haunt me later AFTER the guitar is completely built and finished?

You will know what to do... :)

Also - even though this sucks and I am sorry that it happened to you there is an opportunity here to learn why it happened. So with that said what kind of wood was it, how thick were the sides, quartered/not quartered, moisture content/seasoned, shape you were trying to bend, bending machine/pipe, bulbs/blanket/both, slats - what kind, bending stack - what did it look like, moisture used - if any to bend, temps used and time? Anyway if we knew a bit more about these things we could perhaps offer something that might help us all learn something for future bends.

User avatar
kiwigeo
Admin
Posts: 10778
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 5:57 pm
Location: Adelaide, Sth Australia

Post by kiwigeo » Thu Oct 01, 2009 2:46 am

Image

User avatar
Lillian
Blackwood
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:31 pm
Location: New Mexico, USA
Contact:

Post by Lillian » Thu Oct 01, 2009 2:51 am

Before you toss it into the fire, if you don't want to use it for a side, turn it into bindings, heck even a peg head veneer.

User avatar
Dennis Leahy
Blackwood
Posts: 872
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:32 am
Location: Duluth, MN, US
Contact:

Post by Dennis Leahy » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:13 am

1.) solid linings
2.) interior patches for sound ports, and/or access doors

If you had just cracked the side, and it was not yet glued, I'd say fix it, invisibly, and realize that with crossgrain reinforcement strips glued to the interior of the guitar that it will hold up forever. A good glue joint is stronger than wood. You may still be able to do this.

Did you get the alignment of the pieces really well aligned before clamping? If not, then this may be good just for solid lining strips. If "yes", then keep reading...

"I have quickly put a whole lot of glue on the split and clamped it" - what kind of glue, or more importantly, what kind of wood and what kind of glue? If the wood has large pores, and you really used "a whole lot of glue", you may have allowed glue to get into the pores of the wood near the crack. Not a problem for stability of the repair, but it may have left a telltale sign that the sides are glued, because your efforts to fill the pores won't be the same on raw wood pores as they will on glue-filled pores. It will show up as a repair when you apply finish.

If you used hot hide glue, or a white or yellow glue, then if the wood pores are tiny or if you were just kidding about lots of glue and actually kept the glue only in the crack, you should be in good shape. Nice save! Way to go! If the glue is in big open pores, well, I'd say slice it up for solid lining strips or keep it for pre-bent sound port hole liner material.

If you glued the crack with epoxy: then, it doesn't matter if it is in big open pores, as long as you are willing to fill all the pores on the guitar with the same epoxy. The repair and surface coatings of epoxy will yield an invisible repair, and epoxy "pops" the grain.

That's my $.02

Dennis
Another damn Yank!

User avatar
Lillian
Blackwood
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:31 pm
Location: New Mexico, USA
Contact:

Post by Lillian » Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:44 am

PJ, mind if I ask what you were doing when the side split?

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 127 guests