This is what happens when you take a flat top guitar and throw it at a wall.
Scroll to the bottom to get the full story in sequence.
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| Ready to play. Was it worth the trouble to repair? Absolutely says the owner. |
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| The back refinished quite well. |
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| It's virtually impossible to match the original lacquer. |
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| ready for lacquer. |
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| The owner liked my idea of making a Japanese style Kintsugi repair by gold leafing a raised epoxy line over the crack. |
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| The spirit level is securely taped to the neck with a guitar pick between its extremity and the bridge. This ensures that the neck is correctly set when the back is glued back on. |
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| Glueing the back on. |
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| cleats being fitted to reinforce the repairs to the back. I use neodymium magnets as clamps. |
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| This shows the cleats that I fitted to reinforce the rib crack and the broken tail block. |
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| Preparing the top for refinishing. |
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| Glueing the large crack around the rib. |
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| I had all but one piece which I cut from a spare piece of mahogany from my wood pile. |
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| The back also needed reassembling. The finish was flaking off so I was forced to strip it. |
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| With the back removed I could access all the areas damaged by the impact. Loose braces, missing kerfed lining, etc. |
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| There were a couple of missing pieces which I fabricated from the original Martin sound hole cutaway which the owner also supplied |
Fortunately the owner had thought to save all the shards of wood
I had no choice but to cut the back off!
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Take a D16 Martin Flat top guitar and throw it at a wall.
This will be the result. |
