Amateur Acoustic Guitar Repair

hyperfish

Well I have taken in a guitar to repair and I thought I would document my progress here. I’ll start by saying I’m not a luthier, and my basic skills have limits so what I do here may not conform to best practice. Since I won’t be asking anything for my time or the materials involved I aim to do it as a weekend hobby type of project and not spend a lot of cash doing it.

So the background, this a K Yairi guitar that I am told cost around £800 some years back. It belongs to my nephew and for whatever reason his ex-girlfriend battered it about 3 years ago. It would cost more to repair professionally than a young guy is able to afford so it lives in a dark corner un-played. It is plays in a fashion but there are holes, loose pieces, cracks, dents and all manner of problems. This guitar will never as look nice as it once did but it should be stable and playable without the risk of getting splinters and scratches on the arm.
Some pics of the problems:

Holes


Cracks


Scuffs

hyperfish

After acclimatising at my house I had a better look at the job.

Rusty old strings off


The nut looks OK


The bridge is broken but salvageable


Looked in the sound hole with a torch and mirror to find that the internal bracings are intact and secure but the pickup cabling is loose.


Another crack that I had missed


The tuners are loose


At least the trussrod works

reevesy

women ...

must have been a tasty guitar back in the day for the price it was

be interesting to see how you get on with the body work

hyperfish

So my thoughts in no particular order
Fill the holes and veneer them
Glue the cracksSand the front and back down to the woodReplace the missing binding parts
Re-spray the burst similar to how it is and lacquer sealFretwork?
Just give it back as it is and say I was pissed when I said I could fix it (which I was)

KelvinS1965

Option D: Drag it round the car park, reassemble it and call it 'relic'd' and ask for an extra £1,000

I'll be following with interest, I love looking on Luthier websites at their repairs to see how they turn out. This one is a little more 'real', good luck with it.

Christian 71

Watching with interest, you are a brave man.

Looks more work than it is worth. I'd fix the bridge clean it up use black duct tape on the holes/cracks and just play it as a beater. Would have more character than the original guitar

KungFuPro

Damn, she done a number on that guitar, should be a custodial sentence for such an offense!

Wouldn't know where to start with repairing an acoustic, Christian's duct tape idea sounds good to me, owner might not be too thrilled though.

Think most of the damage will be unnoticeable if you're redoing the finish after repair, sure it will look great once it's done.

Maybe a different finish if the owner doesn't mind, opaque brown or black burst around edges might cover binding but would also hide larger repair work. I'd go with a completely different finish, green/blue dragon burst would look cool.

hyperfish

I like your thinking but I think I'm more or less limited to a finish similar to as it is. I'm thinking the colour coats have soaked deep into the top and I could easily cut through the thin veneer if I try to remove it all?
I've ordered a small sheet of Aspen Wood veneer. I think it should blend OK when I spray the dark brown/black burst edge, I'm hoping that I don't need to colour coat the middle.

I'll have a better idea when I get to work on it this weekend.

Alty08

Just as info:

It's a serious guitar and shame to see it in such a state....

hyperfish

After a few delays, manflu etc.. I made a start on the guitar this afternoon.

I thought the best approach would be to stabilze the top before taking material away, so I dealt with the cracks.

Scored them slightly to ensure they would take the glue.


Clamp applied to level either side of the crack and allowed CA glue to leach in.
Glued the crack either side of the clamp then removed it to do the piece where the clamp had been.


The pickguard had to come off in case it was hiding more horrors.


Removing the the glue with Ronson fluid was the only horror.


Glued the crack near the pickguard as before.


Likewise the ding on the lower bout.


Applied glue several times to each crack until they stopped taking it up. Damn, I always end up with CA over my fingers every time I use the stuff..