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Help! Crack in the finish or the wood?   You are logged in as Guest
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orsonw

Posts: 1941
Joined: Jul. 4 2009
From: London

Help! Crack in the finish or the wood? 
Unfortunately I have dropped one of my guitars. Cedar top blanca with lacquer finish. I'm not sure of the type lacquer, I suppose polyurethane? It is not French polish shellac.
It was a two foot drop, not too hard but onto a wooden floor.

Apart from some finish coming off the rear binding on the lower bout where it impacted, two cracks have appeared in the soundboard . One running backwards from the top back corner of the bridge, the other backwards from the bottom back corner, both about 8cm.

I am hoping these are just in the finish, how can I make sure? They do not move if I push on them, also they don't run along a grain line. I have included a picture of the worst one.

Do I need to bring the guitar to a luthier to make sure? Will a crack in the finish mean the guitar is now vulnerable or is it just cosmetic?
Thanks Orson



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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Sep. 21 2009 9:08:44
 
Armando

Posts: 302
Joined: May 27 2005
From: Zürich, Switzerland

RE: Help! Crack in the finish or the... (in reply to orsonw) 
Hy orsonw

Guitar dropes are always an ugly thing, due tu the demage it may cause.
Just from the picture it looks more like a crack in the finish rather than a deep crack that goes thru the soundboard. However it is difficult to say just by looking at the picture. If you say that the soundboard doesn't move around the cracks we could assume that the crack doesn't go thru but it is not sure as the bracing underneath the top may also keep the top together even if the top is seriously cracked. You might check the cracks by taking the strings off and enter a light bulb into the soundbox. If the crack is just in the finish you might see just a light mark where the crack is, but if the crack goes thru the top, the mark would be black and easily visible when illuminated.

If the crack is just in the finish, it could be easier to repair. If the varnish is shellac, it could be removed and repolished. If it is a polyurethane finish, it's gonna be much more difficult to take the finish off. It might happen that some wood is also removed while sanding the finish off and the slightest change in thickness might change the tone of the guitar. So in any way it would be best to bring the guitar to a professional to check it.

regards

Armando

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Sep. 21 2009 10:40:42
 
Doitsujin

Posts: 5078
Joined: Apr. 10 2005
 

RE: Help! Crack in the finish or the... (in reply to orsonw) 
FAIL

If you ask me,.. (Im not a specialist... ) I think it looks like a crack in the finish nor in the wood. Isn´t it very untypic that wood cracks diagonal across the grain? I would expect a crack along the grain....
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Sep. 21 2009 12:05:08
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