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Guest -> RE: Guitar Cracks (Nov. 23 2005 6:58:39)
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I will only talk about cracks on the soundboard. Cracks on the sides and back, if properly fixed do not seem to influence in the sound.
On the soundboard, everything above the lower harmonic bar, is less serious, and will have little or no influence in the sound if properly repaired.
Cracks in the "working area", below the lower harmonic bar can have little or no influence in the sound, but can also have a lot of influence, depending where. The worst thing about them is that they can influence a lot in the stability of the whole guitar and the worst area is below the bridge.
What is a properly repaired crack? one that has been fixed as soon as possible. If you get a crack repaired when it's fresh, and before dirt enters the "wound", a simple washing with thin hot hide glue can make the crack almost disappear and make it as strong as ever. If you wait, you might need to support below the crack with "diamonds" This not only means adding weight to this area, thus changing the balance in the soundboard, but the crack will also be less strong.
The crack Henrik is talking about is a classical and it normally doesn´t affect sound. It happens because the ebony schrinks, and the soundboard cant move because of the harmonic bars. I build with a patch underneath the fingerboard in order to minimize this process, but as Henrik says, it's very diffeicult to totally avoid cracks in countrys where you because of cold winters, heating etc. have a very low relative humidity.
Keep the guitar in the case when not playing, evt use a humidifier (a good one) in the case, or even better, use a good room humidifier, it's good for you as well!!!!!
Nice playing
Anders
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