You ever work on any mandolin top cracks Dane? My Breedlove maple b&s spruce top poped a top crack over night. Don’t think it’s a humidity issue because it was in my music room that Keeps a year round humidity between 45-55%. It was fine Friday night when we had a bluegrass jam with 6 of my picker buddies when I hung it back on the wall when everyone left then Saturday morning I let my neighbor in to use my studio before I left for the farm and I noticed the damn crack when I walked by going in to the studio. So I don’t know what the hell happened,it’s never been abused,never had excessive string tension,never been sat on or dropped. When it leave the house it’s in a fiberglass TSA approved hard case. I’m thinking about forcing some fish glue in the crack,use strong magnets to line it back up and let it dry then seal it up with CA,scrape it down and sand thru the grits up to a polish and hope that I don’t gotta strip the top and shoot new nitro on it.
Oh major bummer J.m. At that humidity it should live forever. No reason at all it could be a humidity problem. I suspect there has always been a fault line in the grain at that place and it finally let go. Your process for repair sounds right on to me. Good luck, hope all has been well with you during these very strange times.
Dane Nichols this top had really clear straight grain,but we can’t know what is going on inside that top plate. Could have had a pitch line,the carve could have been a little thin right there. Regardless it’s not a big deal. I got it stabilized with fishglue and used 2 rare earth magnets on top and used a steel clamping caul that I re milled the contours on the Bridgeport a little to match the contour of the bottom of the top on the inside and the magnets pulled the crack back in to alignment while the fishglue set. I still gotta seal it up with c/a and get it worked down. If I have to refinish the top I’m just gonna strip it and do a waxed finish on it because I don’t wanna mess with shooting nitro and try to get the sheen,color and thickness matched.
Thanks for this video - there are very few videos showing this kind of repair for old cracks that won't close with humidifying. I have a guitar with a very old back crack that won't close- It runs the entire length of the guitar, but is closed toward both edges of the guitar, and then the gap widens in the middle. With this technique, do I have to worry about the splint causing the crack to worsen above/below the insertion point? In other words, the crack is 19 3/4" long total, but only the middle 12" of it is wide enough to fit a splint in. Do you think putting a 12" splint in the middle of a crack like this would wedge the crack open on either end? Thanks for any advice, much appreciated.
Thanks for watching Jason. I understand your train of thought with possibly wedging the ends open. But first you shouldn’t have a shin/wedge so tight that it exerts pressure on the the crack. Just tight enough to make a good glue joint. Second use cleats at each end for extra holding at that stress point. HHG and Fish glue both shrink as they dry pulling the joint together so use one of those rather than titebond.
@@jonahguitarguy Great, thanks, I've always used titebond in the past, so interesting to hear the tip about hide glue. Will add some reinforcement at those spots and should be good to go. I'll be fixing the crack and then refinishing the back. An old Guild D40. Thanks again!
Dane Nichols I build ukuleles as a hobby sometimes fix them and sometimes guitars also I can barely play guitar I can strum like couple chords. Think if I learned how to play either ukulele or guitar it would help me build and repair them better? I know Leo Fender built guitars and did not know how to play.
Leo Fender was a genius designer who came at guitar building completely different probably because he was not a player. But there were plenty of people around who knew what make a guitar work. I'm not a super player but I know how to play and what a guitar should feel and play like. So yes I would say it would be very helpful to be able to play guitar. I liken this to when I ran sound at a coffee house. Because I played in a band I was well aware of what the guys on stage wanted form a sound tech. Conversely I played gigs where the sound guys were not players and they were clueless.
That would be Hot Hide Glue. But I like Fish glue just as well and you don't have to heat it up. Plus it has a longer open time cause hide glue cools down fast and starts to set up.
My Ukulele bridge came off" I glued it back with Gorilla Super Glue. Is there any way to remove it, and glue it back? Or, is it hopeless? I glued it on wrong, and I am hoping to take it off and have it repaired by someone that knows how to do it right. It is 67yrs.old, and Kamala Ukulele bought in Hawaii.
Hi Lottie, You could have a problem. A couple ways I might try to go about it are, first, well I just looked back and it's 67 years old. So it has either shellac or lacquer for finish. That eliminates trying to loosen it with acetone. Second use a heat lamp and see if heat will soften the glue. of course cut a shield out of cardboard the size of the bridge and cover it with aluminum foil.
Good one Dane. In engineering, part of a crack repair scheme required a hole to be drilled just beyond the crack, but no one wants that here. I think this is going to turn out really well. If you have a little witness of the infill on the inside, will you still be able to put a cleat in there?
I did have a little of the wedge poking through to the inside. The hole was so small I would have had to build a tool to hold something sharp to par off the excess. I opted not to do cleats. I think it will be just fine without them. And yes drilling a hole at the end of a cut to keep it from cracking is very common but I think only when the crack/ cut is to be left open. In metal and plastic as well. Thanks for having a look my friend.
Nice content Sir Dane! Amazing work as usual, bro...so keep it up!
Appreciate it!
You ever work on any mandolin top cracks Dane? My Breedlove maple b&s spruce top poped a top crack over night. Don’t think it’s a humidity issue because it was in my music room that Keeps a year round humidity between 45-55%. It was fine Friday night when we had a bluegrass jam with 6 of my picker buddies when I hung it back on the wall when everyone left then Saturday morning I let my neighbor in to use my studio before I left for the farm and I noticed the damn crack when I walked by going in to the studio. So I don’t know what the hell happened,it’s never been abused,never had excessive string tension,never been sat on or dropped. When it leave the house it’s in a fiberglass TSA approved hard case. I’m thinking about forcing some fish glue in the crack,use strong magnets to line it back up and let it dry then seal it up with CA,scrape it down and sand thru the grits up to a polish and hope that I don’t gotta strip the top and shoot new nitro on it.
Oh major bummer J.m. At that humidity it should live forever. No reason at all it could be a humidity problem. I suspect there has always been a fault line in the grain at that place and it finally let go. Your process for repair sounds right on to me. Good luck, hope all has been well with you during these very strange times.
Dane Nichols this top had really clear straight grain,but we can’t know what is going on inside that top plate. Could have had a pitch line,the carve could have been a little thin right there. Regardless it’s not a big deal. I got it stabilized with fishglue and used 2 rare earth magnets on top and used a steel clamping caul that I re milled the contours on the Bridgeport a little to match the contour of the bottom of the top on the inside and the magnets pulled the crack back in to alignment while the fishglue set. I still gotta seal it up with c/a and get it worked down. If I have to refinish the top I’m just gonna strip it and do a waxed finish on it because I don’t wanna mess with shooting nitro and try to get the sheen,color and thickness matched.
i broke my ukelele's font part 2 cracks like this one...please make a video on how to fix it :D
Send it two me and I'll make a video of your ukulele getting fixed. Thanks for watching bud.
@@jonahguitarguy thank you so much
Thanks for this video - there are very few videos showing this kind of repair for old cracks that won't close with humidifying. I have a guitar with a very old back crack that won't close- It runs the entire length of the guitar, but is closed toward both edges of the guitar, and then the gap widens in the middle. With this technique, do I have to worry about the splint causing the crack to worsen above/below the insertion point? In other words, the crack is 19 3/4" long total, but only the middle 12" of it is wide enough to fit a splint in. Do you think putting a 12" splint in the middle of a crack like this would wedge the crack open on either end? Thanks for any advice, much appreciated.
Thanks for watching Jason. I understand your train of thought with possibly wedging the ends open. But first you shouldn’t have a shin/wedge so tight that it exerts pressure on the the crack. Just tight enough to make a good glue joint. Second use cleats at each end for extra holding at that stress point. HHG and Fish glue both shrink as they dry pulling the joint together so use one of those rather than titebond.
@@jonahguitarguy Great, thanks, I've always used titebond in the past, so interesting to hear the tip about hide glue. Will add some reinforcement at those spots and should be good to go. I'll be fixing the crack and then refinishing the back. An old Guild D40. Thanks again!
@@jdyfilm you’re welcome. I’m always right here if you have more questions.
Dane Nichols I build ukuleles as a hobby sometimes fix them and sometimes guitars also I can barely play guitar I can strum like couple chords. Think if I learned how to play either ukulele or guitar it would help me build and repair them better? I know Leo Fender built guitars and did not know how to play.
Leo Fender was a genius designer who came at guitar building completely different probably because he was not a player. But there were plenty of people around who knew what make a guitar work. I'm not a super player but I know how to play and what a guitar should feel and play like. So yes I would say it would be very helpful to be able to play guitar. I liken this to when I ran sound at a coffee house. Because I played in a band I was well aware of what the guys on stage wanted form a sound tech. Conversely I played gigs where the sound guys were not players and they were clueless.
What kind of glue did you use? It sounded like you were saying "hot eye" glue to two of us, but that doesn't sound right.
That would be Hot Hide Glue. But I like Fish glue just as well and you don't have to heat it up. Plus it has a longer open time cause hide glue cools down fast and starts to set up.
My Ukulele bridge came off" I glued it back with Gorilla Super Glue. Is there any way to remove it, and glue it back? Or, is it hopeless? I glued it on wrong, and I am hoping to take it off and have it repaired by someone that knows how to do it right. It is 67yrs.old, and Kamala Ukulele bought in Hawaii.
Hi Lottie, You could have a problem. A couple ways I might try to go about it are, first, well I just looked back and it's 67 years old. So it has either shellac or lacquer for finish. That eliminates trying to loosen it with acetone. Second use a heat lamp and see if heat will soften the glue. of course cut a shield out of cardboard the size of the bridge and cover it with aluminum foil.
Good one Dane. In engineering, part of a crack repair scheme required a hole to be drilled just beyond the crack, but no one wants that here. I think this is going to turn out really well. If you have a little witness of the infill on the inside, will you still be able to put a cleat in there?
I did have a little of the wedge poking through to the inside. The hole was so small I would have had to build a tool to hold something sharp to par off the excess. I opted not to do cleats. I think it will be just fine without them. And yes drilling a hole at the end of a cut to keep it from cracking is very common but I think only when the crack/ cut is to be left open. In metal and plastic as well. Thanks for having a look my friend.
i simply filed the crack with epoxy and wood flower and shellacked it and it plays perfectly and doesn't look to bad i made a video
That is one way to do it. You saw my may way. I'm gonna check out your video.
Bad idea
I'd be happy to hear what you would do.
Your wasting time for that kind of techniques
Please post a video of how you would do this repair. Very interested to see your technique.