Guitar repair – Never say never!

This is an under-$45 (Rs 3,500) guitar. And mind you, this is not a toy but a functional guitar. You can well imagine the quality (or the lack of it) for that price.

Repair in such instruments often exceeds the price of the guitar, and so, for the owner, the economics of it does not work out. For me, there is always doubt whether the tried and tested methods/material of repair will work in these specimens – built any which way they are.

If you would like to read more about the ‘qualities’ of such instruments, it’s here:

https://lkoguitargarage.com/attention-parents-heres-why-you-should-never-buy-a-rs-3-3-5k-acoustic-guitar/

The best way out, then, is to politely refuse such customers, and that is what I mostly do.

However, recently, in walked a lad – still in school – into the garage and carrying this. As I began to explain to him the Principle of Diminishing Returns to him, he nodded sagely and with widened, bespectacled eyes exclaimed, ‘Mumma, ne dilaya tha (Mom, had bought it for me)’!!!
That tone and his expression took the wind out of all my arguments and all I could say after that was ‘Show me what’s wrong’!

He pointed towards the neck

If it is not very clear in the photographs, the fret board had come loose from the bass side, while on the treble side, the wood of the neck had actually splintered. He also complained of high action.

My guess is that someone – maybe Mama’s Boy himself – cranked the truss rod a little too far.

I took the guitar in and began work.

On the bass side, the fretboard had let go off the neck right at the nut. To properly glue the fretboard back, the nut would have to be removed, which was then duly knocked out.

What I saw underneath was a kind of adhesive I have not seen before. Tinted epoxy? What you can also see in the first of the two photographs is the heavy pitting on the ‘zero fretwire’.

Before I got to the neck of the guitar, I decided to work on the zero fretwire first. Why? Don’t ask! And naturally, I forgot to take a photograph of the shiny transformation.

The neck job was simple. Shoot glue in and clamp everything shut. Actually, it was a little more difficult than that. Glue needed to reach the deepest recesses of the crack, and so, once glue was applied to the surface of the crack, the two mating surfaces  were pumped together for a few minutes so that the glue would move deeper inside.

After I was sure that the glue had travelled some distance inside, I brought out the clamps and pulled everything together. Then I left the whole jig just rest for 48 hours or so.

After 48 hours, the glue had dried and everything came together like it was never broken. Of course, you could see the crack but you could not feel anything.

While this was drying, I looked at the heel joint and there was some degree of separation. Although I had not been tasked to, I pused glue in here too and clamped up things.

Then the last major thing left was dealing with the fretwire sprout on the higher end. Those too were tackled with my homemade file

However, when the guitar was strung up, the action on it was more than comfortable. I had kind of expected this and had warned the young man that it could happen. I had also advised that in such a case, he could just concentrate on the lower frets, polish his playing all he could, till he was be able to buy an actual guitar for himself.

And before I go, here are a few last photographs.

 

 

Amit Newton

An experienced guitar tech with over 10 years of experience working on acoustic Gibsons and Martins in the Gulf region. There is nothing that cannot be repaired; the only consideration is the price at which it comes. And yet, if there is sentiment attached, no price is too high! WhatsApp/Call me: 7080475556 email me: guitarguyhelp@gmail.com

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