Dent Repair Help Needed

[Ted Uy]

I am a new poster and not a luthier. I am, however, an experienced woodworker of mostly small furniture pieces with some modest skills. Recently I purchased a used Martin D-16RGT guitar. It has a small 1 1/2 inch dent/crack on the bottom of the side. See photo. While the inside was patched by a luthier, the previous owner did not have the outside of the dent fixed.

It is not financially feasible to have a professional luthier do this repair. Plus, as a woodworker, I'd like to work on the guitar myself (cause these are the things I like to do as opposed to going outside and raking the Fall leaves that my wife is now asking me to do). I've read a number of articles on the frets.com site and looked at some stuff on YouTube, but I could not find anything that directly fit my situation. So I thought I would post this on the forum.

1. What sort of filler repair would you recommend? A hot melt repair? Some type of ready made wood putty? Would you try to color match with the filler material or after the dent is filled and sanded?

2. The body is finished with a satin finish. After the dent is filled and color matched, how do you blend in a satin finish? If it was a gloss finish, I would just spray, sand and buff. Would I do the same bur with a satin lacquer?

3. Finally, for purely aesthetic personal taste reasons, if I wanted to refinish the entire body with a gloss finish, would doing so adversely affect the guitar's tone quality?

Thanks very much for your help. Ted

[Ted Uy]

Back again.

I decided to go ahead and at least do the patch of the crack (from the inside per Thomas' suggested method).  One question regarding the patch wood: would I place the patch so its grain is parallel to the grain of the body (so that it can expand and contract with the body's original wood grain) or would should the grain of the patch be perpendicular to the body's grain to provide extra support against the body splitting along the original crack?  Or am I over-thinking this?

 

Thanks again.  Ted

[Ned Knepp]

Ted, all of the side braces I've ever seen installed in guitars have grain that run at right angles to the side grain and they don't pop off under normal circumstances. I make my patches the same way. 

[Paul Verticchio]

Hi Ted & WELCOME :)

You've received some great advice from some of the best folks in the business regarding the side fracture.

I'm only chiming in to assist in dissuading you in refinishing the entire guitar. It's not Finishing 101. Even an "OK" job of refinishing will look tacky compared to the current finish. I've been in the business for decades and I admit that I simply cannot do GREAT finishes. I'm not ashamed to admit it as I know my strengths and weaknesses within the craft. As a matter of fact, several high end custom builders subcontract finishing work as their skill level of that task is sub-par to their building and design prowess.

BTW: Martin 16 series of instruments are a tremendous value and you get a lot of great tone in an attractive instrument at a really great price. I recommend their 16 series to folks looking to buy their first Martin. Great choice.

Best of luck with the repair and have a super holiday season :)

Paul

p.s Time to hit those leaves again, Hesh :)

[Ted Uy]

Ned and Paul, thanks for the advice. I will go ahead and do the internal patch as suggested as soon as I make the little tuner wire-pulling gizmo. As for the glossy finish, all the advice points to a hearty recommendation to forego that route, so I will take that advice. My only concern is how to "blend" the satin finish after I repair the exterior of the crack. But, I'll wait to see how it looks after that repair is done. One thing at a time, as they say.

And for now, all the leaves are down and gone -- amazing what a little wind storm and 45 mph winds will do. But, alas, the honey-do list has turned to the inside.

Thanks again for the friendly reception and advice. Ted

[Mark Fogleman]

Ted it hasn't been mentioned but before applying the inside patch I suggest you re-humidify the guitar. 40-50% RH is your target. This will assist in closing the gap a few thou or so and stabilizes the whole guitar.  I really like hot hide glue for these repairs. It cleans up well and is much easier to camouflage than original Titebond.