Martin 0-17

[Lee Gendvilas]

I have a Martin 0-17 with a crack that goes from the soundhole to the bridge. In the pictures you'll see some sort of gray mass on the brace closest to the soundhole. I'm looking for suggestions as to how to remove the mass without damaging the top. Should I try to chisel it out carefully? Also, when the mass is removed, should the brace come off to close the crack? It's hard to see in the picture but there is separation of the top and the brace right under the gray mass. And when the crack is closed, will two cleats do to hold the crack? Also the pickguard came off when I was inspecting it.

Thanks again in advance for your replys.

[Ned Knepp]

Wow Lee, it looks to me like someone tried to fix your crack with JB weld. I had something very like this on a guitar that I was able to pick out of the cracks with careful use of dental picks. 

The stuff on my guitar was just a bit soft in some spots and fairly hard in others. I found that I could sort of separate the gray stuff from the grain of the wood with a dental tool that was ground with a flat face on the curved tip. I couldn't find anything else that worked and I still lost some fibers doing it but not much. I still had to spline the cracks but it turned out well enough that  it's barely noticeable after refinishing. I'll try to remember to get a picture of the tool tomorrow.

  You can probably put the pickguard back on with glue or the glue sheets that some of the other guys have talked about pretty easily. Frank has a "how to" on the Frets.com site. 

[nathan clark]

I would clean that junk out of there and splint it. It's hard to tell from photos; it might make sense to do it by hand or you may want to just use a router (or dremel with router base) to prep the crack.

http://fingerlakesguitarrepair.com/splint-martin-top-crack/

Build a lacquer finish under the pickguard and scrape then sand flush with surrounding finish. If the old guard is too warped to reuse, I recommend axiom celluloid:

http://www.axinc.net/028_Vintage_Brown_Pickguard_Material_p/tbv028.htm

[Kerry Krishna]

 Yep. JB weld for sure. I guess that, to someone who has no clue, this would be a 'possibly will work' idea. Good luck with all of it.