Large wide crack needs fixing...

[Kerry Krishna]

 I have a Morgan in my shop right now. The guitar had a pretty large list of stuff that has become unglued. It was in a Calton case  on the runway at Calgary airport during a 15 min torrential downpour.  The poor, poor, baggage handles did not want to get their little footsies wet, so they left the cart till the rain was over. The case was on it's side, handle side up, and the seal on that side was bad. Unfortunately, the latch side seal was quite good! The case filled with water. When it made it's way into the terminal, the  owner could'nt even lift it off the conveyor belt.The neck got off scott free, with no water damage at all, ( I don't know how this happened, but it's a fact. Anyway, it was improperly dried after, and the worst damage is a quite large 5 inch 'almost' center seam crack. I have been humidifying the guitar for a few months, and it is almost closed. I need to get it glued up, and the rest of the guitar fixed. There is still a gap that won't close,maybe the width of a 18 gauge B string,  and though I have an idea how to go about doing this, I would love some adult supervision. There is a 50/50 chance that I will take the bridge off  and strip the top, as quite a few long lacquer  cracks are also in the picture. I am quite  scared of doing the splice thing, though I think I could do it in a pinch. Any photoessays on the site that will help guide me through this mess? The 'lacquer' is also the UV cured crap by the way..

[Kerry Krishna]

Here are a few pics..

[Harry Spring]

I'm only a novice guitar builder (2 guitars) but I think you've done the right thing in humidifying the guitar. From what I've read I'd run some masking tape on either side of the crack - right up to it's edge to capture any extra glue then push the crack area up from the inside ,using a strip of wood under the crack and supporting it with leg props, squeeze a small amount of super glue into the now enlarged opening then release the props and clamp the body with several clamps. The super glue could be sanded after it dried and then buffed. Maybe wait for a few other insights - good luck!

[Kerry Krishna]

Thanks Harry. Anyone else? I need this done soon, so if you are reading this, knowing what I should do, can you give me a hand here? Thanks folks..

[Paul Breen]

Apply water liberally on the inside of the top several inches on either side of the crack. I use a paint brush for this. Clamp Plexiglas or some other flat clamping caul above and below the crack and let dry. Clamping it flat will prevent any curling. Applying water liberally should force the crack to close.

Pulling the bridge and refinishing sounds like a lot of work. The pictures don't look to bad to me, I would recommend living with the finish cracks.

[Kerry Krishna]

When glueing time happens Paul,I am partial to a new bottle of yellow carpenters glue. Where hide glue (which I have worked with before) and crazy glue tend to leave a dark witness line from soaking sideways into the grain, the yellow glue does not. What do you think? Thanks!

[Paul Breen]

It may just be the pictures but it looks like there may be dark stuff in there already. If so, you might be able to clean some of it out with deionized water.

In my experience, a good quality, clear hot hide glue will leave a less visible glue line than the yellow glue. I would go with what ever you are comfortable using though.

[Kerry Krishna]

Funny you mention the water. I am looking all over in this pulp mill town of 80k for some right this min. I am thinking a medical supply store...And I don't think it's actually a dirty crack, but I won't glue it till I have some. Thanks...

[Kerry Krishna]

Found some. Hardware store... coolio..

[Mark McLean]

Hi Kerry
You might have already done so, but have you been through Frank's photo tutorials on crack repair in the Frets.com site?
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/pagelist.html#Luthier (scroll down the list to the to the ones on crack repair - try not to be distracted by all the other good stuff)

Have you checked that the braces are not loose?
Do you think there is actually spruce chipped out from the edge of the crack? If so, will need a graft. But if it is all there you can hope that it will swell and close with water and glue.
Good luck.

Mark

[Kerry Krishna]

I've seen all of them Mark. Nothing quite covers this. And yes everything inside the guitar is either loose or has already fallen off.