Torn Wood Grain Under Bridge

[Doug Miller]

The Bridge has lifted from my 2006 G3 acoustic 6 string. It is not a pegged bridge but rather a string through style bridge.

When the bridge lifted, it removed some wood fiber from the spruce top...the grain in the top seems to be running out towards the rear which could be part of the reason it lifted in the beginning.

This guitar is from a highly regarded luthier, but since I am second owner so he is unwilling to do the repair on warranty.

A local repairman/luthier would not repair it saying he thinks it should have a pegged bridge and with the torn wood grain it could never be strong enough in his opinion.

So I am left wondering what  to do and in particular...what, if anything, can be done to fill the lost wood fibre from the top?

Any comments from you luthiers and repair persons would be greatly appreciated.

Doug

[Kerry Krishna]

Plus 1 for what Mike just wrote. This is exactly how I do it also.  Doug, have you talked to the builder about this yet, or maybe I should ask if you are going too? No good to presume anything on Forums like this eh?

[Doug Miller]

I have talked to him...he says a good repairman can handle it..route it out and replace the tear with new wood etc.....or for $1000 he would put a new top on...meanwhile he says he does not do repairs..not sure what you call a top replacement then. He builds a big line of guitars all using the same pegless bridge style and claims no problems.

When I expressed my dissapointment with his response, he said give him a few days to reconsider.

Several top musicians play his instruments and I would rather not name him unless we cannot come to reasonable terms and I am left to repair it.

[Kerry Krishna]

Doug, don't feel pressured to name him at all. I am sure he is a terrific builder and it certainly won't do anything to help your piece of mind, his reputation, OR get the work done. We don't need to know is what I'm saying. I would ask him directly though, about the getting the bolts put through after the work is done. He may or may not agree that it is needed, but it will give YOU piece of mind that it won't happen again. So it will be $200 well spent my friend.

[Doug Miller]

Thanks everyone...It has been confirmed by the builder that in his opinion the only acceptable repair is a $3000 top replacement.  Not going to happen!

So given I have nothing to loose, I will proceed with the approach of replacing the missing wood, then glue and bolt the bridge in place according to Mike Kolb's directions with the comfort of knowing I won't be going through this again.

I can then get on with playing this most wonderful guitar.

Doug

 

[Kerry Krishna]

Please post some pictures here for us when it is finished Doug! It actually seems like this will be a happy ending!

[Doug Miller]

I will get another assessment from another pro repair shop with the hopes they can glue and bolt it with some measure of confidence. If they refuse as did the initial repair shop, then I have the choice of doing it myself or selling the guitar 'as is'

We shall see!

Doug

[David Houchens]

Was this tearout caused by severe runout in the top grain? I would like to see some closeups as well. I don't see any problems with two small screws such as Gibson used for years. ( may still ). It would still be nice to know the original cause.

[Doug Miller]

David...If you go back to my original posting...there are 2 pictures showing the tear out. Obviously with book matched top the grain on one half runs down...hence the untorn side and other half it runs up.

My assumption is that the run out grain to the surface with the combined load direction just peeled it out and overloaded the bond on the other side OR could be the grain down side failed and overloaded the grain up side and peeled it

Question for all....Is run out grain like this acceptable on such a guitar? especially given the bridge design.