PK's Acoustic Epi brace repair

[kells80aus]

I'll start this by expressing my extreme disatisfaction with the guy I bought this Epi off.
I paid $148 on ebay for a very nice acoustic Epi.
The guy that sold it to me should never ever go anywhere near a guitar EVER.
This guy refused to let me come pick it up. He Posted it to me. He wrapped it in a Black plastic bag and then wrapped it in corflute cardboard.
The end result is some internal damage to the braces that meet in the middle under the bridge.
At first I thought it was only one brace but on inspection today it was far far worse.
Firstly, the rear upper cross brace was split down the middle. I currenlty have this glued and drying.
Not sure if I got enough glue under it or not.
The second damaged area was the forward brace on the same side(the top edge). this brace had deglued and taken about four square inches of the first two layers of laminate off. I have no idea how I can fix this without spreading glue all over the place.
then I have to glue the brace back down.
I am thinking that little repair has to go to some one who actually knows what they are doing.

To give you an idea of how hard this is the following YouTube is of a regluing upper braces.
The guy prattles on about crap, but you get the idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn216Lqjs8U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1_5m7UuqC0

I'll try get a couple of pics if I can find a camera to fit.

PK

[wokkaboy]

wow thats bad news PK, bummer. Well its a lesson not to buy acoustics that are badly packaged for posting. They are delicate and really need to be in a case.
Stick at it, you never know you may be able to repair it, main thing is it plays ok, how it looks isn't as important

[kells80aus]

Not happy Jan.....

If you zoom into the edge of the guitar you will see some cracking around the edge.
the second shot is the deck internal damage, the third is the brace I glued... just hope it sticks.

PK

[kells80aus]

Just realised this delamination is right next to the pre-amp, so may have a second window to get through to repair it.

Like most things, it just takes a careful bit of thought.

PK

[stan]

maybe you should bring it to Stan's House of Epi Repair...

Does the internal damage show through to the top?

[kells80aus]

absolutely Blind Luck.

The pre-amp hole is right over the fracture spot.

I'm seriously thinking this could use a bit of surboard technolgy.
A little piece of four ounce woven glass and little bit of resin.

BUT I'll try normal glueing first.

I'd like to here if DB has any guidance for this as well.

PK

[stan]

could you get the head of an Irwin type clamp in there?

[kells80aus]

Hi Stan,
There is a crack right along the upper edge of the deck, about 100-130mm long. It just shows as a crack in the gloss finish(something else to fix)
I probably could get a clamp in. I was thinking it is going to need a little bit of reinforcment of some kind.

I'm just no quite sure what to use.
While fiberglass would be thin and strong, the resin is likely to seep through the crack.
So it will have to be some form of wood, that is glued in with Tite bond so it can be easily cleaned up.
All I have is some 3 mm sapelle, and some half mm maple.
The maple could be layered a few times to create a patch.

Definitely worth a trip to Stan's Epi repair centre

PK

[kells80aus]

Stan,
I'd have to pack the Irwin clamp up a bit, as the pre-amp hole is about 30mm deep.

PK

[bargeloobs]

I'll start this by expressing my extreme disatisfaction with the guy I bought this Epi off.
I paid $148 on ebay for a very nice acoustic Epi.
The guy that sold it to me should never ever go anywhere near a guitar EVER.
This guy refused to let me come pick it up. He Posted it to me. He wrapped it in a Black plastic bag and then wrapped it in corflute cardboard.

PK

What a nob!