Paul Kelly. STA-1

[Brendan]

Paul,
Titebond should be the glue of choice - see if you can get as much in there as possible. Having seen someone glueing a back of an acoustic with Titebond (3mm wide join along a 50 odd cm length), then wanting to pull the two halves apart and ending up breaking everywhere apart from along the join, I can't see why it won't hold. Difficulty will be getting the glue in. In terms of the ridge, you could go with a gentle sand? Titebond should hold and you should be right. Should being the operative word. Given you're in Vic and all I'm hearing on the radio at the moment is about the fires in Vic as it's so hot, is there somewhere else you can store the body for a couple of days / weeks to stop it from cracking? Long term, once it's a guitar it'll be stored inside, so should be right - that's assuming it's being stored somewhere hot at the moment...

Hope that helps.

[Brendan]

Paul,
Other thing. If you get stuck and need some help urgently try dropping DB an email at dingobass@pitbullguitars.com. He's a good bloke and will try to help, but may not have seen your post as yet. He does check emails though and generally is pretty quick to get back to you.

[kells80aus]

Hi Brendan, Yes I worked the tight bond in with a bare finger then cleaned up with a wet rag. I hope I got enough into the cracks to hold. I've moved it out of the garage and into the family room. Not sure how the missus is gunna react to the giant lolly pop sitting on the couch. but hey, you have to do what you need to do, in order to get it done.
Still might try to win that Dr. Parts Body on ebay though.
I am hoping I can cover the cracks with my planned cherry burst colour scheme, I'll try cover it first with some water based wood filler to fill any short fall on the tight bond, if I can't fix it, it'll end up as a distressed looking Cherry Burst.

Cheers PK

[Brendan]

PK - good luck on eBay. Titebond can take some stain, otherwise Timbermate as a filler. If you're doing that - get some saw dust through sanding in a cavity and work that into the Timbermate - will get it closer to the original colour and stain better.
Really do hope it all works out - ash bodies are beautiful and I am looking forward to getting into my first Ash build - an IB-5.

[kells80aus]

Hi Brendan, I've got some Pine coloured Timbermate, but I'll head to Bunnings Tomorrow mornin and see if there is anything closer to Ash. If I go by Timbermates online colour Chart Pine is the go, But half the colours don't show through on their site.


Cheers PK.

[Gavin1393]

Hi Paul
I posted a response to your question hours ago and after being alerted to your ongoing problem via e-mail, i stopped by and discovered my post just doesnt exist anymore. So i am going to repost and hope this gets you a better result.

The best way to tackle the cracks is to know something about the humidity when gluing. Humidity needs to be in the 40-55 range. Too wet or too dry when gluing up and you run the risk of the crack opening up due to the wood giving way or the glue being pulled off the wood when the opposite extreme is reached. Hence if humidity is in the 80's, should it become dry and drop into the 20's, big problem! Wood continues to 'breathe".
So try and work in a controlled environment or only when the humidity is right, ie, 40-55!

Now, to the fix.

Because you have coloured the wood, i would get 320-400 grit sandpaper and rub a throw-away piece of wood over it to make sure any sandpaper grit particles that may be loose will not end up in your finish. After doing this clean up the sandpaper and it will now be ready for use.

First, apply some superglue, stewmac 20 or 30 superglue is preferred as it will take a bit longer to dry. Fill the area of the crack with the glue, then gently sand in small movements around and across the crack. The sanded particles will mix with the glue and create a natural filler. You may have to repeat the process, but you should end up with a very natural looking finish.

Hope this helps.

[kells80aus]

Hi Gav,
I know for a fact the humidity in Melb was down around 20% yesterday and today would have been the same. we have just gone through a few days of 40 Deg C heat. I am thinking maybe because of the low humidity, and the fact I used a spirit based colour that it may have dried the wood out to the point where it has cracked.
I am pretty much resigned to the fact I'll have to take the colour back on the areas around the cracks and try to fill them up as best I can. I've already applied some Tite bond to them. but there is a still a little filling to do on at least one of the cracks.
Cheers PK

[kells80aus]

Watchin INXS right now.

[Brendan]

PK we've all been there for one reason or another - check out my PB build (http://www.pitbullguitars.com/?page_...wtopic&t=280.9) ended up dropping my P Bass 5 minutes before I was going to put it all together... In the end it turned out schmick - people can't tell that it was ever dropped. Hopefully your fix will stick and all will be well. If not - DB's mantra is "There is always a work around to solve problems, mistakes and other guitar building gremlins....." so there will be a way to fix it. The way I look at it, imperfections add character. We're playing with wood and celebrating the individual character of that wood. As a living thing, it's imperfect - grains go in weird direction, you get knots, worm holes, dings, etc. all of which add to the character. When you get down to it, spalt is just a form of fungus that makes wood look amazing.

[adam]

Hey Paul,

Sorry I'm late to this thread. I wanted to confer with Dingobass, our resident Luthier, on your kit. He thinks it's faulty and should be replaced. We don't want you to persevere with something if you also think it's faulty. Of course, we'll be happy if you push on and try and resolve these cracking issues, but, if you do decide that it's just not up to scratch, we'll arrange to get the whole kit back and send you a new one.