Classical guitar repair help

[FrankenWashie]

you are going to need to be very careful trying to get that edge to sit back down. it appears as though the top has fractured from the purfling ledge as well as split.
Forcing it back down may cause further fracturing if you can't get the binding to 'give' enough to set that exposed purfling back to where it should be.
I would think that the way to tackle this involves all sorts of stripping back, top removal and stabilisation and then re-setting it on the box and re-binding, if you can get the binding/purfling to move enough to get the top to sit down you might get away with wicking some thin CA into the fractures and splits and getting it all to hold together.

It's certainly going to be a tester. Is there anything rattling around inside it? DO you havee a mirror or one of those little scope cameras that you could use to check what that all looks like inside the box?

[dozymuppet]

No, nothing rattling around (other than what appears to be part of my daughter's school recess ).

I'm going to have a go at doing this very very carefully without taking the top off, and back off at the first sign of stress on the body.

[FrankenWashie]

I'm going to have a go at doing this very very carefully without taking the top off, and back off at the first sign of stress on the body.

Yep, that's probably the best plan. The alternative is a very big endeavour.

[Simon Barden]

You're definitely going to need an inspection mirror to see what on earth is going on inside.

It may be that removing the binding is the easiest way to get too the bits you need to get at. Which means that you'll need to be prepared to replace it. And removing it may not be that easy.

[dozymuppet]

Yep. the binding is very much at play here. I managed to do a bit of exploration with a (gasp) Swiss Army Knife lever, getting a little bit of purchase to be able to see at least some of what was going on. Then I used the tweezers from said SAK, and was able to pull the white binding out enough for the top to drop back into place, and the binding to sit back on top (albeit a bit out of kilter).





So I'm in a better place now, but I still need to get in there and clean things up, before applying glue.

[Simon Barden]

Looking a lot better there. But you'll certainly need to stick something on the underside to hold it all together.

[dozymuppet]

Looks like that might be a bit tricky. I realised that as well as having the sum of human knowledge in my pocket, I've also got a decent camera with a flash, and relatively skinny wrists.



The damage isn't too bad from what I can tell, but I'd still like to see what I can do. I can probably get some kind of prop in there to provide the pressure required to hold a fix in place.

[McCreed]

That looks and sounds promising!
I also have "relatively skinny wrists" but it never fails that they go into places a lot easier than coming out for some reason!

[FrankenWashie]

Nice MacGuyvering mate! You can see that the top has split laterally across from the break at that section of purfling ledge.
As Simon says you’ll probably need to fix something on the underside. It might be possible to fabricate a small thin plate to cover it but you’d need to also find a way to clamp it accurately in place.
you could make some basic f style clamps with hardwood and all thread to get in there and clamp it all securely together.

[Simon Barden]

Not too bad underneath, though some of the top parts of the wood are creased.

Maybe you could turn it upside down and spread some epoxy over the crack on the inside? Push it into the crack and then pile a bit on top.