All good progress. Glad nothing untoward's turning up.
All good progress. Glad nothing untoward's turning up.
Well, I did gloss over the bit where I forgot to mask the binding! The sanding cleaned up most of it so only a small amount of scraping needed. I won't be doing that again 🙄
OK, I might have a problem after all. I have a crack in the cutaway, running from the corner of the neck pocket. Not sure when it appeared, but it only became obviously visible when sanding back the primer. The curvature of the grain combined with the 90 degree corner seem to have combined to make a weakness. Given that I haven't ever fitted the neck or put stress on this part of the body I assume this has always been present but overlooked. Unfortunately I don't have any good photos of this angle from before today.
Any suggestions? Should I fill this with something? CA (super) glue? Epoxy? Wood filler?
Also, I am worried about this crack affecting the structural integrity of the guitar once the neck is attached. It looks like just the normal stresses applied to this area may cause issues later on.
I don't think that's a major problem. How are you finishing? Personally I would wick some CA glue in there, it'll be plenty strong enough. If you are staining, get some stain into the crack first, CA glue then sand back. Then when you do the rest of the body and clear it should be hardly noticeable.
The crack may have occurred due to the extreme dryness we are experiencing across the country. I'm really feeling the need for a humidifier in my workshop at the moment....
Build 1 - Shoegazer MK1 JMA-1
Build 2 - The Relliecaster TL-1
Build 3 - The Black Cherry SG AG-1
Build 4 - The Sonicaster TL-1ish
Build 5 - The Steampunker Bass YB-4
Build 6 - The Howling Gowing ST-1
"What I lack in talent I make up for with enthusiasm"
Just read back and saw you are spraying colour, just straight up glue it with CA, it'll be fine.
Build 1 - Shoegazer MK1 JMA-1
Build 2 - The Relliecaster TL-1
Build 3 - The Black Cherry SG AG-1
Build 4 - The Sonicaster TL-1ish
Build 5 - The Steampunker Bass YB-4
Build 6 - The Howling Gowing ST-1
"What I lack in talent I make up for with enthusiasm"
Great! Will do.Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
Wasn't quite sure of the right approach, so I improvised. Ran a bead of CA along the crack then used a stiff card as a squeegee to force glue into the crack. Hopefully that will do the job. Will let sit for 24 hours before sanding back and spraying the primer.
The CA may well soak into the wood a bit and so leave a bit of a dip. I'd give it a while and then I'd add a bit more CA on top of the crack area. Better to have it a bit proud so you can sand it down flat. CA should fully harden in 24 hours, so that's a good length of time to wait.
Yeah with bare wood that’s a good call.
Good advice from Simon.The CA may well soak into the wood a bit and so leave a bit of a dip. I'd give it a while and then I'd add a bit more CA on top of the crack area. Better to have it a bit proud so you can sand it down flat.
A situation like this is where having different viscosity CA glues is handy. If were doing this repair, I would use water thin (aka super thin) CA to wick into the crack, followed by a low viscosity CA as a drop-fill along the top of the crack. (then sand level)
It probably would be fine with just the thicker glue, but I tend to be over-cautious.
There are typically 3 standard viscosities: super thin/thin/thick or thin/medium/thick. Different manufacturers vary in their terms.
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
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