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Old 02-28-2008, 01:27 PM
TommyK TommyK is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: North Central Illinois, USA
Posts: 335
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It wasn't cracked but I had a Norlin era Epiphone that I had neglected for a couple decades. It was quite dry. I cleaned all the dust bunnies out, then layed Epi on her back. I taped a piece of plastic over her blue label. Then, I took a shallow jar, filled it with HOT tap water then set it down in the sound hole. I then covered the sound hole with a flat plastic drain stopper. I left over night. I repeated this 3 days running.

This may rehydrate the top to the point the crack may close up. If it doesn't close completely up, try pushing the sides of the guitar together to see if you can force the crack to close. If that works you may be able to use a bar or strap clamp to pull the crack closed after gluing. The normal course of action then is to glue a cleat across the crack to reinforce it. This 'cleat' ( I think that's what they are called) is a square of spruce... maybe 3/4" across and 1/8" thick. The grain should run from one corner, through the center of the square, to the opposite corner of the cleat. Champher the edges. Glue this diamond shaped piece to the underside of the soundboard with the grain perpendicular to the grain of the top, spanning the crack. Clamping is a good idea until it dries/cools. Depending on how long the crack is, more than one cleat may be necessary.
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"If you've got time to breathe, you've got time for music," Briscoe Darling

"Epi" FT145-SB 1970-ish
"Stella" Harmony Stella
"Jean" not so old Yamaha FG something or other
"Tillie", Short for "Otilda" Applause classic AE-33 (had to have an "O" name.)
"no name yet" S. Armienteras Spanish guit tar

Not a fancy stable, but they work for me.
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