Thread: Bridge Crack
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Old 01-27-2013, 09:27 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Location: Chugiak, Alaska
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In my experience, ANY crack near or on the bridge should get checked immediately by a professional guitar tech. If it's just a finish crack, that's usually no big deal, and usually not cost-effective to restore to a pristine uncracked condition.

But sometimes cracks that appear to be only in the finish turn out to be more serious than that, and any crack in the wood in the bridge area should be corrected immediately. From a structural standpoint, the bridge, bridgeplate, underlying braces and top are the most vulnerable part of an acoustic guitar.

The same size crack in the wood of the side or even in other parts of the top can go uncorrected for a long time with no real worries, but cracks in the bridge area can seem to be dormant, but then suddenly and dramatically fail.

At which point you're looking at a much more complex and correspondingly expensive repair than if the guitar had been taken in to the repair shop when the crack(s) were first noticed.

It may well be that the crack you've spotted is the result of cold weather on the lacquer. Which is nothing to worry about and nothing you need to spend any money getting fixed. But it's better to be safe than sorry, so take it by to let a guitar tech look at it.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller
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