Martin D-15 side Crack, is it worth repairing?

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by jagarcia

Anyway, Do you think this can be true?

Frank Ford, a world-renouned expert in the field, already answered your question.

[jagarcia]

Originally Posted by charles Tauber

Frank Ford, a world-renouned expert in the field, already answered your question.

Thanks, I missed the part in which he said the package arrived with no signs of external damage.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by jagarcia

Thanks, I missed the part in which he said the package arrived with no signs of external damage.

I seemed to have missed the third photo in your original post. Having now seen that, I wouldn't think twice and would send it back: let the seller deal with the insurance company. Life is too short to haggle over this stuff and there are too many of the same model guitar available that are not damaged.

[Mobo]

Shouldn't the freshly cracked wood look fresher or is that the tone of the mahogany?

Also, was there any chip-out pieces in the case?

[Mr Fingers]

It's possible to squash an instrument in a boxed case w/o marking the box. It's also possible that this was cracked before, as the closeups of the crack look funny. It's a terrible crack and I disagree with those who say it's a $100-200 job. Unless the photos are deceiving, it looks like the cracks are already moving out of alignment. If this happened to a guitar I owned, I'd deal with it and accept it, but for a purchase? No way. Those are not benign cracks, and the repair is either going to be $$$ or it won't look good. Sorry for this -- the circumstances are indeed a huge pain in the butt. Let the seller and the shipping co. fight it out.

[mirwa]

As I mentioned to you in a pm to you earlier, these things happen.

As it was purchased through eBay and you have no side photos, you really have no valid claim that PayPal will enforce on the seller.

The insurance company has declined the re-imbursement, no surprise there.

So it's great everyone saids send it back and make the seller fight it out with the shipper, odds are the responsibility for the repair will stick with you.

You could either attempt to repair it yourself as per my earlier link or at least contact a local luthier and get a price, this way you are at least informed.

In the repair field, people have different strengths, just because we repair a stringed instrument does not mean we are the best at it. Ideally find someone whose strength lies in crack repairing, to me that's a real simple repair to do, to others it may not be, ask around.

Knowledge is power, arm yourself with as much knowledge as you can and then make a decision.

Best of luck

Steve

[jagarcia]

Originally Posted by mirwa

As I mentioned to you in a pm to you earlier, these things happen.

As it was purchased through eBay and you have no side photos, you really have no valid claim that PayPal will enforce on the seller.

The insurance company has declined the re-imbursement, no surprise there.

So it's great everyone saids send it back and make the seller fight it out with the shipper, odds are the responsibility for the repair will stick with you.

You could either attempt to repair it yourself as per my earlier link or at least contact a local luthier and get a price, this way you are at least informed.

In the repair field, people have different strengths, just because we repair a stringed instrument does not mean we are the best at it. Ideally find someone whose strength lies in crack repairing, to me that's a real simple repair to do, to others it may not be, ask around.

Knowledge is power, arm yourself with as much knowledge as you can and then make a decision.

Best of luck

Steve

Thanks Steve, by the way you have a great website, I'm looking forward to using the tutorials for some projects

About the options, yesterday I sent my final remarks to the insurance and I'm waiting on the final call. At first they were offering to pay the repair but I'm trying to get more than that while also trying to figure out if repairing is an option from a functional perspective .

I work on a company that has a logistics business line so we have a claims and insurance department. I spoke with them and the rationale here is that from the moment the company that shipped the guitar to my country accepted the package from USPS they are responsible to deliver it in the shape they were declared (in this case good condition not broken), IF the guitar was broken from before they should have declined the package when they received it. So they are know responsible for the broken guitar and their insurance should respond to me, afterwards they could go and seek responsability from either USPS or the seller.

[jagarcia]

Originally Posted by Mr Fingers

It's possible to squash an instrument in a boxed case w/o marking the box. It's also possible that this was cracked before, as the closeups of the crack look funny. It's a terrible crack and I disagree with those who say it's a $100-200 job. Unless the photos are deceiving, it looks like the cracks are already moving out of alignment. If this happened to a guitar I owned, I'd deal with it and accept it, but for a purchase? No way. Those are not benign cracks, and the repair is either going to be $$$ or it won't look good. Sorry for this -- the circumstances are indeed a huge pain in the butt. Let the seller and the shipping co. fight it out.

That's the option I'm more inclined at the moment.

Originally Posted by Mobo

Shouldn't the freshly cracked wood look fresher or is that the tone of the mahogany?

Also, was there any chip-out pieces in the case?

I think the freshly cracked wood does indeed look like a recent crack, the cut was really clean unlike other parts of the guitar in which there chips were you could tell already had years there. Regarding the chip out pieces I actually didn't put much attention on that as I was a bit disturbed at the moment while making the claim but I agree that there should be some if the crack was made during the shipment.