How to repair a new top-cracked guitar?

[Ivob]

hi, yesterday i saw a new super jumbo in a local shop, top solid (cedar) guitar which looks nice but its top has been cracked as an accidance during delivery to the shop. they sell it for 30 euros (it's about 40$) and i may to press the price down. it's a nice big acoustic guitar and i'm thinking about buying it with the perspective of repairing it - actually a complete replacing of the top.
so my question is - is it possible to replace a top on guitars which are completely glued? neck and fretboard are glued to the body and top. i'd like to replace it with a solid spruce top but i'm not sure if it is technically possible since the fretboard and neck are glued to the body. it could be a nice guitar...
what's your opinion on a combination of a solid spruce top with laminated mahogany back and sides?

http://www.dowina.eu/eshop/index.php...fo&tovar=SJ-1S
this is the guitar, imagine a cracked top of course

[Kitchen Guitars]

Its a project for fun. Try it. The necks gotta come off. You will need a Cappuccino machine to remove the neck If it s a solid Cedar top why not stabilize the crack and learn how to hide the mark? When that doesn't work then you bash in the top and explore
If you go to my Parlor repair I took off the neck and removed the back, and a bunch of other stuff.

[Ivob]

hm, in fact meanwhile i found out that it's not a solid top...nevermind it doesn't change my plans. unfortunately, i don't have any special machines for guitar building so probably i will have it done. i'll discuss it with some local guitar builder if he will be able to do it

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by Ivob

hm, in fact meanwhile i found out that it's not a solid top...nevermind it doesn't change my plans. unfortunately, i don't have any special machines for guitar building so probably i will have it done. i'll discuss it with some local guitar builder if he will be able to do it

Likely more money than the value of the guitar. My first restoration I used the Cappuccino machine to generate steam to remove the neck. Then used razors and glue to do most of the other steps.
If the top is cracked and its laminated isn't it stable anyway?

[Ivob]

oh, you mean a REAL cappuccino machine!? i thought it's just a jargon term for some special machine for guitar builders!
no, the top is not stable at all, in fact it's not just a simple crack. it's as if torn out from the kerfings and it looks horrible. i wrote an email to the shop if they are willing to send me some pictures of the guitar. they may send some so i'll put them in the thread...but i can't imagine how to remove the fretboard. or it must be removed together with a neck as one piece? there's no other way how to replace the top?

[Kitchen Guitars]

Hi,
I got my Capaccino Machine for $20 on Craigslist. The fretboard comes off with the neck. Generally removing a fretboard from the neck means a new fret board. Removing a neck is scary but pretty easy. You remove the 14th fret, 12th if its 12 to the body. Drill small pilot holes. You can make a steam wand with a needle from an Auto Parts store. I bought mine from Stew Mac.
One night I took a neck off an old harmony, corrected the angle and had the neck glued back on in an hour or so. I even put the original fret back! The first time I did it it took 3 days of fear and what if's and about 15 minutes of execution.
As far as I know the fretboard must be out of the way to place in a new top.
Now you have to ponder the bracing on the top.....
It really beats Golf once you are hooked!
BTW I have quite a collection of old Slavia and MARS Pellet rifles! My first "wood" hobby was restoring old hunting and target air rifles

[pops]

The neck will NOT have to be removed, only the fingerboard and that can be done with a 100 watt bench light, being careful to heat the board thru, but i was going to say protect the top, but as you will be replacing it it's not a problem. The top can then be routed off as you will replace binding after you put on your new top. Have fun.

[Ivob]

Originally Posted by pops

The neck will NOT have to be removed, only the fingerboard and that can be done with a 100 watt bench light, being careful to heat the board thru, but i was going to say protect the top, but as you will be replacing it it's not a problem. The top can then be routed off as you will replace binding after you put on your new top. Have fun.

i'm not sure how you mean it...you mean that the heat will take apart the fretboard from the neck without damaging the neck? by melting the glue which hold them together?

and i've got one more question - if i wanted to make a baritone from it it would be possible, wouldn't it? it will just suffice to place a bridge on the new top at the adequate baritone scale, am i right? don't have real baritones any other specific parameteres as for stifness of the neck e.g.?

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by pops

The neck will NOT have to be removed, only the fingerboard and that can be done with a 100 watt bench light, being careful to heat the board thru, but i was going to say protect the top, but as you will be replacing it it's not a problem. The top can then be routed off as you will replace binding after you put on your new top. Have fun.

Heat won't work if its epoxied on (like most modern fretboards). Stick it in an oven. The last two pieces to come apart will be the neck from the fretboard.
My 1920's parlor I restored I used that method. That fretboard was on with hide glue

[Rod True]

Originally Posted by Kitchen Guitars

Heat won't work if its epoxied on (like most modern fretboards). Stick it in an oven. The last two pieces to come apart will be the neck from the fretboard.
My 1920's parlor I restored I used that method. That fretboard was on with hide glue

Actually, heat alone will work fine on an epoxied on fretboard. Here's a link to a post I made on removing a fretboard, it was glued on with epoxy.

As for the baritone idea. You'd need a new neck and fretboard as the scale length on the baritone is generally 28"+/- and not 25.4" which is what a typical guitar is.

If you don't have the skills to pull the top off, make a new one, brace etc, getting a local guitar maker to do it for you would cost I'm guessing around $450 (if you are in the US) or whatever the equivalent is in EURO $.

It' not to difficult of a job, but if you have never built a guitar, it might be a bit overwhelming of a task.

[Ivob]

so the luthier i had talked to said that if it's some cheap guitar (and it is...) it's unpredictable what could happen when removing the neck. if something is spoiled i will have to pay him anyway for the work...so now i don't know what to do...he wants about 200euros for it and for 300 i can a have a new top solid piece but none has such an appropriate neck width like this has (the choice in our country is quite limited)

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by Ivob

so the luthier i had talked to said that if it's some cheap guitar (and it is...) it's unpredictable what could happen when removing the neck. if something is spoiled i will have to pay him anyway for the work...so now i don't know what to do...he wants about 200euros for it and for 300 i can a have a new top solid piece but none has such an appropriate neck width like this has (the choice in our country is quite limited)

What are the dementions you seek?

[Ivob]

Originally Posted by Kitchen Guitars

What are the dementions you seek?

sorry, i don't understand what you mean by this... (i'm not a native speaker)...

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by Ivob

sorry, i don't understand what you mean by this... (i'm not a native speaker)...

You are doing better with english than most Americans
How wide of a neck did you want? What do you want the guitar to be?

[Ivob]

oh! now i've got it! you mean "DIMENSIONS"?! so this i must sign up in my "dictionary"...dementions...(i'm still laughing). so the cracked guitar has a 1 3/4 neck and actually that's the reason why i want to have it repaired. to make a nice fingerstyle animal of it. ...dementions...