Repair a top crack in Los Angeles?
 

Hello,

I stupidly left one of my acoustics out of its case when I left LA for a few months. Now have a nice crack from the bottom of the bridge down. It's now in its case with a humidifier, but I need to find someone good with acoustics to do a repair. I haven't had good experiences with Mccabe's, so looking for alternatives. John Wescott has always done good work on my electrics, so leaning towards asking him to do it, but just wanted to know if anyone had any other good recommendations.

Thanks,
Tim

Is it a crack or a seam separation?

A crack. About an inch from the seam.

I’ve had good luck with Boulevard Music in Culver.

I'll 2nd that.

Having spent 30 years in LA, I'd be shocked if it was a lack of humidity that caused your crack.

Good luck with the fix.

scott

There have been some super dry days/weeks out here over the last few months, I usually leave my guitars on the wall but have had to case them a few times because humidity dropped down into the teens in my home studio and my humidifier couldn't make up the difference.

Interesting!
Still think it would take that low humidity to continue for months to affect a guitar like that. Someone with more knowledge than me may have different take on that.

scott

There's also Westwood Music. They are authorized repairers for Martin and Santa Cruz Guitars.

I would call Ted at LA Guitar Sales and see who he recommends. (310) 246-1933

Ted's a great guy, who has sold me more than a few of my stable, and his recommendation would most likely be Dave Neely (just down the street a few miles on Sunset Blvd). It's who he recommended to me when I had a ding that needed fixing, and Dave did a great job. He's also set up three of my guitars, one at full step down, and I've been happy with each job he's done.

That said I've never had anything done as serious as a crack repair, but I'd trust Dave to either say what he could do with it, or refer you appropriately if he can't do anything with it.

Over the pandemic they've mostly been guitars shown by appointment, primarily by the manager, and I've never seen the repair folks, or other sales folks, even in the building. They look closed most of the time I drive by it (which is pretty often as it's part of a normal route I drive a few times a week). In fact the last time I was able to call and make an appt. to try something out was months ago, and a few texts I've sent since have not been answered. Their Reverb presence has been down during that time as well.

No question in my mind, David Neely.

7424 1/2 Sunset Blvd #1, Los Angeles, CA 90046

For locals interested in visiting, it’s almost exactly across the street from guitar center Hollywood. Call or email him first (at least that’s what I do). It’s a tiny shop so not a lot of room to just randomly drop in, in case he’s already helping people.

Hi Scott,

I've spent most of my life in LA with little worry about the guitars until one day I had an issue come up suddenly with one. Rapid changes in humidity, it seems, are what damage guitars most often. From Collings:

The biggest danger caused by humidity and temperature is rapid or extreme changes. That’s because different parts of the guitar shrink and expand at different rates. For example, if your local humidity drops very rapidly, the guitar cannot acclimate itself uniformly, causing cracks or failure of glue joints in different portions of the guitar as it tries to "cope" with the drying situation. The same is true, in reverse, with high humidity.