Top crack (pic included)

[diego]

The guitar bag betrayed me last night, and as I was stepping to a car, the strap came loose and the bag with a guitar in it fell on concrete. The result - cracked top on an Applause-Ovation guitar. The crack line is parallel with a bridge. I'm not too concerned about the unplugged sound of this guitar, because it's my gig electro-acoustic guitar, and while was having a gig last night after the accident, I haven't noticed any lousy behavior, or problems with tuning.

However, the crack is big, and spider-like as you can see, so let's see what more experienced users on the forum would suggest, as the course of action?

[RRuskin]

Remove tension ASAP and take to a trusted repair person.

[rollypolly]

Sorry to hear about the crack. Goes to show hard cases are invaluable. Not to bash on Ovation, but I was looking at some used ones recently and they seem to have a disproportionate amount of cracked tops compared to others makers.

[Br1ck]

You have a material that is stable glued to a material that shrinks and expands. That top doesn't look like anything a competent repair person can't fix.

Yeah, gig bags.

[s2y]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

Sorry to hear about the crack. Goes to show hard cases are invaluable. Not to bash on Ovation, but I was looking at some used ones recently and they seem to have a disproportionate amount of cracked tops compared to others makers.

The top can expand and contracts while the bowl can't. Shops seemed to advertise that they're bullet proof, which isn't the case. I'm sure there aren't many cracked tops with Ovations that were well maintained or didn't take a hard hit to the top.

[Dwight]

Bring it to someone who can epoxy a brace to the inside and flatten out the top.
It should be fine as an electrified gigging guitar. It's not going to sound great as an acoustic and has already lost all resale value but should be fine for your purposes.

[TwangGang]

Perfect example of why to never use gig bags.

[blindboyjimi]

Originally Posted by RRuskin

Remove tension ASAP and take to a trusted repair person.

Yep, but dropping a 7lb hard case on concrete would most likely result in a similar crack too. But get that tension off and get it to a great repair person. Cracks perpendicular to the grain lines aren’t what you’d wish for if you had to have a crack, but it’s fixable.

[OddManOut]

Originally Posted by RRuskin

Remove tension ASAP and take to a trusted repair person.

^^^Do That^^^

[YamaYairi]

What I would do if this were my guitar is glue a thin piece of spruce or a piece of maple that is intended to be a bridge plate under that crack and work wood glue into the crack from the top.
And get a hard case.
https://www.stewmac.com/tonewoods/sh...od---set-of-3/

[guitar george]

A crack like that can be stabilized from inside the guitar, but, I doubt if it can be "invisibly" repaired. I would take it to a luthier for an evaluation.

[mirwa]

As someone that specialises in hiding repairs on highend guitars, that one is a no.

You have a structural cross grain break, whilst it can be repaired and made functional it cannot be hidden without replacing the whole top

Steve

[rmp]

Originally Posted by blindboyjimi

Yep, but dropping a 7lb hard case on concrete would most likely result in a similar crack too..

probably not..

[jonfields45]

Looks like a veneer top where the thick core cracked along its grain (90 degrees off the top veneer). It might actually be stable, if unsightly, as is.

[Shaneh]

Depending on where you live it will probably cost more than the guitar is worth to fix it not to mention the value decrease after. An applause is probably only worth 100-200 in great shape unfortunately