OM Guitar Build : Rosewood Back developed a Crack before start of Build

[MVeena]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

When I click on your photo links, I only see this message: "These aren't the droids you're looking for."

Without photos, it is impossible for me to tell whether these cracks are repairable. If you can see light coming through them, then you cannot just glue them, because the wood has changed shape and the edges of the crack no longer fit together. Without my being able to see your wood sets, I would say that the safe thing to do is return them to the seller. Once you have tried to glue them, that will not be possible.

What I can say, based on almost 50 years of getting rosewood from India, is that many (not all) of the Indian sellers of rosewood guitar sets saw the wood green (wet) and pay no attention to proper drying before they sell it. These sets inevitably crack when they are brought into a room that is at the correct relative humidity for guitar building if they are not quartersawn. It is essential that you confirm with your supplier first, that the wood you will get has been brought to equilibrium moisture content at an ambient RH of 40-50% and is crack-free at that RH; and second, that it is quartersawn (something about which a lot of wood sellers in all parts of the world are prone to making misleading claims). Keep it in your shop (humidity controlled!) for two weeks before building with it.

I will post some pics