Hey all,
I am new to this forum and interested in fixing my old Alvarez 5220 acoustic guitar. The guitar was my dads, a present that he got from my mom well over 20 years ago!
Anyways, there is a small hole in the side of the guitar near the back. It is small and a lot of the wood is still there so I would just assume do it myself rather than pay to have someone do it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all!
That is a tough fix. Depending how comfortable with tools and wood working you are and the level of result you're hoping to get, there are different ways to approach that one. I'd personally leave it alone.
But, the least complicated fix:
Try to push the chips out via the body cavity. If you can't get your arm in there you might try inflating a balloon in the cavity to aid in pushing the chips out. I'd moisten the exposed edges of the chips with water so they will expand then hit them with a hair dryer. You might have to lightly sand if the exposed wood swells out beyond the wound. Then I'd get some wood glue or epoxy on there. The trick will be keeping the dent flush with the outside curve. Then sand and hit it with some poly. Poly is difficult because you can't match up old and new poly very well like you can with nitro or shellac.
Alternatively, I guess you could get an even hole and then plug it and sand in the radius, but again you are dealing with bracing the repair and matching up the plug.
You should know that this is not what I would do. If it was a valuable instrument I'd handle this in a completely different manner, most likely opting to dismantle the entire guitar and very possibly replacing the entire side.
My opinion, and I'm far from an expert especially with an acoustic, is that any repair you do will compromise the tone more than leaving it alone will. I'd just leave it. Or put a bandaid on it as a joke. :lol:
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
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