Hello all,
I recently bought a used acoustic/electric and have noticed that there are some hairline cracks along the binding and and the side. One crack is noticeable and could be a problem. What is the best way to seal the cracks to prevent it from growing? I thought maybe a thin bead of crazy glue would help. Also, There are 4 screws holding the pickup in, 2 of which have come out. The hole is stripped so should i just get larger screws and redo the whole pickup?
kudos in advance,
steve
For stripped screws, the quick and dirty method that's worked very satisfactorily for me on numerous occasions is to first coat the screw with a light film of wax, oil or something to prevent the screw from becoming stuck, put glue in the hole, let it start to dry and become tacky, put the screw in the hole and leave it alone till the glue sets. The more proper way is to fill the stripped hole with wood (gluing in a toothpick works for small holes) and drill out a proper sized pilot hole for the screw. But you're unlikely to have to go back and redo the simple glue repair, unless you strip it again. With white wood glue and shiny metal screws, I don't even bother putting a release agent on the screw.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Hi, problem is the screw went into the guitar so the hole is now too big for the screw head. I retrieved the screw through the sound hole. It is also very thin would as the pickup is screwed into the top side of the guitar. I don't think i have ab ychoice but to get a larger screw and paint it black so it blends in with the others. I need 2 actually.
Look into plugging the hole with wood and redrilling.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
for the small cracks you have a couple of options, plain old white glue worked in with your finger will keep it stable. I use a thin modeler's glue to repair close cracks, but it is a bit of a pain to make it look like new. Just ask Greg. My Taylor had the glue seal on a top crack for about 2 years before I got around to sanding it and buffing. It took about three hours of elbow grease to get it there, but It looks pretty much like new now.
It goes like this:
Tape up close to the crack with masking tape, I left about 2 mm on either side.
clean the crack out with a quick wipe of alcohol
let it dry
put the thin super glue bead right down the center of the crack
lightly press on either side of the crack once
let it dry
Then I removed the tape and buffed it out with wet 400, 600, 800 and some 3m ultrafine scratch remover.
It isn't too hard to do.
For the hole in the top, if the whole screw fits through it, you may want to plug the hole with a small dowel. You could also use the toothpick or wooden matchstick trick. It won't be moved much so that should work.
Where is the pickup? I might just shift the pickup by a 1/2 inch or so. Send us a picture.
HI the pickup is at the top side under your arm when playing. I had to replace 2 screws. I went with a larger thread. 1 screw fit snug the other did not. I wrapped some masking tape around the thread hoping it would help but the hole is too large.
Its better than before but not perfect. The wood is very thin probably less than 1/8 of an inch thick so plugging it would mean i would have to take the pickup out which means the 2 other original screw holes may become stripped when i put it back in.
It is a cheaper guitar "Carlos" but sounds nice plugged in.
thanks
