Seagull of the Dead

The patient is a Seagull S6+Folk.

I diagnosed it for a while before starting. What I found:

7 major breaks, 2 minor.
1 tricky break by the bridge wing on the lower bout.
1 broken brace that had completely detached.
1 minor brace that had fallen out.
1 major cross brace that had become detached on the lower bout by the soundhole.

But the good news is that the breaks all seemed to align pretty well and no pieces of the top were in sawdust or detached.

It was tricky though because you couldn't really do one crack at a time. The pressure on the top would cause it to snap.

So I did 5 breaks the first time, then the remaining ones when I reglued the three braces.

Okay so here is before in Primeta's original picture:

In the next two pics I've aligned the sides and cracks a bit to try to figure out the best way to put it back together.

Looking at the lower bout. Counting in from the edge you can see where the 3rd and 4th cracks run really close together near the wing of the bridge. That's the tricky one. The brace you can see in the soundhole is the one that came loose. It isn't attached to the top where you see it all the way up.

Looking at the upper bout. Notice no brace in the soundhole unlike the other side. That's because you can see it sitting on top. The broken piece of that brace you can see in the first picture.

Clamps out the wazoo, 5 cracks worth. Bungee cord to pull the sides together. The water spots are just that, I wiped up the glue squeeze out with a damp cloth.

Now the cracks have been clamped overnight and I'm gluing the braces back on. This picture is actually of gluing the loose brace. I had on the deep clamps for the brace that had completely come out.

The braces are on now and it seems solid as a rock. No unusual give in the top. I just need to put on the little patches underneath for support and I'll string it up and see how it plays. If it sounds good I'll do the cleanup on top. You can still see the cracks if you tilt the guitar into the light. I don't think I'll bother sanding and refinishing though.

I ended up working on it for two nights and two mornings for about 3 hours total. Maybe not the most cost effective way to get a guitar, but it was nice to save it from the campfire so it can be played around the campfire. Good Mojo I think.