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Well,
I mentioned to my son that I was going to retop the guitar and he was not onboard. Apparently, he is after the Willie Nelson look. (c:
Oh, well. it's easier for me to patch it and just wait for it to fail completely. Maybe it will break on stage, and he wil consider taking better care of his (I mean, my instruments).

Thank you to all who helped,

Devin

You know the damage doesn't look all that bad... are the braces inside intact?

I am thinking you could simply glue the crack back together and support it inside with patches. If the crack is dirty/contaminated then you can simply use a knife to shave out tiny slices of the top wood, then patch it in with small silvers of the same wood.

In fact, you can just follow this instruction, no re-topping necessary!

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Technique/Guitar/Structural/Cracks/LG2TopCrack/lg2topcrack.html

If the inside of the soundboard is covered in stuff, use a rare earth magnet sander to sand it off on the inside! You can find out about that stuff at frets.com as well!

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
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