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I have a sapele side that cracked while bending. I can close up the crack by bending back in the opposite direction. I'm wondering what would be the best repair. There's a bit more springback in the side than I would like, so I'm going to run it through the bender again. Should I close up the crack and flood it with CA and then bend, or should I bend and then do the old sandpaper CA trick to hide the crack. Any suggestions?

If it were me, I would close it up and CA, then rebend. But it may open up again from the heat. Maybe try overbending, then close up the gap and CA. This way when you close it up, it will be about the right curve. That is a pretty small crack, and would probably fill just fine, but you will see it if you do it the way it is now. I've had sides that were much more cracked than that, and you can't find the crack. But it was on a flamed side and hidden in the flame. In this case, the break has no where to hide, so I'd try to close it up as much as possible. Good luck!

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

A couple of random thoughts -

Sapele is pretty easy to bend. What was the temperature when bending, thickness and did you go slow with the bending?

If you glue it back, there will be a evidence of the repair. If that bothers you, you might want to replace the side(s) or have it finished dark to hide the repair.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

I've had this happen before - you will see the repair of fractures across the grain, although you will probably be the only one that will really notice. If this is for someone else, I would scrap it. If it is for yourself and it doesn't bother you, CA it and carry on. It will be stable

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John Ressler

Have you bent the other side yet? Maybe you could flatten it back out and then bend both sides the opposite direction, so the crack is on the inside

Thanks for all of the replies. I think I'll just CA and rebend. And the other side is already - no issues whatsoever bending that one so I don't think it was time and temp. Just an ornery side I guess. That happens.

Wel, you know that Sapele is pretty cheap..and pretty easy to match too. If it were me, I'd just bend a new side. The fracture will always be there, albeit held together by CA. I don't think it warrants saving. just my opinion. Make sure you're bending thin enough. .080 in. or even slightly thinner. If the board came from the mill with the fracture in it..it would be downgraded in price. I bought a plank of Spanish cedar recently, and the supplier found some cross grain fractures in the first 5 feet of the board. He reduced the price by sizing the board feet of the board minus the entire 5 foot section with the fracture. ...

I have been bending everything lately fast, and hot ... 2 minutes full blast on the blanket (550watter) then 3 minutes to bend ... no fractures.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Another one for fast and hot. Sapele will crack and spring back like crazy if there is too much runout. Cross grain breaks will always be visible, even with CA. Agreed with the comment that sapele is cheap and another set of sides should be selected.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Building a guitar is too much work to warrant using a damaged part. Getting another side or side set of sapele isn't that expensive. That's what I would do.