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I've got a Chinese Alvarez in for repair. The wood around the factory output jack has cracked and broken (it's the bent luan stuff) and fallen into the instrument. Sorry, no pics, cause I can barely see any of it, It's being done with fingertips on the inside.

I've gotten the cracked area cleaned out and down to non-broken wood, leaves about a 1" hole. Now I'm doing lapaoroscopic surgery with new maple braces gorilla-glued then clamped on either side of the hole to reinforce it. I'm making a custom jack plate out of some fairly thick gauge brass (I will epoxy spray black), and I'm making the executive decision to lengthen the wire by 6-8" so the mounting on the plate can be done from the exterior, replacing the existing jack with a Switchcraft112BPCS (Enclosed stereo plug - it will fit through the hole I had to expand) for the onboard electronics. I'll use the braces to mount the plate with some panhead screws.

Extra wire can be handled through the existing metal wiring retaining clips inside the guitar. I've got Hot Shot in the few finish cracks that will be hidden by the plate to prevent them from spreading, And in fact I've kind of soaked that hole in Hot Shot to really stabilize it. I'm requiring him to obtain a right angle guitar cord for all future use, and I've told the guy that I would smash the guitar for him if he manages to break that jack again.

Am I leaving anything out? Anyone would have done something different?

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http://www.gaspardguitars.com

As far as the attitude, it is for a friend, so he understands my sense of humor. He does know to be careful in the future. He does get a little careless/excited on stage, and he does play with a 7 piece band on small stages. bumping into things a lot, so the right angle plug is a wise investment for him, especially since this is a sentimental favorite. It is mostly used plugged in, so the little extra bracing and brass will not affect the tone. It's got a built in bridge tranducer, which I haven't touched. Electronically, the only thing I'm doing is extending the wire.

He's still getting charged though.

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http://www.gaspardguitars.com

I never disliked repairing acoustics per se, but I did hate working on cheap stuff - especially plywood. It was twice as much work, fraught with frustrations, and I usually cussed the wretched POS the whole time.

Eventually I got to the point that when someone brought in a plywood nightmare, I would quote 60% over my usual fee. That way, I might stand a chance of making a profit if they agreed to the repair.

If they balked at the price, but insisted on having it done - I would make clear that I would do a quick'n'dirty job that might be ugly, but it would work. Some might think that's bad policy - but I had bills to pay without worrying about "my art".

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

It's kind of hard because it is his favorite axe, it was a gift from his daughter, so I don't want to butcher it too bad, but there was no way, with the placement of that plug, and the damage to the wood around it, to just put some kind of cover plate over it and say "here ya go."

Couldn't do that to the guy. So I had to come up with something more permanent, and the maple bracing and brass cover was the only thing I could think of. The side is stained a sorta mahogany, so the black won't stand out much, but it needed a more permanent repair. For a plywood guitar, it does sound OK plugged in, and since that's it's primary use, it was worth the effort, and I just couldn't come up with any other ideas. The bad wood had to go, and it had to be reinforced.

I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed a trick on these little Chinese made suckers. I know Alvarez is a decent brand, and their earlier stuff is of good quality, but Gorilla Glue was the best option I could come up with for the inside of that thing. You could practically pick off layers of the wood on the inside with your fingernail. It's mighty humid down here in Louisiana, so I figured it would seal up any gap in the curve without having to be too critical about matching the internal radius, plus I have a good 3/4" to screw the cover into now. With the extra wire, future work on the electronics wont be quite so much of a beast, and the brass should hold up nicely with the black appliance epoxy spray.

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http://www.gaspardguitars.com