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Severe Neck Injury http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=32780	Page 1 of 1

Author:	matt jacobs [ Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:25 pm ]
Post subject:	Severe Neck Injury
So, I have a dealer here in Houston who carries my classical guitars. He also has guitars from several other luthiers. One of these is a fantastic luthier named Guillermo Salazar from Costa Rica. He ships guitars to Houston all the time. Recently a few of the guitars shipped from San Jose ( Costa Rica) through DHL have come back with some minor ( but deliberate) finish damage. I get a call from the dealer in Houston telling me about severe damage to the neck. Here is a picture of the fretboard damage, someone took a 3/16" drill and decided to mine for gold. Attachment: Fretboard.jpg The back is even worse Attachment: neck back.jpg So I decided that routing out the fretboard between the 4th and 6th and grafting in a matching piece of ebony would be the best approach Attachment: fretboard rout.jpg Attachment: Fretboard graft.jpg The back was a little bit more of a challange. In order to cover all the holes in the back of the neck I would need a 3/4" wide piece of ebony. I felt that looked a little weird. so I decided on more of a Somogyi approach. I don't have pics of the process of routing the back of the neck, but I made a router fixture which clamped to the neck. then inlaid the Cedar and Ebony Rectangle. Here is the result. Attachment: neck fix.jpg Now I have to refinish it. I'll post some pics of the finished repair when I'm done. Thanks for looking,

Author:	dpm99 [ Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:40 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
NICE work. What a tragedy. Do you think they were looking for drugs?

Author:	matt jacobs [ Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:50 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
I doubt they were looking for drugs. There has been some sort of willful damage to 2 other guitars from the same builder coming form that DHL office, mostly finish damage. So we think it was someone at that office. It's possible customs , or DHL here did it, but I doubt customs would bother to ship a guitar forward after destroying/confiscating it. And DHL here is a good company with a rep to uphold, I don't think they would do this intentionally. But who knows?

Author:	Robbie_McD [ Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:51 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
Holy crap! Nice work Mike! Looks like you will have it better-than-new in no time!

Author:	douglas ingram [ Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:47 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
That's just nasty. Good recovery.

Author:	theguitarwhisperer [ Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:30 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
I'm actually having trouble understanding the "why" behind these actions (the damaging, not the repairs). It boggles my mind.

Author:	Evan Gluck [ Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:06 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
Matt, that is impressive!!!!!!

Author:	WudWerkr [ Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:15 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
If i were guessing....... weill i am ...... I would say that someone onthe other end of this is jealous of our luthier friend and doing dammage and sending them on . It would seem to me that DHL would be getting to the bottom of this since there should be damage claim availability here . All that being said , excellent work in the repair .

Author:	Alex Kleon [ Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:19 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
Mike - You managed to make that guitar look even better than before the damage!! Awesome repair !!! I think that a router bit can be damaged wood's best friend! Alex

Author:	theguitarwhisperer [ Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:32 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
Grudge or no, I still don't get it, or understand why DHL can't prevent it.

Author:	Ed Haney [ Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:31 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
Very nice work Matt.

Author:	Dave Rickard [ Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:36 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
Nice save Matt

Author:	matt jacobs [ Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:46 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
Thanks for the compliments guys. I don't know all the details as far as DHL goes. I know a rep from DHL has looked at the guitar, but I don't know if they have resolevd the situation. As far as why anyone would do what they did is beyond me.

Author:	Jim Watts [ Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:50 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
Nice job Matt! What a sad situation though.

Author:	Steve Kinnaird [ Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:29 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
Matt, that repair is both creative as well as impressive. Me hat's off to ya, mate! (Think I will send my guitars to you for similar redesign work.) Steve

Author:	gozierdt [ Fri Jul 08, 2011 9:58 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
Agree with all above- a fantastic recovery from the damage, and the guitar actually looks better after your work.

Author:	Beth Mayer [ Fri Jul 08, 2011 10:04 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury

Author:	cphanna [ Fri Jul 08, 2011 9:56 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
Matt, what a great save!!! And I think the rectangle on the neck back is a stroke of pure design genius. You really did make it look better. I am amazed and in awe of your skill. Man, I thought I was pretty good at hiding some of my goofs, but your save of a willfully-damaged instrument is just fabulous. As to why people do these things, who can say. Today, my wife caught a woman (a total stranger) snapping off and stealing stems from our hydrangeas in broad daylight. Who knows what worms crawl through the thoughts and minds of vandals, petty thieves, and liars? Not me.

Author:	WudWerkr [ Mon Jul 11, 2011 6:47 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Severe Neck Injury
" THE SHADOW DO ! " Ok so now Ive dated myself

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