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Broken Top Plate...Still Usable?
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=33942		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  PoppaWoodie [ Wed Oct 19, 2011 1:53 am ]
Post subject:  Broken Top Plate...Still Usable?
Perhaps an early entrant for the next "Doofus of the month" contest? :D

I'm thinning a really nice cedar top for my first guitar today. Grabbed one of the plates to flex it, and the whole thing splits down the length, right in half. Just my luck, of course. [headinwall] laughing6-hehe

Would it be possible to glue the plate back together and use it, or am I better off just chalking it up as a loss and getting another top? I'm tempted to try using it, but I'm not sure how the extra glue joint right down the centre of one of the plates would effect the vibration of the top once the thing is strung up and ready to play.

I guess worst case scenario is that I'll glue it back together and use it to practice making rosettes on. Still sucks, though. :P
Author:  DennisK [ Wed Oct 19, 2011 3:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken Top Plate...Still Usable?
Glue it.

If the split is right near the center, and you haven't cut it too close to final shape or installed the rosette, you could cut away the original glue line and re-joint it. But if you get a split lined up precisely, it should be invisible anyway. I've never heard of 3 and 4 piece tops having a bad effect on sound. And on a first guitar, there will probably be worse blunders down the road :)

I'm on #3, and my entry into Doofus of the Month is one of the most common places for blunders... fingerboard side dots. And knowing good and well that fact, I thought long and hard and checked repeatedly before drilling them. But I forgot that I hadn't radiused the fingerboard yet, and that doing so would reduce the binding height. Yep, I centered them for the full height binding, and radiusing will cut into the tops of the dots. I'd just call it a spontaneous feature if the dots were more precisely centered vertically, but as it is, some of them will wrap around the binding a bit, and some will only be visible from the side, and it will look horrible. I haven't decided what to do about it yet.
Author:  PoppaWoodie [ Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken Top Plate...Still Usable?
Todd Stock wrote:
The plate is the joined top, so what I think you are saying is that you flexed and broke one of the halves of the top near the center of that piece. Cedar is brittle, and can split readily. You might have found a weak grain line that would have ended up splitting anyway, or you were just a little to vigorous with the wood...hard to say.

Sure - glue the half back together, then join the top and thickness down to .125 or whatever your final will be... take a look at the top under some naphtha and see if the repair will be too obvious. Always an option to burst or lacquer the top black - either works for ugly wood or as a way to hide mistakes.

Right. Apologies for my linguistic error. Haha.

One of the halves was about 20% thinner than the other one, so what I was going to do was thin each side of the top down to about .150", then join them and thickness to the final measurements.

It felt like I barely applied any pressure at all, but it was probably more my fault than the wood's. :lol:

I think I will take your advice and glue it back up. Hopefully the repair won't be too noticeable, but it's good to know that even if it is, it's still not totally a lost cause.

Thanks, guys! [:Y:]
Author:  nkwak [ Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:15 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken Top Plate...Still Usable?
I'm only on my first but I had the same thing happen with my WRC top right after joining it and the break was clean enough to just glue it back together.
Author:  jfmckenna [ Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Broken Top Plate...Still Usable?
Dang you guys be careful flexing those plates :)
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