Official Luthiers Forum!

So I was sitting doing my thing, and my kid brings me a half of my back plate that I'm currently working on. Nothing wrong with that, except that it was thicknesses and glued and cut out to shape before this happened!! now I have barely any room to work with to get a perfect joint again and no room thickness wise. Is this save able?

Can't you just glue it back together the way it came apart? Although I suppose if it split at the seam, maybe your joint wasn't perfect in the first place...

Thickness wise, the masking tape method for gluing plates is good. Puts the show face against the flat bench top, keeps it clean of glue, and you can press down on both sides of the seam to align it.

If it ends up too small or thin, use it on a smaller guitar. Or send it to me

Haha ok Dennis I'll give that a try, and send it to you if it won't work it does line up perfectly if pressed together, and it didn't break exactly at the seam, just sort of all around it. But I think the tape and maybe some pressure will do it. Off to glue!

Yes, gluing it back together with the fresh break is your best joint, as it's perfect, and has a lot more surface area than a jointed surface. It'll be fine...

Don't forget to cover it with a cross-grain strip once the bracing is in. That strip might be a tad thicker than normal as insurance.

Bob

Might think about the tape joining method with hide glue. I think it's in the archives somewhere.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Thanks for all the tips guys. I ended up using the tape method and added some clamp pressure just to be safe. It was kind of tricky since it was cut to shape. I left it overnight and just checked it and it looks as if nothing ever happened! I will definitely be reinforcing with the cross grain strip. I always do, it looks nice and gives me peace of mind

Heres how I solved a similar problem- put your kid up for adoption and crack a beer!