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Hello all,

Hopefully the wealth of knowledge here can save my rear end again. I installed the end piece on my first guitar today. I kept it very simple with a maple piece with some ebony pufling. It cut and went in easier than I thought it would. I glued it using CA and it glued solid (just how we want it), everything for once went off without a hitch. I hung it up in my shed for it to dry like I would normally for little jobs and went out for the evening. When I got in I thought I would go check on a job well done, only to find it had fallen off the hanger and fell onto the corner of a cupboard door taking a small but very noticeable chunk out of the side of the guitar and made some pretty small bad scuffs.

I can't find the piece it took out anywhere so I can't just glue it back in. I know these sort of things can be fixed, but I don't really know how to go about it. The photo is a quick shot taken on my iPhone but is hopefully enough for a rough idea of a fix. I suspect the scuffs will be sanded out with my final sanding, but the chunk is too deep to be sanded out. If it can be filled in with saw dust, what is the best way to go about this?

I haven't really sanded or scraped the end piece out much except a quick few strokes with a block plane to take down the main mass, but the scuffs are on the left side and the main damage is on the right side.

If this were mine, I'd consider putting in a bigger (a lot) tail wedge. The side wood looks pretty 'busted up' in that area.
I'd also use regular Titebond-type PVA glue for a job like that, or fish glue. (I use LeeValley 2002 mostly, not Titebond.)
CA tends to just wick along flaws and grain lines and get in a lot of places it is not wanted in a situation like that one, in my experience.

I've never had much luck 'hiding' damage. I'm more of a 'cut it out' guy.

Bad luck! ...but we've (mostly) all been there, done similar!
Cheers
John

Hard to tell what is going on in the picture. I see tear out in the maple end wedge, some dark areas of glue ? a chunk out with glue in it. Hard to tell what happened when it fell and what as there before. You can steam out any dents with a clothes iron and a damp to wet rag. Just bunch up the rag on the dent and hit it with the iron. Let dry and do a bit of clean up to see what you have to deal with. If you need to make a bigger wedge how about a piece of your side from your cut offs made into a wedge with small purflings on either side. I think that would look better than a bigger wedge of what you have.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

yeah, I'm with John.

triple the width of the wedge.

glue it and the purfling with wood glue rather than CA

all your troubles will go away........

well, it wont cure athelete's foot, but you know what I mean!

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

Agreed with the above - redo the wedge much wider.

But I have another observation - where's your tail block gone? I guess there's no hard and fast rule that says you HAVE to have one.... just wondering.....

Cheer

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Athlete's foot can be licked.

John's suggestion, a new - wider - wedge is the way to go.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I've also seen some inlay work that goes perpendicular to the end wedge (or same grain direction as the sides) that seems to grow out of the end pin. They look great. No matter what I would not go for a dutchman. You will see it too much.

Thanks for the reply everyone. You hve confirmed what I thought I may have to do and make a bigger wedge. I was thinking if I cut about 5mm or so either side of the black purfling it will remove the damaged section. Any creative ideas to go in place or am I better off removing the whole lot and trying something else? I feel 5mm more of black purfling is too much.

Thanks.

Definitely start fresh and rout or cut out the whole section- don't try to 'save' the existing wedge.
I'd second the suggestion to try something lower-contrast if you are going with a bigger wedge - do you have an offcut from the side that you could use, or a spare headstock overlay?
It really depends on the contents of your wood box, but there are lots of options out there. Surf around and check out end wedge examples for ideas. Generally you can't go too far wrong by heading in the 'subtle' direction instead of the 'dramatic', unless you are very sure of your design sense and ability to make flawless joints. I generally don't want to invite very close examination of the fine details unless I'm pretty sure that the work will be clean.
(I read here that everybody else will be wearing those magnifier headsets with LED headlights when they look at my work- scary!!! )

Cheers
John

I have a off cut of the sides left which may just about do the job. I will probably cut it into a proper wedge shape and then use a little purfling to define it. I will give it a go tonight and update when I am done.

Thanks all •tips hat•

Yes, certainly make a wider end wedge, but if you do make it a discreet one, I often use a wider wedge using bookmatched sections of cut off sides or back so that it is the grain that adds the contrast rather than the colour, I just use a thin purfling to frame it. Here is a couple of example in English Walnut and Cuban mahogany.





Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Very nice (and restrained) look to those guitars and wedges, Colin!
Bookmatching the end wedge is a nice touch.
Note to the less-skilled of us: Each time you add another 'center line' (like that bookmatched end wedge, or a bookmatched headstock overlay (aka headplate)) to the guitar, you make it more important to get everything aligned 'just right', so there is a risk there.
No problem for Colin, but for the rest of us....

Cheers,
John