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Hi Folks;
A young feller brought a near new J-200 into the shop today. It has a deep, sharp puncture wound caused by the top landing on a case latch.
I have a repair plan in mind, but before I start, I would very much appreciate thoughts & suggestions from some repair folks around here.

Here are a couple of (fairly lousy) pics. If you need better, I can post them later.
Any help you can offer will be most gratefully received!





Thanks, in advance. Dan

I'll start.
To what level of perfection is the customer prepared?
First, dampen the immediate wood lightly with water to swell it out, then let it dry.
Re-evaluate.

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Good question, David. I should have mentioned... The owner decided an invisible repair is out of his reach at the moment. What he wants is to get the area stabilized & worry about the re-finishing at a later date.
I was planning to liberate the large chip & then wet the area to get it back into some semblance of the original shape. Once that is done, glue the chip back in & do a spot re-finish, just enough to seal the damaged area.

I don't know that I would remove the chip. Tearing the remaining intact wood fibers may make it more difficult to get it back in and aligned satisfactorily. Before I would moisten anything I would see how well it will close up as is. Those fibers just tore. And if the can be coaxed back together before they become altered or damaged the repair will be as invisible as possible. Use some repair magnets and a handle to grab the chip and see if you can start to work the fibers back together, you may need to use a dental pick or something to help align the fibers as you work the chip back up. You may need to trim away some straggling fibers from inside as well. If it works back into position, wick in some CA, put some reinforcement inside and do whatever you need to to the finish.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Good advice! ^^^^^

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

Really, don't take off the chip, you'll just do more damage.
I think CA would be a nightmare, hot hide glue for me.
I love the magnet idea.

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Thanks for the great input folks. I appreciate you taking the time to share your ideas & expertise.
I messed my back up pretty seriously yesterday, so I'll have some time to think about things before I can bend over a bench again.
Thanks for the advice on overheated hide glue, Todd. I'll give that a try. I was planning to use thinned HHG, if only to make cleanup easier. (I always seem to get at least one drop of glue somewhere I don't want it!)
Cheers. Dan