So this week I had a dreadnought arrive in the workshop with a puncture in the side at the location of an output jack:
The puncture is a little more than 3/4” in size. I’m told the guitar was dropped a few feet onto the jack. There was very little internal reinforcement in the area, and what was there was actually a bit askew from where the factory installed the jack.
The customer asked for a jack plate which could cover the damage. Various steel Les Paul style or oval plates from the parts bin didn’t quite fit the curve of the side, so I decided to make one.
I bent a .060” padauk layer and an .060” camphor layer to the right curve and laminated them cross-grain, like plywood. The result was very rigid. Some shaping, drilling and satin nitro and I had this:
I added .070 internal cross-grain reinforcement around the puncture to stiffen the side, hold a longer screw and help prevent any cracks propagating in future.
Now the jack is mounted firmly to the new plate, which bears against a wide stiff portion of the side, to hopefully handle future torque and impact loads on the jack a bit better.
I’m hopeful this repair will be robust enough and the customer is satisfied with it but I don’t like the look of a big jack plate like this on an acoustic.
My question is - what are some different approaches to fixing punctures like this around a jack? Perhaps which actually aim to repair the damage rather than reinforce and hide the area. I’d like to knock a few holes in my workshop test mule and practice some more aesthetically pleasing techniques for future use.