Redwood top failure?

[Woodrow Brackett]

Re attaching the brace with CA might work, but if the top peels that easily it will probably have a problem with another brace, or the bridge soon.


I'm working on a Redwood topped 0000 right now. I glued a piece of spruce on an off cut and ripped it off. It basically destroyed the Redwood and spruce to separate it so I think it will be OK. I'm think I'm going to start doing an experiment like this on all my Redwood (and maybe Cedar) tops before I actually make a top out of them.

[Bob Gramann]

I'm tempted. My worry is that I put a guitar out there with a warranty that I know has a problem. I'll think about it for a while.

[Michael Lewis]

Since you like the sound keep it as a demonstrator. If you finally sell it call it as a used instrument, which by that time it will be. This will give you some time to assess the structural qualities of CA over time.

[Bob Gramann]

Great idea. Thank you. I'll spend the time I would have spent on re-topping on making a replacement guitar.

[Bob Gramann]

On second thought, I remembered why I don't use CA in structural roles. I had a plastic to metal repair with CA that lasted 20 years before it spontaneously fell apart. Then there's all that reading about museum curators shunning the stuff because of longevity issues. Some of them report failures within 10 years. My thoughts now are to do a conventional HHG repair and keep it as a demonstrator as Michael suggests.

[Bob Gramann]

I did the conventional HHG repair after my last post. It is still together and doing well almost 4 weeks later. Life is good.

[Michael Lewis]

Congratulations Bob. By the way, CA doesn't adhere so well to metal as the makers would like you to believe. I have gone through this trying to mount suspended pickups on metal brackets for archtops and had too many failures with CA, so switched to more elastic adhesive.