Garrison Guitar fix

[Chris Vallillo]

I been asked to repair the damage on a Garrison Guitar. It is a solid wood guitar, Rosewood back and sides, Cedar top, that has a crack near the treble side of the neck down to the sound hole. the complicating factor is that this guitar has a composite bracing system inside. That is to say, all the braces are one molded piece, I assume plastic, though I'm not sure.

The issue involves the top breaking away from the braces and splitting and I plan to glue the top back to the brace, then splint the crack with cedar. Several internet sources (Wikipedia, the Washburn Forum) call it injection molded fiberglass. My question is this, has anyone ever worked on one of these things? What type of glue will I need to use in order to have it stick to the composite material? Would #20 or 30 Superglue be the way to go or a more conventional glue such as Titebond?

Thanks!

[JC Whitney]

Google "guitar assembly with no strings attached design news", should lead you to an article by Joseph Ogando. Sounds like they used CA/superglue. Braces are said to be ABS, like "black PVC" plumbing.

[Chris Vallillo]

Thanks! In the meantime I was able to track down someone who had worked at the Garrison Factory. It is indeed an ABS infused with fiberglass. His suggestion was Epoxy although he also said a C/A would also work. I used Stu-Mac slow setting epoxy and it worked like a charm.