Conservative maintenance

[brian hughes]

I've just bought an Eko Ranger 12 string, with damage to the back in two points and a crack in the lacquer on the top, none of which seems to be affecting the playability. I'm looking for pointers on stabilising the damage so that I can get on with playing and enjoying it for the immediate future, without worrying too much about the damage getting worse, or contaminants getting in to cause problems with a future repair. Any suggestions? Anything better than duct tape?

[JC Whitney]

Pictures?

[Michael Lewis]

Ont thing to remember is that you get basically ONE CHANCE at making the best repair. After that the job can grow enormously if you want to "make it right". It is usually far more difficult to repair something that someone has tried to fix. I suggest you do it right or don't attempt the repair yourself.

[brian hughes]

Pictures.... first attempt at cropping down to the 100 kB limit...

backdamage3.jpg (8.46 KiB) Viewed 5981 times

Oh, and the top's warped as well.

Basically, I've got an opportunity to learn repair skills on a low value instrument that's been branded as beyond economical repair by at least one technician. The revised first question is now: can a warped 12-string top be flattened?
Where do I start? More information to follow......