Customer dropped his guitar!

[@justinbreeden7922]

Finally a repair video that is done correctly. First youtube video ever i can recommend.

[@RahulSharma_JaiMataDi]

Excellent repair work Bryan .....

[@JohnMessina1937]

Fantastic repair video, and great mojo added with those cracks. To me, it’s a beautiful thing! 👍🏻

[@RobertsRoger-q6h]

Love watching & listening to you on the fly map out the steps in the process, why this and not that, etc. as well as the pearls of wisdom thrown in from your years of experience. Go Pro shots from inside the guitar pretty cool too.

[@Bryankimsey]

Thanks!!! That's what I tried to do here instead of just showing all the successful steps. :)

[@mark107nyc]

Excellent as always!

[@ldean-du5im]

Great repair! Good video! Thank you sir!

[@thefreese1]

I have dampened a crack with warm water and then the and used titebond and milked the wood and it flowed into neck crack just fine ... that was 8 years ago and it's holding great..on a mandolin ..and purposely strung it up with heavy strings to male sure it would hold ...I did that once on a crack on thst mandolin neck and once on a top ... it does give you a lot more time to work with... A lot of stress on a mandolin neck.. That said .. fish glue works great too.. only problem I've had with it is it doesn't like to stick to pvc binding all that well ... Great repair.. liked the way you got the crack to come together... next time I need a jack where I can't reach I'm buying a stewmac ..

[@Bryankimsey]

One of the reasons I went with fish/hide glue on the top, is because you can make it soak into the wood. Then, when humidity expansion occurs, you don't have a glue "wedge" in that crack. Titebond type glues are going to always have a thin glue line and can create a wedge effect. If you ever do use Titebond on a crack, take a look at Titebond III. It's flexible, dries dark (looks like a grain line), thin, and fills gaps a little bit. My mandolin top split 8 years ago and I used TB III with a super thin full-length cleat inside (and fixed the problem that caused the split). It's an invisible repair.

[@kinnjohn]

Great work!

[@rosewoodsteel6656]

Nice job! -Looks like you're back in the saddle again. :)

[@Bryankimsey]

No... I only took this guitar because it was a long-time friend/customer and it was hand delivered to me. He asked me a month ago and I turned it down but the guy he took it do didn't want to tackle it. So I had mercy. Figured it might make a good video too. :)

[@rosewoodsteel6656]

@@Bryankimsey It was a great video! I hope I never have an accident like that with any of my guitars. :)

[@gfurstnsu]

The guitar looks like a Martin HD-28. You did a beautiful job on the guitar crack. Why is it that luthiers do not like to fix cracks like this? It is a common problem and must be dealt with. I’m admiring your work here on a snowy day in Daejeon, South Korea. I had a guitar just like this and gave it to my nephew and he loves it and plays it every day.

[@Bryankimsey]

I don't like to fix cracks because my specialty and the place where I'm really in demand is overhauling 70's D's. I'd rather be using my limited time there instead of doing a mundane crack repair.

[@glenrimondi73]

What is the shelf life of the fish glue, I bought some from Stu Mac, a year or so ago, in the red plastic bottle, thanks Bryan, your a talented guy

[@Bryankimsey]

I'm really not sure! I've never seen obvious signs of going bad. I've seen bottled hide glue- I use it on frets sometimes- get super thick but none of the fish glue has ever done that. From Stew Mac "If refrigerated, Fish Glue has a virtually indefinite shelf life. The cold prevents bacteria from forming, but also causes the glue to thicken. It needs to sit at room temperature for about an hour to return to normal viscosity."

[@LegsON]

Why doesn't hide glue fill gaps? Isn't it rather thin and leaky? I heard from a bunch of luthiers that it shrinks and pulls the glued surfaces together really well.

[@Bryankimsey]

It demands a perfect wood to wood fit. It pulls perfect fits together but if there's anything short of a perfect fit it's not going to work. Plus, there's the whole temperature thing... Hot hide glue has to be warm, the wood has to be warm, and the room has to be warm in order to keep both the glue and the wood warm. It is 62° in my shop and it needs to be about 80 or 85° in there. Martin used to have a special warm room for gluing.

[@billdedrick1914]

Great job Bryan, Is that an HD28? What year is it? You don't see a need to install any cleats on the inside across the repaired cracks?

[@Bryankimsey]

Not right away I don't. I'm not a big fan of cleats and if I don't need them then I'm not going to use them. If I think it needs them before I send it home then I will add some extremely thin cleats in there but I don't just automatically jump to adding cleats, no. It's an HD-28. I didn't look to see what year. Doesn't matter to me...it's post-95 because it used to have tall back braces before I knocked the rear two down.

[@sixgunslingin]

Every guitar players worst nightmare ever

[@Bryankimsey]

Didn't break the sides, though!!!

[@sixgunslingin]

@Bryankimsey our Lord is merciful

[@markfogleman8438]

Cleats?

[@Bryankimsey]

Not unless it needs them. I'm not a big fan of willy nilly cleats. The word didn't pull apart because of lack of humidity and once it's glued back together it shouldn't pull apart anymore than the top seam would pull apart. And the top seam is not typically cleated.

[@billlamb1745]

I want that Merle Haggard shirt dude. Where'd you find that?

[@Bryankimsey]

I ordered it, a Muddy Waters, and that white telecaster shirt that I've worn before. I don't remember where but if I remember or find out I'll let you know. I wanted shirts that didn't tell you who the person was and that way if you know, you know.

[@billlamb1745]

@Bryankimsey i know. That's what made it cool.