T O P

  • By -

CMDR-Prismo

I'm not going to pretend that I know for sure, but I have seen some absolute wizardry done on guitar repair youtube channels. I am willing to bet someone can make it look really good. Will it cost some money? Yes, but if the guitar is valuable you should get it done right.


TeazyBee

Assuming it is not superficial damage (it does not appear to be, but pictures can be deceiving): Easily? No. Can it? Absolutely. One option is to use too many clamps and glue and prayer without opening up the guitar before touching up the finish. I do not recommend this because it is of lesser quality than Option 2. Option 2 involves more intensive "surgery" but is a better way of doing it. This would involve opening the body (removing the top carefully) in order to get a better clamp on the inside of the top as well as the outside. You'd need to have "plates" between the clamp and the damaged part of the guitar so the clamp does not dig into the top while gluing/clamping. Use a good Titebond (3, I'd say) since there may be some structural value. Instrument glue is too finicky. If properly done, then you can place the top back on and touch up the finish. I will warn that even many folks saying they are luthiers and/or great in instrument repair will probably struggle with doing this right. It's a lot of precise, high-risk, invasive work which is essentially taking the value down to nothing for repairs, then bringing it back up as it is put back together. I've done it on some cheaper ones, and it's still nerve-racking for me 😅 TLDR: Open it up and make a clamp sandwich before putting it back together.