depscribe's photos with the keyword: guitar repair

This picture teaches a lesson: the purpose of a hard case is to protect an instrument; the purpose of a "gig bag" is to keep all the broken pieces in one place.

Larrivee, like many guitar makers, uses a two-part, unstrippable finish. It was difficult to arrive at just the right shade of stain, so I made it very weak and applied many coats, letting it dry fully in between. When the color was right, I applied several light coats of semi-gloss lacquer, with steel wool in between, to blend the finish with the awful original stuff.

I'd dampened the splintered wood and, from inside, pressed it back into place as best I could. Then I made a little patch from mahogany veneer, bigger than the break, and soaked it so that it would bend readily. This was glued in place -- on the inside -- using hide glue (so I could undo it if it didn't work) and held it in place with a five-pound bag of BBs, themselves held in place by powerful rare-earth magnets on the outside of the instrument. I let it sit for a week. Then I sanded it flush.