Repair of the old Eko acoustic takes a step …A LITTLE palette-knife with long handle gets the glue in the right spot, using just a few drops of wood glue at a time so it doesn’t run everywhere. If the chocks are glued to the guitar, they could be in there until it receives the next big hit on a solid object.
The bottle set-ups (described in the last post) are placed out of the range of the area to be glued.
You must unscrew the bottle lid and judge the correct pressure/height by "feel" with your hand through the soundhole, if possible.
The Eko has a big soundhole and the split strut is within the vision, making the repair a little easier than it may have been if the damage was deeper in the guitar.
More luck: The back of the guitar is still fixed firmly to the sides, so the strut and the ding appear to be the only damage.
WHILE on back damage: Another clamping system I devised works well on reattaching a guitar back that has split off from the sides.
Take two flexible timber slats each about 1.3-1.5m long. The treated pine that is used on lattice is ideal because it is springy.
Put Slat 1 on the work area (floor or bench) and place the guitar body on it, taking care to position the body where it will need the pressure.
Now, lay the Slat 2 over the guitar back directly above the bottom slat. At this stage you should be able to pull together the ends of Slats 1 and 2 to judge the degree of pressure on the guitar back.
If it is difficult to pull together the slat ends, you may need longer slats.
Simply wrap wire around the slat ends to complete this custom-made guitar body clamp. The bends in Slats 1 and 2 should create arches over the body front and back and put pressure at the guitar sides.
To increase or decrease pressure, simply tighten or loosen the wire at the ends, or use G-clamps to pull the slats closer together.
Once you have it working, take it off, apply glue to the split and you are in business.
Take two flexible timber slats each about 1.3-1.5m long. The treated pine that is used on lattice is ideal because it is springy.
Put Slat 1 on the work area (floor or bench) and place the guitar body on it, taking care to position the body where it will need the pressure.
Now, lay the Slat 2 over the guitar back directly above the bottom slat. At this stage you should be able to pull together the ends of Slats 1 and 2 to judge the degree of pressure on the guitar back.
If it is difficult to pull together the slat ends, you may need longer slats.
Simply wrap wire around the slat ends to complete this custom-made guitar body clamp. The bends in Slats 1 and 2 should create arches over the body front and back and put pressure at the guitar sides.
To increase or decrease pressure, simply tighten or loosen the wire at the ends, or use G-clamps to pull the slats closer together.
Once you have it working, take it off, apply glue to the split and you are in business.
WITH the Eko, I use the lattice-slat technique in conjunction with the vitamin bottles to get the right mix of interior and exterior pressure and fix the strut and the ding.
The guitar then hangs around for another 10 years or so before I get around to replacing the missing nut and string it up for the first time.
It plays well but the thick resin finish appears to hold in a lot of the resonance. Nevertheless, the old Eko, bought for $2, is working again and I am happy.
Next: My failed attempt to give the guitar to a workmate.
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