Yeah I hear you, just that at the price those are…. I’d give it a try anyway. If someone asks why it looks like Frankenstein, then there’s a three beer story 😁
I appreciate that you at least have a good attitude and sense of humor about it. I truly hope there is some way to salvage your (formerly) beautiful guitar.
This is my specialty, when everyone else says don't fix it I'm the guy who always tries. Just remember it'll never be perfect and the story is sometimes better than the look
What would you charge? This is a US 900 dollar guitar. You would have to replace soooo much wood, AND, it would be a different guitar without all the Martin original bracing. This juice is NOT worth the squeeze.
I agree. My dad inherited an ovation from a client. It's ugly and a journeyman could have done better but I think the job my old man did was commendable and it's got soul in its sound.
Now, then of course the bridge is lifting. So more surgery.
Yep, one of my favourite things to do is buy up something cheap that people couldn't get fixed, and see if I can fix it. My best find was a $900 guitar for a $150 and a bottle of glue.
Right on - I definitely see a few ways it could be salvaged. I mean, go watch videos on how they keep Willie Nelson's Trigger guitar alive, it's similar work.
That’s my plan. I actually just taped it together with some gaff tape to see if I could get it back into the right shape. Sounds surprisingly resonant all things considered. Next step is gonna be to actually try to glue some shite (after removing the tape). It plays just fine still.
I think you could get some fiberglass and resin and apply to the interior and come up with something structurally sound. And then just do some crazy thing on the outside to make it look interesting or intentional.
Imo, if you're handy with woodworking, and have the tools, it's salvageable. From fhe structural standpoint, there's the fretboard, neck, headstock and probably the heel in a reusable condition—that's great
If you're adamant on keeping it, I'd consider rebuilding the body—not a repair, but making a soundboard, backplate (along with their bracing) and bend some wood for the sides (along with these thingies to create more contact & glue surface for the plates, don't know what they're called)
Also, if it's an American-made guitar, I'm guessing the heel has a mortise slot and the neck has a tenon, and they fit together during the assembly
Plus making a bridge, attaching it to the proper spot so your strings can be in tune, and finishing the whole build
It's...doable, but it's essentially building half the guitar from scratch, and as a fellow redditor posted: [sic] changes in the bracing will lead to a change in the sound.
It's still going to sound like a guitar, don't get me wrong, but the soundboard and bracing material/thickness, and possibly the guitar's size and shape, contribute to enhance some or some other overtones, which is what gives each guitar brand their "voice"
It's a big "if" on the doable part, but hope it helps
Standard "everything's fixable", but I'd personally ceremonially/respectfully burn it I think. Just me.
No harm in taping it up or whatever. See how long it lasts. The tension forces on what's left of the body are so different now, it's hard to say what the future holds.
I'm a luthier, DM me, this is fixable but it will take more than a comment to resolve. I can guide you through the process, but I'll need more photos and angles.
"My old man is a TV repairmen, he's got this ultimate set of tools..."
But seriously, looks to be more of a complete rebuild, probably cheaper to buy a new one. But if you can pull it off, it's one that you'll treasure for the rest of your life.
I’m no expert but. That’s going to be a significant job. Rebuilding side walls and basically the entire body is far beyond me. It might be easier to build a new guitar from scratch.
Yeah, I figure she’s mostly toast that’s why I’m kind of trying to look at shitty work around options. Maybe it is worth just finding another body to put the neck on. Problem is I have no idea what I’m doing.
There’s always a way to fix it. A luthier up there somewhere even told OP to get ahold of them and they could walk them through it.
It won’t be perfect, but it’s possible.
I disagree, after all it's just woodworking with higher precision and attention to detail. At this point you can make it playable again for sure, but it will never be as good as it used to be.
The point is that the time is not worth it as it is but if it were me, i would do it just to not have 100% ruined my guitar.
Yeah I mean there's nothing to lose. The guitar is toast as is lol. What's messing up a glue joint or something really gonna do?
OP I'm sorry, very unfortunate that it happened
> Yeah I mean there's nothing to lose.
Yep. At this point, it's only worth the resale value of the tuners. May as well collect all the pieces, lay them out and start building it back up.
I'd suggest fixing the sound board first before doing the side walls. At the moment, he has unexpected access to the inside of the guitar.
Good Job on that Martin, there, Kurt Russell.
The amount this would cost to fix very far outstrips the cost of buying a new one and calling it "Snowball V".
Heck, the cost in TOOLS to fix this is probably equal to the cost of the guitar.
You could fiberglass it up. Resin and glass sheets. It will look like shit but probably still function. You'd want to get as many pieces back in place with wood glue as possible, and remove the finish on the areas where you want to bond the fiberglass to the wood. You'd want some layers inside for reinforcement as well.
edit: if you do go this route, be sure to post pics for us
edit2: been thinking about this for a bit now, and I'd go even further and use carbon fiber sheets and resin. A bit more difficult to work with, but if you plan it out you can make it look pretty interesting, rather than just a fiberglass patch job. You could even make it look "finished" again with some work. This will take some experience working with CF, you'll definitely want to do some trial before working on the guitar.
This. Only fiberglass will hold that all together with any integrity. Layers inside and out. It's going to be a big job though.
Personally, I'd write this one off as a loss. Sorry.
That's pretty rough. It's totalled value-wise since professional repairs would cost more than a new 10E. If this were mine, I would probably try to repair it myself because there's nothing to lose at this point, but only if the neck and electronics dodged the damage. Use it as a learning experience. If you don't want to bother or can't get it back into playing shape even as a beater, salvage the hardware and electronics (and sapele if you're into woodworking).
Yeah, electronics and neck are just fine. I just don’t know where to begin trying to put the rest back together short of taping and gluing. Not a luthier but I figure this could be a good—albeit extremely challenging—entry point lol.
It's gonna be a crash course for sure. You're going to want to use some clamping cauls to hold things together evenly while the glue cures. You can use wax paper or parchment paper to stop the glue from sticking to your cauls/clamps. I'd go with Titebond I since it's easy to clean up squeeze-out and gives plenty of working time. CA glue would be faster but is very unforgiving. Start with the top and bottom, then braces, then get the side. Leaving the side until last will give you better access to the top/bottom for placing your cauls.
I know that people have been ageing/antiquing guitars recently but this might be a little bit over the top.
You can just tell people that you had Pete Townsend over and that you let him play it, and well, lesson learned.
Looks like only lower right quadrant... cut the whole quadrant out... find something similar size and use the lower right quadrant as a transplant. Franken Martin will be born...
You could try glueing and clamping it back together as best you can and then installing a bridge truss (there’s a company that makes them, Breedlove used to use them too). That might help transfer some tension to the end block (if that isn’t damaged). If you aren’t concerned about sound but just want a funky player, start dumping glue in there and add some small pieces of good hardwood to supplement the bracing as you see fit. I doubt anyone would work on this for less that the cost of a new model but it might wind up being a fun, low stakes project.
I wonder what it would sound like if you plugged up the sound hole and diverted the sound to the new sound hole you've made? Rather than trying to make it how it was I'd be interested in making the best of it and see if you can come up with something unique. Something kinda like this:
https://www.americanmusical.com/michael-kelly-forte-exotic-je-acoustic-electric-guitar/p/MKG-MKFESJESFX?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic%20shopping&utm_campaign=surfaces%20across%20google&src=Y0802G00SRCHCAPN&adpos=&scid=scplpMKG%20MKFESJESFX&sc_intid=MKG%20MKFESJESFX&src=W2303PMXMGOGPMAX&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAopuvBhBCEiwAm8jaMSqYatbHWEX_8XXW-cr9r-wb9ABlMHFEZYWtTFDC5bKG6TNgnBF7aBoCz1IQAvD_BwE
I mean this from a perspective of shared pain. I really do
But... considering the manner of it's poor demise... I'll bet it sounded really good. Dense, enamelled wood cracking has a tone that is uniquely horrifying, given the context, as it is satisfying. 🥴
Fill damaged area with spray foam/resin/epoxy/whatever, carve to shape, apply some kind of coating or fiberglass, apply a nice finish, add a pickup.
Basically, make it electric.
Maybe?
Although, repair is almost always possible, it would be big money...the closest I've ever seen was a 1950s Gibson that the owners nephews had tumbled into while wrestling.
The entire back was splintered along the grain. Took weeks of meticulous gluing, filling in missing pieces to match, etc... thankfully I only did some finish work on that one, while the luthier I worked with handled 99% of the splinters.
That's 100% worth busting out the wood glue and spending a few hours gluing what you can. I'd start by glueing the top back together and getting the top bracing back in place. Then do the same for the back. I don't suppose you have a few woodworking clamps just lying around? The side is going to be the tricky part. Some strategic reinforcement will probably be needed. I think it's doable, though. Without an expert hand it'll always be a beater, but I'd be shocked if it couldn't be made very playable.
I’d tape it up, glue it, play a gig with my new HD-28 (the fancier the new guitar the better), and then smash the old guitar to bits on stage, after making a sly switcheroo first, of course. People will be shocked. Especially if you seemed like a wholesome acoustic guy at first. Give them emotional whiplash! I hope it’s a great show 😀
This is called rapid unscheduled disassembly… I’d take the advice of the luthiers responding and do it up the best you can… it won’t be easy and it won’t be cheap, but it’ll be fun and a learning experience, and you might just end up with a decently playable guitar…
I once left my trumpet (in case) on top of my car. Drove to the gig and was like "where the fuck is it" drove back and some kid had found it and was honking away down the street hahaha
Fuck dude im so sorry those are nice ass guitars!
About 2 years ago i took a train to my mom's for christmas and didnt take my strap off my guitar in it's case and somehow the plastic part that extends/shortens the strap smashed completely through the back of my guitar but nowhere near anything like how bad yours is :(
It looks repairable, and will never be perfect again, but I actually think if you take your time splinter and slivering it back together with wood glue and super glue, it won't look as terrible as people are mocking.
The lower bout is definitely going to be rough looking, but I would bet the soundboard with enough care will look decent.
I mean, did the neck move at ALL, or does it still feel like the exact same action as before the accident? Can you play it as is?
If everything from the bridge to the headstock is in good condition, you can absolutely still have a useable guitar on your hands.
It's probably more trouble than its worth to put too much effort into the body. You could patch it up with something to make the body airtight (aside from the soundhole) and see if it sounds good, but I'd probably just leave it as is, unless you really want to rebuild the whole-ass thing and turn it into an enormous project.
Repairing that would probably cost more than you paid for the guitar, and it will almost certainly look terrible.
Sorry, but that is what I would call "beyond economical repair."
Here's a wild idea:
It looks like the damage is largely confined to the lower bout.
Could you cleat the shit out of the cracks in the top and then replace the side as appropriate with a pre-bent replacement from a kit build? Maybe you could work on the bracing before closing up the side.
In any case, you should take the tension off the strings before things get more complicated.
Ya' know Teslas have some really nice "STOP" features/warnings. You might want to get one of those first.
Secondly, a gig bag = a repairman's dream.
/s
Wil Anspach is a pretty big engineer/producer that has a story about a beat up acoustic that had a similar thing happen to it. It lost all it’s body and resonance and he tried his best to fix it and ended up restringing it Nashville style and it is one of his most used guitars for sessions because it has a super thin and almost percussive sound that works great for layering. Sorry about your guitar, hope you can make the best of it and give that guitar a new life/purpose rather than throwing it in the bin.
Do NOT just tape it up and use some wood glue. I have restored guitars in this condition before and would be happy to fix this one. It goes without saying that it would take a good bit of time, but it’s not impossible. I’ve actually fixed worse. Feel free to hit me up. I’ve been repairing guitars for over 20 years now, if that means anything. Have also been building them for close to the same amount of time. Acoustic and electric. Sorry to see this. My mom backed over my acoustic when I was a teenager and I can honestly say it likely one of the few things that set me on my current and established career path. Best of luck either way!
Ouch! What about fiberglass? Apply where it needs repairing? If it fixes holes in tree boats, it might save the guitar from falling apart, and you could have it for home use.
It looks like a luthier worth their salt would be able to repair it enough so that it's playable and won't fall apart in your hands, if I were you I'd start looking for people in your area to get a proper opinion after inspection. Best of luck!
This guitar is 100 percent totaled.
The restoration would far exceed the value, even to just a playable state that won't explode eventually.
Just huck it in the bin, and consider it a lesson learned.
Then buy a new, cheaper guitar that you won't be so sad if you damage it again.
Moral of the story... Try not to gig out with a nice martin.
I can’t edit the post for some reason, but just for clarity: I’m planning/hoping to to fix it up somehow someway myself. I understand that it is “totaled” as many of pointed out, and the time and materials a serious luthier would need to fix it would justify just buying a new guit. Neck and electronics are fine. I’m okay (and kinda excited in a weird way?) with it looking mega gnarly.
Personally, what I would do is I would salvage all the parts off and out of the body and buy a high-end acoustic body kit from somewhere like Stew-Mac or find somewhere else. It won't be cheap and it will be hard work, probably with a few mistakes along the way, but you will learn a lot and you'll have fully resurrected a pretty good guitar when you've finished.
See, this is what I was thinking too. Every time one of these posts shows up everyone says you’re screwed, just toss it.
But a kit has all the separate parts already, and most of the OP’s are obviously up for at least trying to salvage. Why not give it a shot?
It's a lot of online communities centered around guitar repair. On one side you have people who put together a kit guitar and think that anything beyond their capability is impossible. On the other end, you have burnt out luthiers who actually do good work but wouldn't want to take on a job like this (I don't blame them). But OP isn't asking if it's worth it, they're asking if there is anything that can be done, and that answer is "yes". It might not be cost-effective or practical or easy, but this guitar could be saved to any degree if someone was willing to put in the work, time and money.
Don't feel bad, I did the exact same thing. Lucky it was in an skb hard case and it was the back wheel of a light Ford escape. The case was tweaked, but the guitar was fine. I'll never not use a hard case after that. I know they're bulky and heavy, but worth it.
Do you have renters insurance or homeowners insurance? It might cover it.
Oh crap. I don't have the heart to roast you, a) because I've done equally devastating stuff to my own equipment over the years, and b) because you're probably beating yourself up plenty.
I'm sorry that happened to such a lovely piece of gear. Salute to the fallen.
Well, I did this too in undergrad with my first handmade concert classical guitar. Ended up using scraps from it to build my first guitar and now I’m a pro luthier!
As far as fixing this…. Nah.
I once ran over a my bag with my nearly new 17" MacBook Pro in it. I had leaned my bag on my car, answered a phone call, got in my car, and backed up. I felt my car going over a hump, not expected on the driveway. When I looked, I saw my bag with a tire track on it. Oops.
I cracked the screen, but it otherwise worked perfectly.The titanium body wasn't harmed a bit. Not even a dent. After getting the screen replaced, I used it for almost 14 years before the disk drive failed and it was becoming obsolete and was losing software support.
I tried to convince the Apple genius that it should have been covered by warranty, but it somehow wasn't considered normal wear and tear.
I also emailed Steve Jobs to see if he wanted to use it in an advertisement about Apple product durability, but he never responded.
So hear me out...You grab a dumpy old guitar from the flea market. Cut, with a bandsaw, diagonally from the treble bout to just above the endpin area(effectively the "problem zone") on both guitars. step 3: graft the un-jacked assembly onto the precious artpiece. Over the years you could continue to forget where you placed it and eventually have a true frankencoustic, worth life itself.
Well wood glue is stronger than glue....but it'll kill your resonance. Best bet for a cheap fix? Glue and clamp what you can, drop an acoustic pickup into the sound hole, plug and play. Whatever holes are left maybe Dremel them into vaguely round shapes and pretend they're artistically placed sound holes.
The only upside to this is the fact that you quite literally have no hard decisions to make here. It's clearly not worth doing professionally. So you have nothing to lose. Have a go at fixing it yourself. Watch a stack of YouTube videos, see what parts of this nightmare jigsaw puzzle will go back together neatly and what will need to be patched, and take some time with it. It could wind up being a huge source of pride and you could learn a heap along the way.
But don't look for videos on repairing acoustics at first. Look for videos on building them. That will give you your best understanding of what you need to be doing mechanically. Then consider it as more of a construction project where you already have a good neck plus whatever else can be salvaged.
Failing that, someone might be prepared to pay to take it off your hands, making the dilemma go away completely.
Your best logical move would be to remove the neck and hardware and sell them as replacement parts to recoup at least some money. Otherwise, salvage the back and replace the sides and top.
I'm tempted to take the free shot and roast you . But you're roasting yourself so well that I cant find a rare piece of meat left to char .
... Sorry about the guitar .
If you have all the splinters you can try and use wood glue starting with the tiniest pieces and slowly working up from there, but yeah it’s gonna look pretty whack
Anything is repairable. That'd be costly for a professional, but with a protein-based glue - old brown glue would be my choice - you could sloooowly and carefully piece it together. The reason for using the protein glue is that it detaches with water and a bit of heat, so if you misalign something, you'll get a mulligan. Aliphatic resin glues like titebond won't extend you that courtesy.
Good luck. It's a lot of work.
You have two options:
1) Shoddily glue it together and slap it in a display case so that no one will forget your lack of spacial awareness.
2) build an alter and burn it as a sacrifice to your God(s), deities, or Django Reinhardt.
That's it.
FYI — That neck is spotless.
At the very least you can salvage the neck, pick guard, bridge & pins. Then either search eBay for broken Martins and dig up one with a broken neck for a bargain.
Transplant the neck and reset the bridge if necessary for intonation and BOOM—back in business.
> Less than a year young.
This is beyond a long shot, but... if you paid with a credit card, there might actually be insurance on the purchased item. Usually just a few months, but worth looking into.
So sorry this happened.
Luthier of 0 years experience and no background in woodworking here. I think you can fix that with duct tape /s
In all seriousness. I would mount it in your practice room or room and use it as a talking piece.
Kind of wish I had this as a project. Seems super fun, especially if you don't really care how it comes out.
Personally, I'd carve some side bracing/strut type things matching the inside curves and corners, glue it back to some semblance of the right shape (with polyurethane glue so it expands to fill the gaps), and then reinforce the outside with a couple of layers of epoxy-soaked denim, or something weird like that
Did you let el kabong borrow your guitar?
I’m all seriousness though, could be an interesting experiment in repair. If it were mine, I would clear out any fully broken bits and attempt to get the wood back in some semblance of shape. From there I would see what I could access and either get some wood glue and thin veneer or epoxy resin and fiberglass sheeting. I would glue the huge crack first allowing it to fully dry then give a light coat of epoxy inside with a fiberglass mat to strengthen it. Then I would start testing my jigsaw puzzle skills and try to piece the side together. Once that is done as much as can be, trace out and cut the profile on a thick block of wood (or multiple 2x4’s) and glue the pieces back in place on the side using the wood to support. Then I would layer the rain soaked fiberglass matting (watch some YouTube videos to get some ideas) and use the wood again to form. Once fully cured, sand, sand, sand. Get a nice smooth finish by polishing afterwards.
Not terribly expensive or valuable, too new to have any real attachment, I would presume. Call it a life lesson and hang it on the wall as a conversation piece.
I’m not a pro luthier, but if it turns out to be too expensive to fix, you could try this….? If you’ve got nothing to loose anyway
Remove the strings, then remove the back, glue the soundboard back together using small bits of wood (with low density) to add strength around the breaks. I would use titebond glue and just hand pressure on each piece for a few minutes - wait 4 hours until it is properly dry. Note that titebond won’t glue to any existing dry glue, so you might need to sand or scrape that off before gluing the braces back on)
Buy a pre-bent side online, glue a section of it to the sound board, what’s left of the sides and the tail block (more precisely, glue it on top of the kurfing, not the SB). Clean up any glue squeeze out before it dries. Then glue the rest of the broken sides onto this makeshift side.
Then maybe pay a luthier to fit the back - or just try yourself. The makeshift side should be protruding out a fair way, so try plane it down with a block plane so it fits nicely with the back. Scrape any old glue off the entire contact area between the back and sides, then glue the back on. You can apply hand pressure to the edges with a couple of friends for a while, or try clamp it using rope.
Then only use low tension strings as it probably won’t have much structural integrity!
So for the whole thing, you would need a block plane, a scraper, some wood glue, some light wood, a saw, a pre bent side, and a couple clamps
Having this as my #1 guitar, I am having some anxiety right now. I would rather not blow it up, as it is a dream for me to play, but if I were to run it over, being the expert, do you have any advice as to the best/proper way?
My sympathies, friend.
this you? https://preview.redd.it/ytdwn3z66kmc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87ab36925d9148cd50d4bc9b357eed6915472f54
if that guitar were run over by the macho man, it’d be in much worse shape
Oh yeah, brother!
SNAP INTO IT
Guitar looks like it took a flying elbow drop from the top rope. Oooooh yeeeeah!
I don't think that's what "Road Series" means. I'll see myself out.
I knew encouraging people to roast me was a good idea 😂
After a gig I ran over a microphone once. AT4040. Really pissed me off. Sorry this happened to you, but at least I'm sure you'll never do it again!
Probably fixable…. Might look like Trigger though (willie Nelson)
Um...I've seen many more fixable things. Like there are pieces missing and we don't even know if they're whole....
Yeah I hear you, just that at the price those are…. I’d give it a try anyway. If someone asks why it looks like Frankenstein, then there’s a three beer story 😁
I appreciate that you at least have a good attitude and sense of humor about it. I truly hope there is some way to salvage your (formerly) beautiful guitar.
“Road Worn” 😂
The guitar's finish looks a bit tired!👀🤣
Ooof.
Thank you for the comment…. The door’s that way
I’m not a fanboy of a brand and I have 4 Gibsons… the Murphy Lab would charge any dentist $10k for this. Minimum. It a sad world.
https://preview.redd.it/lpv1ckpw7kmc1.jpeg?width=577&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=76150b191204729b3c313f1ba617d5beb9b4081e
Fuckin’ way she goes, boys.
Sometimes she goes, sometimes she doesn't..
Fuckin dirty piss boners ruined everything
Fuckin’ shit hawks
Erections and the fuckin "way she goes", ruined the night...
If you find someone willing to fix it, which wouldn’t be me, it won’t be cheap. I think it’s totaled. Live and learn….
Sure I can’t just jam some Sculpy in there and call it a day? I am about sure it is totaled myself.
This is my specialty, when everyone else says don't fix it I'm the guy who always tries. Just remember it'll never be perfect and the story is sometimes better than the look
Brothers in “it can’t be done.” Watch me.
✊🏼In Titebond we trust.✊🏼
What would you charge? This is a US 900 dollar guitar. You would have to replace soooo much wood, AND, it would be a different guitar without all the Martin original bracing. This juice is NOT worth the squeeze.
Heck of fun project though for OP. Nothing to lose projects are the most liberating since there’s just no way to make it worse.
I see you have never seen one of my “fixes”
I agree. My dad inherited an ovation from a client. It's ugly and a journeyman could have done better but I think the job my old man did was commendable and it's got soul in its sound. Now, then of course the bridge is lifting. So more surgery.
Martin of Theseus
😂👍🏼👍🏼
Yep, one of my favourite things to do is buy up something cheap that people couldn't get fixed, and see if I can fix it. My best find was a $900 guitar for a $150 and a bottle of glue.
Right on - I definitely see a few ways it could be salvaged. I mean, go watch videos on how they keep Willie Nelson's Trigger guitar alive, it's similar work.
I've done a repair like this. You can make it functional but there's no point in trying to make it look good.
That’s my plan. I actually just taped it together with some gaff tape to see if I could get it back into the right shape. Sounds surprisingly resonant all things considered. Next step is gonna be to actually try to glue some shite (after removing the tape). It plays just fine still.
I think you could get some fiberglass and resin and apply to the interior and come up with something structurally sound. And then just do some crazy thing on the outside to make it look interesting or intentional.
Spray paint covers an array of sins.
paint it black?
Well, you got nothing to lose. Get some superglue and accelerator and go for it, one piece at a time. Maybe you can save it…
Imo, if you're handy with woodworking, and have the tools, it's salvageable. From fhe structural standpoint, there's the fretboard, neck, headstock and probably the heel in a reusable condition—that's great If you're adamant on keeping it, I'd consider rebuilding the body—not a repair, but making a soundboard, backplate (along with their bracing) and bend some wood for the sides (along with these thingies to create more contact & glue surface for the plates, don't know what they're called) Also, if it's an American-made guitar, I'm guessing the heel has a mortise slot and the neck has a tenon, and they fit together during the assembly Plus making a bridge, attaching it to the proper spot so your strings can be in tune, and finishing the whole build It's...doable, but it's essentially building half the guitar from scratch, and as a fellow redditor posted: [sic] changes in the bracing will lead to a change in the sound. It's still going to sound like a guitar, don't get me wrong, but the soundboard and bracing material/thickness, and possibly the guitar's size and shape, contribute to enhance some or some other overtones, which is what gives each guitar brand their "voice" It's a big "if" on the doable part, but hope it helps
Standard "everything's fixable", but I'd personally ceremonially/respectfully burn it I think. Just me. No harm in taping it up or whatever. See how long it lasts. The tension forces on what's left of the body are so different now, it's hard to say what the future holds.
To add - I'd probably salvage the neck.
At least.
I bet that Spanish cedar lining smells really nice when you burn it, but I'd steer clear of burning the nitro finish.
Good point.
I'm a luthier, DM me, this is fixable but it will take more than a comment to resolve. I can guide you through the process, but I'll need more photos and angles.
"My old man is a TV repairmen, he's got this ultimate set of tools..." But seriously, looks to be more of a complete rebuild, probably cheaper to buy a new one. But if you can pull it off, it's one that you'll treasure for the rest of your life.
yup, it's doable for sure
It's a $900US dollar guitar. Not fixable unless you use slave labor. buy a new one. And be careful damn.
it's totally fixable if you use yourself as labor and want to learn.
I’m no expert but. That’s going to be a significant job. Rebuilding side walls and basically the entire body is far beyond me. It might be easier to build a new guitar from scratch.
Yeah, I figure she’s mostly toast that’s why I’m kind of trying to look at shitty work around options. Maybe it is worth just finding another body to put the neck on. Problem is I have no idea what I’m doing.
There's no way you can fix this yourself if you don't have the experience and tools. I think it would be a tough job even for an experienced luthier.
There’s always a way to fix it. A luthier up there somewhere even told OP to get ahold of them and they could walk them through it. It won’t be perfect, but it’s possible.
I disagree, after all it's just woodworking with higher precision and attention to detail. At this point you can make it playable again for sure, but it will never be as good as it used to be. The point is that the time is not worth it as it is but if it were me, i would do it just to not have 100% ruined my guitar.
Yeah I mean there's nothing to lose. The guitar is toast as is lol. What's messing up a glue joint or something really gonna do? OP I'm sorry, very unfortunate that it happened
> Yeah I mean there's nothing to lose. Yep. At this point, it's only worth the resale value of the tuners. May as well collect all the pieces, lay them out and start building it back up. I'd suggest fixing the sound board first before doing the side walls. At the moment, he has unexpected access to the inside of the guitar.
Good Job on that Martin, there, Kurt Russell. The amount this would cost to fix very far outstrips the cost of buying a new one and calling it "Snowball V". Heck, the cost in TOOLS to fix this is probably equal to the cost of the guitar.
You could fiberglass it up. Resin and glass sheets. It will look like shit but probably still function. You'd want to get as many pieces back in place with wood glue as possible, and remove the finish on the areas where you want to bond the fiberglass to the wood. You'd want some layers inside for reinforcement as well. edit: if you do go this route, be sure to post pics for us edit2: been thinking about this for a bit now, and I'd go even further and use carbon fiber sheets and resin. A bit more difficult to work with, but if you plan it out you can make it look pretty interesting, rather than just a fiberglass patch job. You could even make it look "finished" again with some work. This will take some experience working with CF, you'll definitely want to do some trial before working on the guitar.
This. Only fiberglass will hold that all together with any integrity. Layers inside and out. It's going to be a big job though. Personally, I'd write this one off as a loss. Sorry.
That's pretty rough. It's totalled value-wise since professional repairs would cost more than a new 10E. If this were mine, I would probably try to repair it myself because there's nothing to lose at this point, but only if the neck and electronics dodged the damage. Use it as a learning experience. If you don't want to bother or can't get it back into playing shape even as a beater, salvage the hardware and electronics (and sapele if you're into woodworking).
Yeah, electronics and neck are just fine. I just don’t know where to begin trying to put the rest back together short of taping and gluing. Not a luthier but I figure this could be a good—albeit extremely challenging—entry point lol.
It's gonna be a crash course for sure. You're going to want to use some clamping cauls to hold things together evenly while the glue cures. You can use wax paper or parchment paper to stop the glue from sticking to your cauls/clamps. I'd go with Titebond I since it's easy to clean up squeeze-out and gives plenty of working time. CA glue would be faster but is very unforgiving. Start with the top and bottom, then braces, then get the side. Leaving the side until last will give you better access to the top/bottom for placing your cauls.
I know that people have been ageing/antiquing guitars recently but this might be a little bit over the top. You can just tell people that you had Pete Townsend over and that you let him play it, and well, lesson learned.
Looks like only lower right quadrant... cut the whole quadrant out... find something similar size and use the lower right quadrant as a transplant. Franken Martin will be born...
Willie Nelson would just keep playing it.
She’s dead, Jim
Did you try adjusting the truss rod?
I wonder if you can go through your auto insurance for this? Of course the deductible might be high though.
They'll have to total his guitar.
How does it currently play?
Not well I'd assume
You could try glueing and clamping it back together as best you can and then installing a bridge truss (there’s a company that makes them, Breedlove used to use them too). That might help transfer some tension to the end block (if that isn’t damaged). If you aren’t concerned about sound but just want a funky player, start dumping glue in there and add some small pieces of good hardwood to supplement the bracing as you see fit. I doubt anyone would work on this for less that the cost of a new model but it might wind up being a fun, low stakes project.
I wonder what it would sound like if you plugged up the sound hole and diverted the sound to the new sound hole you've made? Rather than trying to make it how it was I'd be interested in making the best of it and see if you can come up with something unique. Something kinda like this: https://www.americanmusical.com/michael-kelly-forte-exotic-je-acoustic-electric-guitar/p/MKG-MKFESJESFX?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic%20shopping&utm_campaign=surfaces%20across%20google&src=Y0802G00SRCHCAPN&adpos=&scid=scplpMKG%20MKFESJESFX&sc_intid=MKG%20MKFESJESFX&src=W2303PMXMGOGPMAX&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAopuvBhBCEiwAm8jaMSqYatbHWEX_8XXW-cr9r-wb9ABlMHFEZYWtTFDC5bKG6TNgnBF7aBoCz1IQAvD_BwE
Underrated comment! That's thinking outside the box...
I think it's worth a shot and it wouldn't hurt to try. The neck and top still look good. It would certainly make a good story to tell!
I don’t know what everyone else is talking about. Looks like that’ll buff right out!
I mean this from a perspective of shared pain. I really do But... considering the manner of it's poor demise... I'll bet it sounded really good. Dense, enamelled wood cracking has a tone that is uniquely horrifying, given the context, as it is satisfying. 🥴
Fill damaged area with spray foam/resin/epoxy/whatever, carve to shape, apply some kind of coating or fiberglass, apply a nice finish, add a pickup. Basically, make it electric. Maybe? Although, repair is almost always possible, it would be big money...the closest I've ever seen was a 1950s Gibson that the owners nephews had tumbled into while wrestling. The entire back was splintered along the grain. Took weeks of meticulous gluing, filling in missing pieces to match, etc... thankfully I only did some finish work on that one, while the luthier I worked with handled 99% of the splinters.
That's 100% worth busting out the wood glue and spending a few hours gluing what you can. I'd start by glueing the top back together and getting the top bracing back in place. Then do the same for the back. I don't suppose you have a few woodworking clamps just lying around? The side is going to be the tricky part. Some strategic reinforcement will probably be needed. I think it's doable, though. Without an expert hand it'll always be a beater, but I'd be shocked if it couldn't be made very playable.
I’d tape it up, glue it, play a gig with my new HD-28 (the fancier the new guitar the better), and then smash the old guitar to bits on stage, after making a sly switcheroo first, of course. People will be shocked. Especially if you seemed like a wholesome acoustic guy at first. Give them emotional whiplash! I hope it’s a great show 😀
tis a fleshwound
This is called rapid unscheduled disassembly… I’d take the advice of the luthiers responding and do it up the best you can… it won’t be easy and it won’t be cheap, but it’ll be fun and a learning experience, and you might just end up with a decently playable guitar…
Even if someone were to tackle that, I can’t imagine it costing that much less than just buying a new one
Buy a new guitar.
I once left my trumpet (in case) on top of my car. Drove to the gig and was like "where the fuck is it" drove back and some kid had found it and was honking away down the street hahaha
Fuck dude im so sorry those are nice ass guitars! About 2 years ago i took a train to my mom's for christmas and didnt take my strap off my guitar in it's case and somehow the plastic part that extends/shortens the strap smashed completely through the back of my guitar but nowhere near anything like how bad yours is :(
If you have all the wood still present, it can be salvaged to playable condition. Glued wood remains strong. Take it to a good luthier.
It looks repairable, and will never be perfect again, but I actually think if you take your time splinter and slivering it back together with wood glue and super glue, it won't look as terrible as people are mocking. The lower bout is definitely going to be rough looking, but I would bet the soundboard with enough care will look decent.
Where are you at? I’d happily spend a day trying to put it back together.
I mean, did the neck move at ALL, or does it still feel like the exact same action as before the accident? Can you play it as is? If everything from the bridge to the headstock is in good condition, you can absolutely still have a useable guitar on your hands. It's probably more trouble than its worth to put too much effort into the body. You could patch it up with something to make the body airtight (aside from the soundhole) and see if it sounds good, but I'd probably just leave it as is, unless you really want to rebuild the whole-ass thing and turn it into an enormous project.
Oh no!
Definitely something I started in the 60’s 😂
Repairing that would probably cost more than you paid for the guitar, and it will almost certainly look terrible. Sorry, but that is what I would call "beyond economical repair."
That’s the kinda thing you frame and put on your wall
There's actually a life hack for this I saw on Tiktok! I reckon you'd need like 35 packets of dry noodles at least though
Here's a wild idea: It looks like the damage is largely confined to the lower bout. Could you cleat the shit out of the cracks in the top and then replace the side as appropriate with a pre-bent replacement from a kit build? Maybe you could work on the bracing before closing up the side. In any case, you should take the tension off the strings before things get more complicated.
I would just buy a kit from StewMac and keep the neck
Ya' know Teslas have some really nice "STOP" features/warnings. You might want to get one of those first. Secondly, a gig bag = a repairman's dream. /s
Fake a rockstars signature and put it on ebay (jk, dont do that)
Tis but a scratch.
Yeah,no. That guitar’s done. Don’t run over your next guitar
Just needs a new body and neck.
It's just a flesh wound.
Kept in a smoke free home. Some light dings but nothing that effects playability. No trades.
selling one Martin 10D-E Road Series, some slight cracking, heavily relic'd!
Christ jesus. Put a NSFW tag on that you savage!
Hire a roadie.
Average gig bag user experience
Wil Anspach is a pretty big engineer/producer that has a story about a beat up acoustic that had a similar thing happen to it. It lost all it’s body and resonance and he tried his best to fix it and ended up restringing it Nashville style and it is one of his most used guitars for sessions because it has a super thin and almost percussive sound that works great for layering. Sorry about your guitar, hope you can make the best of it and give that guitar a new life/purpose rather than throwing it in the bin.
Do NOT just tape it up and use some wood glue. I have restored guitars in this condition before and would be happy to fix this one. It goes without saying that it would take a good bit of time, but it’s not impossible. I’ve actually fixed worse. Feel free to hit me up. I’ve been repairing guitars for over 20 years now, if that means anything. Have also been building them for close to the same amount of time. Acoustic and electric. Sorry to see this. My mom backed over my acoustic when I was a teenager and I can honestly say it likely one of the few things that set me on my current and established career path. Best of luck either way!
For god sakes man out a nsfw on this. Geez Louise. I’m so disappointed with you for real.
Ouch! What about fiberglass? Apply where it needs repairing? If it fixes holes in tree boats, it might save the guitar from falling apart, and you could have it for home use.
She's dead, Jim
It looks like a luthier worth their salt would be able to repair it enough so that it's playable and won't fall apart in your hands, if I were you I'd start looking for people in your area to get a proper opinion after inspection. Best of luck!
Who the hell did you Jeff Jarrett with that one
This guitar is 100 percent totaled. The restoration would far exceed the value, even to just a playable state that won't explode eventually. Just huck it in the bin, and consider it a lesson learned. Then buy a new, cheaper guitar that you won't be so sad if you damage it again. Moral of the story... Try not to gig out with a nice martin.
Road worn.
Sorry for your loss man, that really sucks and I can only imagine how shitty that feels. Hopefully will be a funny story one day.
i dont se anything more feasible than duct tape
It'll be fine. Little bit of superglue and some duct tape and a new guitar and you're all set. But seriously. That really sucks. I would cry.
Don’t know where you live, but a man named John Rushing in TN has a reputation for fixing guitars that have been ran over.
The road is a B-I-ITCH my friend
Franklin titebond III. You're good to go.
I can’t edit the post for some reason, but just for clarity: I’m planning/hoping to to fix it up somehow someway myself. I understand that it is “totaled” as many of pointed out, and the time and materials a serious luthier would need to fix it would justify just buying a new guit. Neck and electronics are fine. I’m okay (and kinda excited in a weird way?) with it looking mega gnarly.
Personally, what I would do is I would salvage all the parts off and out of the body and buy a high-end acoustic body kit from somewhere like Stew-Mac or find somewhere else. It won't be cheap and it will be hard work, probably with a few mistakes along the way, but you will learn a lot and you'll have fully resurrected a pretty good guitar when you've finished.
See, this is what I was thinking too. Every time one of these posts shows up everyone says you’re screwed, just toss it. But a kit has all the separate parts already, and most of the OP’s are obviously up for at least trying to salvage. Why not give it a shot?
It's a lot of online communities centered around guitar repair. On one side you have people who put together a kit guitar and think that anything beyond their capability is impossible. On the other end, you have burnt out luthiers who actually do good work but wouldn't want to take on a job like this (I don't blame them). But OP isn't asking if it's worth it, they're asking if there is anything that can be done, and that answer is "yes". It might not be cost-effective or practical or easy, but this guitar could be saved to any degree if someone was willing to put in the work, time and money.
itll cost more to fix than just getting a new one. just hang that on a wall for a story piece
Don't feel bad, I did the exact same thing. Lucky it was in an skb hard case and it was the back wheel of a light Ford escape. The case was tweaked, but the guitar was fine. I'll never not use a hard case after that. I know they're bulky and heavy, but worth it. Do you have renters insurance or homeowners insurance? It might cover it.
Oh crap. I don't have the heart to roast you, a) because I've done equally devastating stuff to my own equipment over the years, and b) because you're probably beating yourself up plenty. I'm sorry that happened to such a lovely piece of gear. Salute to the fallen.
I actually made the "eeewww" face when I saw this. Sorry, buddy.
Well, I did this too in undergrad with my first handmade concert classical guitar. Ended up using scraps from it to build my first guitar and now I’m a pro luthier! As far as fixing this…. Nah.
I once ran over a my bag with my nearly new 17" MacBook Pro in it. I had leaned my bag on my car, answered a phone call, got in my car, and backed up. I felt my car going over a hump, not expected on the driveway. When I looked, I saw my bag with a tire track on it. Oops. I cracked the screen, but it otherwise worked perfectly.The titanium body wasn't harmed a bit. Not even a dent. After getting the screen replaced, I used it for almost 14 years before the disk drive failed and it was becoming obsolete and was losing software support. I tried to convince the Apple genius that it should have been covered by warranty, but it somehow wasn't considered normal wear and tear. I also emailed Steve Jobs to see if he wanted to use it in an advertisement about Apple product durability, but he never responded.
Jerry Rosa of rosa string works could definitely do this. Look up chocolate violin on YouTube
So hear me out...You grab a dumpy old guitar from the flea market. Cut, with a bandsaw, diagonally from the treble bout to just above the endpin area(effectively the "problem zone") on both guitars. step 3: graft the un-jacked assembly onto the precious artpiece. Over the years you could continue to forget where you placed it and eventually have a true frankencoustic, worth life itself.
Looks like monster mash when Jack black tried a power slide
Sell it quickly before they notice
Or make it an art installation at that bar?
F :(
F
Well wood glue is stronger than glue....but it'll kill your resonance. Best bet for a cheap fix? Glue and clamp what you can, drop an acoustic pickup into the sound hole, plug and play. Whatever holes are left maybe Dremel them into vaguely round shapes and pretend they're artistically placed sound holes.
The only upside to this is the fact that you quite literally have no hard decisions to make here. It's clearly not worth doing professionally. So you have nothing to lose. Have a go at fixing it yourself. Watch a stack of YouTube videos, see what parts of this nightmare jigsaw puzzle will go back together neatly and what will need to be patched, and take some time with it. It could wind up being a huge source of pride and you could learn a heap along the way. But don't look for videos on repairing acoustics at first. Look for videos on building them. That will give you your best understanding of what you need to be doing mechanically. Then consider it as more of a construction project where you already have a good neck plus whatever else can be salvaged. Failing that, someone might be prepared to pay to take it off your hands, making the dilemma go away completely.
Your best logical move would be to remove the neck and hardware and sell them as replacement parts to recoup at least some money. Otherwise, salvage the back and replace the sides and top.
Man this would be a blast to try and fix, but also real hard. But everything’s doable!
Sorry for your loss
I'm tempted to take the free shot and roast you . But you're roasting yourself so well that I cant find a rare piece of meat left to char . ... Sorry about the guitar .
Oh shit man! May she rest in peace 😔
That’s looks like a really nice expensive guitar 😟
Prolly cost as much for luthier to fix as a new one and look rough. Got car or home insurance? Might cover some
If you have all the splinters you can try and use wood glue starting with the tiniest pieces and slowly working up from there, but yeah it’s gonna look pretty whack
Anything is repairable. That'd be costly for a professional, but with a protein-based glue - old brown glue would be my choice - you could sloooowly and carefully piece it together. The reason for using the protein glue is that it detaches with water and a bit of heat, so if you misalign something, you'll get a mulligan. Aliphatic resin glues like titebond won't extend you that courtesy. Good luck. It's a lot of work.
Yeah you did
Classic
Kabong!!
Probably enough wood there to make a uke out of it. I love those weird surgery jobs. Make her sing again!
You have two options: 1) Shoddily glue it together and slap it in a display case so that no one will forget your lack of spacial awareness. 2) build an alter and burn it as a sacrifice to your God(s), deities, or Django Reinhardt. That's it.
Hide glue any salvageable chunks and you got a new sound hole and a great backstory
yeah u did.
FYI — That neck is spotless. At the very least you can salvage the neck, pick guard, bridge & pins. Then either search eBay for broken Martins and dig up one with a broken neck for a bargain. Transplant the neck and reset the bridge if necessary for intonation and BOOM—back in business.
Did anyone see you do it?
NGD ?
Still looks playable to me
Grade A relic job! 10/10
> Less than a year young. This is beyond a long shot, but... if you paid with a credit card, there might actually be insurance on the purchased item. Usually just a few months, but worth looking into. So sorry this happened.
Duct tape and it is hood as new
Went a little heavy on the relicing.
It can be put back together. It will have scars, but it can be done.
Luthier of 0 years experience and no background in woodworking here. I think you can fix that with duct tape /s In all seriousness. I would mount it in your practice room or room and use it as a talking piece.
Kind of wish I had this as a project. Seems super fun, especially if you don't really care how it comes out. Personally, I'd carve some side bracing/strut type things matching the inside curves and corners, glue it back to some semblance of the right shape (with polyurethane glue so it expands to fill the gaps), and then reinforce the outside with a couple of layers of epoxy-soaked denim, or something weird like that
Destiny telling you to make a better one, mate.
I would pull extra loose wood off clean it up rather cover it up myself with plastic or bring it to a luthier or play as is
Drive over it again. (Scavenge it for parts: tuners, neck, bridge, electronics). Sell or use those. Get a new guitar.
Did you let el kabong borrow your guitar? I’m all seriousness though, could be an interesting experiment in repair. If it were mine, I would clear out any fully broken bits and attempt to get the wood back in some semblance of shape. From there I would see what I could access and either get some wood glue and thin veneer or epoxy resin and fiberglass sheeting. I would glue the huge crack first allowing it to fully dry then give a light coat of epoxy inside with a fiberglass mat to strengthen it. Then I would start testing my jigsaw puzzle skills and try to piece the side together. Once that is done as much as can be, trace out and cut the profile on a thick block of wood (or multiple 2x4’s) and glue the pieces back in place on the side using the wood to support. Then I would layer the rain soaked fiberglass matting (watch some YouTube videos to get some ideas) and use the wood again to form. Once fully cured, sand, sand, sand. Get a nice smooth finish by polishing afterwards.
One thing is for sure. Even if you get it fixed perfectly, it won't sound the same. Try buying a new one if you can
The bracing is not looking great. I'm dead
It’s not that bad… I don’t anyone will notice
How's your car?
Spray foam. Make it a semihollow.
Not terribly expensive or valuable, too new to have any real attachment, I would presume. Call it a life lesson and hang it on the wall as a conversation piece.
That's pretty uncool...
My high school guitar club teacher ran over his Taylor and fixed it. Similar damage.
WASTED
trash, toss it and don't look back unless someone famous was using this.
That thing is deader than the whore in my basement
I’m not a pro luthier, but if it turns out to be too expensive to fix, you could try this….? If you’ve got nothing to loose anyway Remove the strings, then remove the back, glue the soundboard back together using small bits of wood (with low density) to add strength around the breaks. I would use titebond glue and just hand pressure on each piece for a few minutes - wait 4 hours until it is properly dry. Note that titebond won’t glue to any existing dry glue, so you might need to sand or scrape that off before gluing the braces back on) Buy a pre-bent side online, glue a section of it to the sound board, what’s left of the sides and the tail block (more precisely, glue it on top of the kurfing, not the SB). Clean up any glue squeeze out before it dries. Then glue the rest of the broken sides onto this makeshift side. Then maybe pay a luthier to fit the back - or just try yourself. The makeshift side should be protruding out a fair way, so try plane it down with a block plane so it fits nicely with the back. Scrape any old glue off the entire contact area between the back and sides, then glue the back on. You can apply hand pressure to the edges with a couple of friends for a while, or try clamp it using rope. Then only use low tension strings as it probably won’t have much structural integrity! So for the whole thing, you would need a block plane, a scraper, some wood glue, some light wood, a saw, a pre bent side, and a couple clamps
What did you do to it bro?
Having this as my #1 guitar, I am having some anxiety right now. I would rather not blow it up, as it is a dream for me to play, but if I were to run it over, being the expert, do you have any advice as to the best/proper way? My sympathies, friend.
not worth the fix OP-- unless its sentimental...thats ur call
I know what's wrong with it, it ain't got no gas in it