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Has anybody ever replaced a whole side of an acoustic guitar? I have only found one little pictorial from Cumpiano.
any help appreciated!

Not yet.......But I know that day will likely come.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

It IS possible to replace an entire side without removing the neck and without disturbing either the top or back binding. Not easy, no sir, but possible.

Get some really wide non-stretchy tape and cover over the side to be replaced, bridging holes or whatever as necessary. Cut the tape exactly at the margins of the binding, and at the ends by the neck and end wedge of the guitar. Stick the tape down onto a new piece of side material, and trim the wood exactly to match the tape. Now you have a side piece, ready to bend and install.

Spend some tedious hours carefully chipping, chiseling and chopping out the old side, being careful not to break the linings, or scar anything else. Then heat up the ol' bending iron and bend the side to fit right in place. Glue in the new side, sand and finish to match.

Not easy.

No, not easy.

No way.

But - possible. . .

_________________
Cheers,

Frank Ford

FRETS.COM
HomeShopTech
FRETS.NET

In a word, it's MONEY.

As a professional, I have no choice but to distill jobs to the basics of time/money, because what I'm selling is my time, and there's no resupply available.

That said, it's a tough call, and one where we need to balance all the factors of customer fantasy, marketplace economics, style, ethics, our sense of history and all that. Still, it comes to money and time.

A couple of anecdotes:

Recently did more than $1200 worth of work on a slightly beat 1970s Yamaha FG-140. Customer has more money than "you-know-who" and thought it would be nice to resurrect his old guitar. I would NOT have done that job for just any rich guy, but this a special person, for sure. Another similar job was a body disassembly and crack repair on a 1920s 00-18K, for a similarly well-off player who bought it from the Jerry Garcia estate, although nobody even fantasizes that Jerry actually played the thing because it was so cracked up. That one ran $3500, and unlike the Yamaha, was more-or-less "worth" the repair.

Another really big job was a special challenge - a 1920s Martin with horrendous parallel cracks all around both sides, and pieces sticking out all over the place. Lots of tension there, and no possibility of springing the pieces back into alignment without taking the body apart. On that one, I chose to take the neck and top off so I could do a really good job on the sides. I was able to realign everything perfectly, and reinforce with exactly the kind of vertical strips that would have been used in original construction. Now when you look at the guitar from the outside, you don't see the cracks because I didn't go through any of the original finish, but was able to get things level enough to do a light French polishing on the exterior. Because the top went on last, when you look all around inside the guitar, there's literally no sign the body had ever been apart. That heroic job ran $9400 at the final bell. Much as I'd love to do another like it, not many qualify for that kind of effort. And, at 70, I'm getting kinda burned out for that intensity. . .

_________________
Cheers,

Frank Ford

FRETS.COM
HomeShopTech
FRETS.NET

Thanks for the answers guys.

This is a guitar that I built and sanded thru the side. African Mahogany, using an orbital sander. Anyway the neck is not yet on nor the bindings.
I expect I'll try to follow the pictoral I mentioned. I have a bending mold for the side with a heat blanket, so no problem reproducing the shape.
Thinking of leaving an edge of the old liners to reference new liners and sit the new fitted side back in place. Bindings should cover a multitude of sins if I am careful. Will post something when I finally get up the nerve to start.

thx for all the suggestions
sorry I didn't respond sooner, but I didn't know how to find my post again.

What Frank said AND what a great couple of posts too from Frank!!!

Since this is a new build for you it might be easier to remove the top and back and make a new rim or replace the bad side and reuse the good one.

Welcome to the world of guitar repair!

Hesh I agree really enjoyed reading Franks two postings.


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