Cracks in the body

[exiledarchangel]

Yesterday I found (yes, for free) a Yamaha Pacifica geetard. At first glance it seemed kinda ok (rusty hardware and alot of dings mainly) but when I took her home I found deep cracks in the finish, and I thought that its really deep, maybe the wood of the body has cracks too. The neck is ok, no cracks at all.

If that's the case, what can I do? I thought about injecting with a syringe wood glue to the cracks and tightening the body with some rope or something (ok, that sounded fetish) over night for the glue to dry. Any suggestions?

I am gonna try to remove the finish next week and see what lurks under it. It's a shame some folks don't appreciate their instruments, even cheaper ones. I'm thinking about making it into a 80s metal machine, well kinda. And no, I won't post any spandex-oriented picks! 

[exiledarchangel]

Just finished sanding. The bad news are that there are some cracks in the body, 2-3 minor and a big one. Any suggestions?

[drbassman]

You'll need to inject glue into the cracks and clamp it together for 24 hours.  Wood glue for cracks that are larger.  If the cracks are too tight, wood glue probably won't sink in far enough. For those, you could use thin CA (super glue).  If you use thin CA, it will wick into the surrounding wood.  So, be careful if you plan on a trans finish or stain.  Neither will penetrate wood soaked with CA.

Pictures would help.............

[Pilgrim]

If you want to go with a solid color refin, I'm thinking minor/surface cracks could be addressed with a good filler and the solid color would make them invisible.  If there's one crack that's deep enough to actually threaten the structural integrity of the body, then you probably do need to glue and clamp it.

Like the Hon. Dr. Bassman sez, pikchoors are good....

[Dave W]

Depends on whether you need a gap filling glue, whether the cracks are structural and whether the cracks can be clamped.

[drbassman]

Yeah, what Pilgrim and Dave said.

[Pilgrim]

I probably should have said (1) filler, then (2) sealer.....

[exiledarchangel]

Thank you for your time guys!
I am worried about one big crack running almost on the whole back of the body, I can wide the crack alittle when I use force, so I think its a bad bad bad crack.
I don't care about the other small ones.  I am planning to refin it in a solid color.

So superglue and clamp it is?

[drbassman]

Big cracks, wood glue.  Tight cracks, CA.  That's how I do it.

[Dave W]

Since you can widen it, it needs to be clamped.

[drbassman]

Since you can widen it, it needs to be clamped.

Always.

[exiledarchangel]

One last question: what kind of superglue should I use? I found that there are 3 grades, thin (0-4 seconds cure),
medium (3-7 seconds cure) and thick (6-12 seconds cure). I suppose thin would be best, so it can flow thru the cracks?

[drbassman]

This is best if the crack is very tight and you can open it.  Also, it will wick all over the surrounding wood, so be careful with it if you aren't planning to paint it a solid color.  It fills up the wood pores like crazy.  For larger cracks, I still recommend Titebond and some good clamps.

[Lightyear]

I agree about the Titebond, though I have always liked Elmer's more myself, but I would only use it only if you can close the crack by clamping.  If you can't pull the crack(s) tight I would go the superglue route as the thicker types will level, somewhat, and provide some gap filling,  Just my .02 worth.