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I was contacted about possible doing the repair work on this guys Guild D50-NT(#179203). Apparently he slipped on some ice and put his elbow through the top, that is all I know. I’m not sure how this would have happened if the guitar was in its case, but maybe it was a gig bag or something. Anyway the damage has been done. The guy lives several hours away and so I don’t have anything to go on other than some pictures he sent me. He lives in the middle of nowhere and to my knowledge is not near any luthiers who could do the work. Right now he is waiting to hear back from me as far as if the repair is worth it and a cost estimate. He has had this guitar for about thirty years and seems vary attached to it. I thought before I get back to him I would run this by some of you repair guys.

As best I can tell the repair would involve gluing the top cracks (hot hide glue?), fixing the damaged braces, and then reinforcing that part of the top. Since the guitar is not here I can’t tell what sort of internal damage this may have caused. Please give me any thought or advice you might have on this job. I do repair work on the side but most of it is fairly minor. Once in a while I get a bigger job like this and the extra advice would be appreciated. Also if there is anyone who knows a lot about Guilds and can give me some more details on the guitar that would be helpful (or point me in the direction where I can find the info myself).

Thanks

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Wow Josh, that is not a fun one! I have done a few sentimental value jobs with shattered tops that actually came out great. You will need some brace jacks and something to push up the top to align the fragments, sometimes it is amazing how these things pop into place with a little pressure. It will be hard to see how easy it is without looking inside.
hope this helps,
Evan

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

This is a risky repair if your not experenced in this kind of repairs. I would guess ther is at least lose braces if not broken braces involved. I see major cross grain breakage. the grain line breakage is not that hard to repair but the cross grain is tougher and will have long term affect on the tops stability. This would be a easy near $750-$1k repair in most shops not counting finish.MichaelP38797.5905787037

Tell him you want to replace the top....he don't need those autographs anyway...


Evan is right...it's going to be hard to know without seeing inside. If the X is broken, it could be in need of having the top pulled, repaired and reinforced and re-braced where needed. It's awfully difficult to do that with the top on, but I'm guessing Frank Ford could give some advice too...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I had a similar repair to do on Guild '62 M-20, most braces were cracked
under the top, so was the bridgeplate (probably not the case with this D50
although it looks somebody screwed the bridge onto the top & bridgeplate
and then masked the screw heads with pearl dots -a la Gibson-, not a good
sign for what might hide inside…). Anyway I had to remove the M-20 top,
glue the cracks, redo the whole bracing, bridgeplate etc. and glue the top
again. A lot of work, Michael's price estimate is good if there is major
internal damage.
You might not have to remove the top, but possibly the binding to repair the
lining as well. It's entirely possible the x-brace is intact and just needs to be
reglued along with the top cracks.
You should give him a wide estimate and explain that you need to see the
guitar to be more specific, or request possible inside pics.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Thanks guys, this has been really helpful.

I think I will discourage having the repair done and encourage him to just buy one from me .

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

I would try to fix it if he just is willing to replace it, I learned so much years ago by doing jobs for very little money (or free) just to get the experience.
Evan
But definitely sell him one of your guitars!!!!!!

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http://www.NewYorkGuitarRepair.com

[QUOTE=Josh H]I think I will discourage having the repair done...[/QUOTE]
Josh, I really hope you're kidding here. Like good Gibsons (yes, there are some!), Guilds have a special mojo. A D-50 is fairly top-of-the-line for Guild, and this one should definitely be restored! This is one case where "sentimental" and "actual" value are pretty close. It's gonna cost the owner, sure, but sometimes we've gotta pay for our mistakes. Additionally, please don't use this for your own "practice" repair. If you haven't done something like this already on a junker--and from your post, I'd guess you haven't--refer him to someone else. There has got to be someone in Canada who is an experienced repair luthier, and could do justice to this instrument. If not, he could ship it to Elderly, Gruhn, Mando Bros., et al, in the U.S.

Oh, and DO sell him one of yours, too!

Carlton is dead on as far as not attempting this repair unless you have the experience. A top replacement is straight forward enough but to repair and restore this guitar prior knowledge and experience is a must.

Thanks guys,

Like I said I don't know much about Guilds, and I am not sure how much the customer is willing to spend. Is this guitar worth restoring? That is my big question. From what Carlton says it might be.

If what Michael says is true (and I am sure it is) that the repair rate most shops would charge is $750-1K than how does that compare to the fact that you can buy a brand new one for aound $1K (there is one on ebay now)? I guess this is where the sentimental value comes in to play.

Are there other luthiers or repair shops with more experience I could refer him to? Yes there are. The difference is that their hourly rate is around $75+ while mine is considerably less. It is true that I have never done a top repair that is this serious, however I have done a number of other top repairs that came out very well. I would not attempt the repair if I felt it was beyond my skills. But I can't be sure it is beyond my skills until I get my hands on it and give it a thorough going over.

Terken brings up another good point, I have no idea if it needs repair work beyond the top repair.

I will think on this a few more days. If the customer is willing I may see if he would ship it to me so that I can get a good look at it.

Keep the opinions coming, this has been most helpful.

Josh

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

There is no good and reasonable quote you could give the client without having the guitar in shop. I can tell you that if no structrual damage to bracing exists and they are all still glued tight. I would ask in the neiborhood of $300-$500 to repair the top and more if there is brace damage. I would charge probably $500 to replace the top and bridge plus a finish charge.

But without the guitar in hand, every thing you think is wrong is just a shoot in the dark MichaelP38799.4774189815

Here is a thought to keep in mind. Most clients I have known that need major repairs to a sentimental instruments said it was hard to put a value on the sentiment. However when quoting the repairs I have found that is was very easy for them to place a value on sentiment. It appears about $100 over replacement value is the going market value on their sentiment. In most cases anyway MichaelP38799.5043055556

[QUOTE=Josh H] Michael says...that the repair rate most shops would charge is $750-1K than how does that compare to the fact that you can buy a brand new one for aound $1K (there is one on ebay now)?[/QUOTE]
The new Guilds are made overseas, unless it's a custom-shop build, which wouldn't sell for just $1K. The one in question was made in the good ol' USA.

[QUOTE=Josh H]Are there other luthiers or repair shops with more experience I could refer him to? Yes there are. The difference is that their hourly rate is around $75+ while mine is considerably less. It is true that I have never done a top repair that is this serious, however I have done a number of other top repairs that came out very well. I would not attempt the repair if I felt it was beyond my skills. But I can't be sure it is beyond my skills until I get my hands on it and give it a thorough going over.[/QUOTE]
Okay, that's a reasoned response, and it looks like this guitar would be in good hands at your shop. So much mention was made here (not necessarily from you) of top replacement or "practice" repair or just junking this repairable, seasoned solid-wood instrument, that I had to speak up. Even in its broken state, I bet knowledgeable retailers in the U.S. wouldn't sell this guitar for less than $200.00, so if he ultimately decides to not pay for a repair, let him know that it's still not junk!

Carlton and Michael

You have been very helpful, thank you .

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com