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It looks like they 'kerfed' the bracing on these old Gibson Archtops my guess is to make fitting easier. You can see in the photo that the crack occurred because the brace became unglued and the kerf was exposed which is the weak spot and it cracked right there (bass side brace right at the waist.

I can easily glue it back but I wonder what some of you might do. Would you just rebrace it properly?

No, I can't see any cracks or kerfed bracing here. It can't be the "after" picture unless you meant to leave the dustball.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I see the crack. It's where he said it was "bass side near waist". Not sure what you mean by "kerfed". To me kerfed means having notches sawn into it as in "kerfed linings". I'd just glue it up although if you want you could add some reinforcement over the top.

Check out the image a bit closer. I will try and take a better one later. The kerfed saw marks are spaced about every 3 inches and they are face down so that the guitar top itself bridges the saw gap. They basically look like little black lines perpendicular to the top on the braces but they are saw marks.

I sucked up the dust ball but that was a good 60-70 year old dust ball!

Zoomed and highlighted.
Crack circled in red, starts at one of the kerf cuts (circled in yellow).



It would be nice to replace the brace entirely, but matching the radius of the top would be a challenge - which would seem to be why they 'kerfed' the braces.

Yes thanks for that. That's what I was talking about.

That's not kerfing. That's being lazy on the part of the original builder.

Glue it up and I think you're good to go.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

These Gibsons were budget models of the era. The bracing being cut like that was to allow them to build them quick and cheap. All of the more expensive models had carved x or parallel braces. For reference an L12 had solid carved x bracing and was 200$ in 1936. An L48 I think retailed for 125 or so in '46 when it launched.

More importantly you should really consider fixing that neck block. It needs a shim cause that gap is HUGE between it and the top.

Yeah i know right? They just glued the neck block over the brace ends. I was planning on fixing it. And yeah that's why I put kerfing in quotes. Basically the slots were cut to help it bend. Obviously not a good idea. But it has survived sine probably 1950 too. I'm kind of amazed the neck block lasted that long.

That is so Gibson to glue them like that lol

As mentioned, it IS a budget model. And, just out of curiosity, have you had any guitars that lasted 70 years?

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Why not fix it right and replace those fake braces with solid, fitted braces? I know it's extra work but I have plenty of it and am willing to go to near extremes to repair old guitars.

The block is resting on the brace ends so maybe that was part of their plan.

You asked what we might do, so I'll tell you I'd probably replace it. In fact, I'd probably replace both braces with carefully fitted new ones. I hasten to add that I am strictly a hobby builder, so what pleases and entertains me for a pass-time might be a pain in the neck for anyone on a time table--and especially for anyone doing professional repair. But my thought is that right now, while the back is off, is the perfect time to make any repairs or improvements that will help it. Once the back and binding are glued on again you probably don't want to think about ever removing them again.

My thoughts were to keep it all original so I did. I did re-fit the original braces though and capped the split off. But like Pile said the guitar lasted 70 years and that was with a cheap fitting and budget construction. I'm confident it will last another 70 or at least long enough till I am gone and can't be blamed for it

And BTW this thing sounds and plays great. I honestly cannot even believe how good it sounds. When I got this guitar in I told the customer that the repair was probably going to be more then the value of the guitar but he said he loved it and it sounded great, he was not wrong about that.

Nicely done!

I've had alot of repairs that exceeded the value of the instrument, many times it's definitely worth it to see their expressions of happiness at having a family piece back to playing condition or a cherished heirloom be repaired. I've begun to see that the repair cost sometimes just isn't as important as I had previously thought. There are exceptions of course.

Don't let Hesh see this.

Oh you know he's looking