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Has this ever happened to you?

My plan was to finish this guitar last week. I had a couple hours of work left. I was putting in one of the grommets and POP!

I snapped the lid in two!

I initially was thinking of trying to glue the lid back together, but now I'm thinking against it. I plan on getting some thin plywood/hobby wood to replace the lid.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what type of wood and what thickness I should use? And where can I get it? Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on July 6, 2014 at 8:57am

meh , glue it .. , hell , take some more chunks outta it and toss in a mag pup . ;-) nothin wrong with the beater look .

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on July 6, 2014 at 9:34am

yup lol... http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/swamp-witch-guitar-war-pig-demo

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Permalink Reply by The Capo Kid on July 6, 2014 at 9:27am

Glue it together it'll be ok , put the two bits together with face side down get masking tape ( painters tape) put 3 or 4 strips pulled tight across the lid then 1 strip long ways over the joint , flip the lid over bend the joint open apply your glue fold back down on a flat surface , wipe off the glue with a damp cloth making sure the joints are flush , then clamp it on put weights on it , jobs a good un ! .

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Permalink Reply by Reeds Taylor on July 6, 2014 at 9:33am

Put it back as if not broken,,,,and leave a 1/8 gap for a cool sound hole. Cut the grommet to match, and hot glue the parts in where they should had been. Whatever you do, I'm sure it will look nice.

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Permalink Reply by Bufo Bill on July 6, 2014 at 10:32am

Yep. Happened with my first build, but with me it was the hinged back of the box. Glued back together with PVA, and just a hairline crack to show for it when you get up close.
You notice I am acting all cool like it's no big deal, but you should have heard the swearing out back at my place before I realised I could fix it. Swearing always helps the creative process, I find.
All the best from Bill. :D

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on July 6, 2014 at 1:13pm

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on July 6, 2014 at 2:49pm

Meh. Glue it back together with wood glue. Or, get yerself a beauty piece of 2 mm birch ply, spruce, maple with some figure, from any of these tonewood suppliers:

http://www.luth.org/resources/lutherie_suppliers.html

You could also veneer it over; Eric Davenport did that with my steampunk reso, using redwood burl.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on July 8, 2014 at 8:18am

That exact same thing happened to me, doing the exact same thing. Just edge glue it, clamp it overnight and it will be good as new.

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Permalink Reply by Thumper on July 8, 2014 at 11:05am

Seems to me you should never "pressure fit" a grommet or anything else in thin dry wood, that's just an accident waiting to happen. Through my many experiments with varied media, I've broken enough stuff in my life to write a book titled "This Shoulda' Worked?!"...