#39175  by 1960strat
 
Ironically, i posted earlier this week about not wanting to bring my martin down to the boat this summer for fear of the changes in humidity messing with it. Low and behold, Saturday i took it out of its case and it split, right behind the bridge near the g string. The crack is runs all the way from the bridge to the edge. Is my prized martin totally fucked? I was really distraught about it. How do these things get repaired. What can i do to make sure the next one i buy doesnt split???

 #39176  by jck_strw
 
You've seen Willie Nelson's guitar. :)

I'm sure you're not completely fucked. Doesn't Martin have a lifetime warranty? Almost everything is fixable.

All else fails, there's always duct tape.

 #39192  by old man down
 
It is fixable, but you have to find a luthier to do the work.

The crack is there to stay.

The luthier will heavily humidify the guitar for a week or two, the seam will close, he will cleat it on the inside and he will probably put some Tight Bond into the crack itself.

It probably split on the seam of the two top pieces. Happens to a lot of guitars.

Don't use polish ever on that seam or it will discolor over time. Don't get water into the crack or it will loosen the Tight Bond glue, which is water soluble.

I've been lucky with my Martin, which is a little over three years old. I keep my house really cold in the dry winters, and that brings up the Relative Humidity in addition to humidifying the guitar in its case. (You do humidify, right?)

If it really bothers you, trade it in and get a new one, and lose a few dollars. Trouble is, guitars never stay fine, so you WILL end up trading in this one for another one's set of problems.

Martin will not cover it. However, when you go to an authorized Martin repair guy, if he likes you he may find some reason to repair it that is warranty covered.

My luthier hated the ski jump on my guitar, so he pulled on the neck a little, got to see a slight gap between the neck heel and the body, and suddenly I was entitled to a neck reset, the ski jump fix, and a new setup. We did a bunch of other stuff too and the guitar sings now and is gorgeous.

Just so you know, I got a crack on the back of mine in less than a year. Don't know how it happened, and there was no ding, and I professed humidifying, which is true, so he fixed that crack under warranty, but he had to call Martin to get it authorized. (He knows them well, used to be an Engineer there.) That's how I got to know him and then I came in for the set up later and we overhauled it, replacing dots for diamonds, squares, cat's eyes, and a compound radius fingerboard, and new frets since I had worn them down so much. (Damn Stormy Monday, all those bends when learning it forced a fret job in less than two years.) I think out of pocket everything came to under four hunder dollars. Guitar looks super cool now, but I will need new frets again in the Fall. I may have him do Stainless Steel. He can do anything!

What model is yours?

 #39194  by IamDocWatson
 
does it sound and play the same? should be fine...ive seen martins with a lot worse than that, that sound way better than anything i have...especially if its just in the clear coat...or is the wood actually cracked

 #39195  by old man down
 
One more thing, when guitars crack, they usually sound better. They're trying to get uneven stresses out of the build, and once that happens they're more resonant. That's why new guitars sound tight and restrained. Their opening up is their forgeting they were a tree and the bacings and wood in general giving into the stresses until they're "happy."

No one would care at all about these cracks if we were all real players of guitars, but unfortunately a lot of people have decided to collect guitars rather than play them, the prices have gone through the roof, and now when all of us players get cracks we feel cheated that we spent so much to then have this happen.

Wood's thing is to crack, by the way. Old houses are constantly cracking too, for example, and not from ghosts in the attics.

 #39200  by 1960strat
 
It is a 2000 D-35. I bought it from ebay and am guessing the warranty didnt transfer. I didnt get any paperwork with it either. At the same time, I probably did not humidify the guitar enough so it realy if my fault. I never owned an acoustic before and i think i am learning my lesson the hard way. Who is the best out there for this type of repair work. The guitar cost me $1700 so i am more than willing to get it fixed.

 #39203  by old man down
 
Go over to UMGF, join, don't tell them you're a member from here or they'll think you're a Kool-Aid, and tell them your problem.

Yes, your warrantee is non-existent.

Heard a lot of good things about the D-35, nonetheless.

 #39320  by dpmphoto
 
I have 5 martins sitting in my shop right know with cracked tops,most company's get out of warranty by not covering problems due to humidity or lack of. But don't worry its an easy fix that will not effect playability or sound too much.First off dont mess around with the crack with dirty fingers,any dirt will discolor crack.If the crack can be seperated by pushing down on one side or the other, you can insert some franklin liquid hide glue with a syringe or rub it into the crack with your finger(very clean)then use tape as a clamp bridging the crack without actually touching it.If the crack is too tight take a small spline of mahagony and glue it with liguid hide glue inside underneath the crack with the grain running perpendicular to the guitar top grain.You can use rare earth magnets as a clamp one on outside one on inside to hold wood.I would be very careful using regular tight bond on a top its not forgiving and doesnt have the same characteristics as hide glue.

 #39334  by broomhead
 
take a look here and take a deep breath you'll feel better..:-)
http://frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Tec ... racks.html

take a look at his page for many of the repairs he's done. He's in the bay area, but i believe on his site (as well as many others )is a list of luthiers... That said, Take to a luthier not a guitar repair shop.

good luck and theres nothing money can't fix..lol
joe