I am a huge fan of Taylor guitars and love everything about them. My friend left his Taylor 110 guitar last night at my house. I thought I would be a chum and change out his dead strings and adjust the neck since there was a slight bow in the neck. After I got the guitar on my workbench, I noticed 3 cracks in the top I never saw before. 2 of the cracks are parallel to each other below the bridge and one on the inside of the sound hole.
Any ideas what would cause this? The guitar doesn't appear to be abused in anyway. I have owned 3 Taylor acoustics (Baby, 614ce, 315ce) and I have never seen one of their tops split. The top wood is Sitka Spruce and the back and sides is Sapele Laminate.
Any ideas?
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Last edited by taylornutt on Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I did a little online reading and this might be a result of the guitar becoming too dry. My friend told me he always hangs it on his wall and if it is not a humid enough it could crack the top. I always keep my Taylors in their case as Taylor recommends and I humidify them during the winter months.
I am going to put one of my humidifiers in the guitar to see if adding more moisture can reverse the problem.
Last edited by taylornutt on Thu Dec 30, 2010 2:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
Looks like a dryness thing to me. If you get the humidity up, it should start to close those naturally. Then you can work a bit of thinned wood glue into the crack and clamp it with strips of fresh masking tape (fresh from the store so it's nice and stretchy/springy). Then level the glue seepage and see where you're at stability-wise.
The seem between the top pieces ideally should have been reinforced with carved diamond patches, but it probably wasn't. It might need those if the glue doesn't do the trick by itself.
Don't worry too much about the cracks. I have a similar model as that of your friend and have the same problem on occasion. It is because the guitar is made of two pieces of wood joined at the center and as the guitar dries in the winter months. You should advise your friend to buy a humidifier and to place both in the case where they belong or else he will hurt and possibly ruin the guitar(should shrink to almost unnoticeable size in two or three days. No real need to glue anything).
I suggest re-humidifying in a plastic bag. The kind you get at the dry cleaners works well. It seals up tighter than most guitar cases.
Keep it sealed up in the bag with a sponge type humidifier for a week or two. You can make a humidifier with a piece of sponge and a snack size zip lock bag with holes punched in it. A paper punch works well. You might need to add water to the sponge after the guitar absorbs some moisture.
A pro repair job might be in order to stabilize the cracks.
I have been humidifying the guitar for about 4 days. I am using a single humidifier. The cracks appear to closing but very slowly. The frets don't feel quite as sharp on the ends as they did before, which means the neck is also beginning to gain moisture back. It will probably be at least two weeks before it really begins to close up, especially since the top has two cracks.
I've never humidified my taylor 414ce in the 5 years that I've owned it. I'm not proud of it and I always worry that I'm doing something wrong. I keep it in it's case whenever I'm not playing it though. I have never noticed any cracks or anything, but this thread has me worried that I'm damaging it by not humidifying it. I have a soundhole humidifier that I've never used, would you recommend that?
Taylor recommends leaving the guitar in the case when you aren't using it. Keeping it in the case helps protect the guitar from drying out, which is why you should avoid hanging it on the wall for extended periods. It depends the climate you are in, but I try to use the humidifier in the winter when the heater is running. If you are worried about it, use it and maybe get a humidity gauge. Taylor recommends the humidity be kept around 50%, which is what they use in their factory.
taylornutt wrote:Taylor recommends leaving the guitar in the case when you aren't using it. Keeping it in the case helps protect the guitar from drying out, which is why you should avoid hanging it on the wall for extended periods. It depends the climate you are in, but I try to use the humidifier in the winter when the heater is running. If you are worried about it, use it and maybe get a humidity gauge. Taylor recommends the humidity be kept around 50%, which is what they use in their factory.
I might just try using the soundhole humidifier one night and leaving it in the case and see how much water rings out after that. Like I said it's always in the case. During the time I've owned it I've lived in North Carolina and now Atlanta, so humid places. I don't have any cracks or sharp frets or anything, but I just don't want it to get to that point. It's my most expensive guitar, and it's the one I use the most of all my guitars. Plus I teach lessons so that guitar is my money maker!
You sound like you taking good care of it. I have a 614ce and I have not always humidified it, but keeping it in the case usually does the trick. Even my Baby Taylor that stays in the gigbag stays in good shape.
I plan to aggressively start humidifying my old Airline acoustic. No cracks, but the top looks to have sunk and I hope more moisture can help with it.
It's been a month of constant humidifying and the cracks have really closed up. Placed some dilluted glue in the cracks to strengthen it up. The cracks will always be there but good humidity levels should do the trick.
thats looking like it could be a good repair. how does it sound? I sometimes wonder about some holes in acoustics and how it affects sound, especially as frank blacks acoustic has a big hole in it and still sounds good.
plopswagon wrote:I like teles and strats because they're made out of guitar.
robroe wrote:I dont need a capo. I have the other chords in my tonefingers
lorez wrote:thats looking like it could be a good repair. how does it sound? I sometimes wonder about some holes in acoustics and how it affects sound, especially as frank blacks acoustic has a big hole in it and still sounds good.
I thought is sounded brittle before. Now it sounds like a proper Taylor Acoustic should.
lorez wrote:thats looking like it could be a good repair. how does it sound? I sometimes wonder about some holes in acoustics and how it affects sound, especially as frank blacks acoustic has a big hole in it and still sounds good.
I thought is sounded brittle before. Now it sounds like a proper Taylor Acoustic should.
result in my book
plopswagon wrote:I like teles and strats because they're made out of guitar.
robroe wrote:I dont need a capo. I have the other chords in my tonefingers
