A Formidable Challenge:
Side Reconstruction on a Taylor 814c
(Click images for larger view.)
by Ryan Elewaut
A
customer in Sedona emailed me out of the blue last year. He
included an eBay link and asked my opinion, "Is this fixable?" He
wanted to buy this guitar,
but only if it could be restored-- and he needed a fairly solid quote
to gauge whether or not this was a good investment. I looked carefully
at all the pics posted on the eBay auction, and pondered for awhile.
This was not an easy estimate. I
thought through the procedure with only these pictures to guide me, and proposed an estimate. The customer and I decided yes, it was worth it and I was up for the challenge.
My estimate was reasonable enough to allow the customer to cross his
fingers and buy the guitar online, knowing the investment in the repair
would still net him a great value for such an instrument. Keep in mind,
this expensive guitar was flawless and like new, except for the huge broken hole at the cutaway.
The story was that someone had bought this guitar in about 2007 and shortly thereafter, dropped a dumbbell on the cutaway area, straight down on the side. The guitar was then put in a closet and forgotten about. I imagine the sickening feeling in the original owner's stomach lead him to simply hide the reminder of such a tragedy.
The customer who bought it on eBay after consulting with me had it shipped directly to the shop. It quickly became one of those jobs you put on the bench just to stare at it for long periods of time- multiple times- before the work even begins. I already had a general
idea about the approach from the pics, but now I had to really detail
the procedure in my mind before starting; there were so many different breaks and cracks, inside and out, including internal bracing and top and back seams.
It was also nice to find some
of the puzzle pieces rattling around inside the guitar. I decided to
glue most of the fracture with CA glue (cyanoacrylate, high grade super glue,) which has the advantage of drying fast and buffing like lacquer. The CA glue can also be used to topcoat an area, like a finish.
I was able to gently force the wood back into place as I glued
different parts, attempting to do so in the opposite order from how it
compressed and fractured. I also used standard
wood glue for a few areas, such as the back/side separation at the
binding, and the internal reinforcement.
I knew before starting that the
inside would need to be reinforced-- I just wasn't sure of the best way to go about it. After
slowly piecing everything back together,
light could be seen passing through the cracked area. I
found black burlap material at the fabric store, saturated it in wood
glue, and then pasted it inside of the cutaway area. This was
done twice, creating two rigid layers to protect the fragile area. Any
and all pin- holes were filled and buffed, and made invisible by the
dark burlap cast inside.
After
a lot of fine sanding, scraping, and buffing, the finished job looked
excellent. The customer and myself were both surprised and pleased by
the result.
I set it up with a compensated bone saddle and installed an L.R. Baggs Anthem acoustic pickup system as well. It sounded absolutely amazing and played the same. I was very happy to bring this guitar back to life. 
Hey! It's almost like a new 814ce now, but for half the price when all was said an done!
The first pickup is something is a brand new system from L.R. Baggs. It's called the Lyric Mic System.
The engineers over at L.R. Baggs have taken the Tru Mic technology they
developed for the dual-source Anthem pickup, and now they've designed a
special preamp and EQ to create a single-source, mic
only system that is highly resistant to feedback. This pickup is
excellent at reproducing the natural voice of your guitar. It's a little
less expensive than the Anthem SL, and the installation is much easier.
Our first shipment of these has now arrived and we can get your install done in a day. Pickup Price: $199 
The
next pickup is a alternative type of under-saddle transducer; it has a
completely different element type and preamp than we're used to seeing.
The B-Band systems, from Finland, has a rounder tone than the typical piezo. The system featured here is the A1.2 with volume control. The element itself is made of a different material
than your standard Fishman-style piezo or even the L.R. Baggs braided
transducers. This different type of under-saddle transducer, combined
with their proprietary preamp, produce a softer overall EQ response. It
comes with a mini control, mounted just inside the soundhole, so you can
adjust your volume easily. This system is also a great value and sounds great in pretty much any guitar. 
A
good general under-saddle pickup like the Fishman Matrix element (shown above) will sound great with almost any kind of preamp. But for a more
profession example of this style pickup, we recommend the K&K Pure Mini
bridge-plate transducer. The K&K is technically 3 transducers, but
they all sum to one mono signal, so we refer to it as a single source
system. Using these component-based pickups enables you to choose from a
wide variety (in price and quality) of preamps to use outside the
guitar. The K&K usually sounds best when you pair it with their specific preamp,
while a simple under-saddle transducer can sound good with many
different types of preamps, and even with just a small boost or EQ
pedal. These pickups range from $70-$100. 
Guitar Repair expert Adam Frumhoff will discuss different parts of the guitar and their role in the production of sound. Come
learn about how guitar builders shape the sound of their instruments
during the build process, and what can be done in the repair shop to
alter and increase your instrument's tone. Topics of
conversation will include bracing and internal structure, wood types,
finishes, saddle and nut materials, and even different types of glue.
Other topics such as humidity and care will also be discussed. Join us
this Sunday, February 24th in the Custom Sound Instruments repair shop for this
informative seminar. We have limited space for this workshop. Please call or come by the store to RSVP.
This Friday, February 15th, we're having a 20% OFF Store-Wide Super Sale. We'll be open until 7:00pm... the day after Valentines Day. There will be additional instruments and amps with blow-out discounts up to 1/2 OFF! 
The next pickup is completely unique in its signal sourcing. The L.R. Baggs M80 soundhole pickup is unlike any other soundhole pickup design. The primary signal source is produced from
a magnetic pickup, (like other soundhole pickups and electric guitar pickups.) The metal strings disturb and vibrate a magnetic
field in order to produce electrical current in a coil of wire. But the
second signal source is where things get interesting. The M80 is
constructed to sense the vibrations of the guitar top through the
mounting wings, which clamp down on the soundhole edge. This gives the
pickup a microphone-like quality, blending the magnetic signal with the
vibrations of your guitar. This pickup is excellent at louder stage
volumes. $249 plus installation.
