Help needed to fix bellied guitar

Johnny-B

A friend of mine recently brought me her 1990 Epiphone PR200 made-in-Korea acoustic guitar complaining of fret bus on the top E string in the upper neck region. Taking a closer look revealed that the bridge had bellied, causing a concave top between the bridge and neck and a convex top across the guitar below the bridge area. Feeling around inside, I noted that this had been caused by cross bracing that had become unglued from the underside of the top.
I called a local luthier shop and the price they quoted me to glue the cross bracing made the guitar uneconomical to repair. The guitar obviously has some sentimental value as my friend bought it while still at school.
Re-gluing the bracing would probably required long soundhole clamps, a remote camera, some wood glue and a syringe. I don't posses the requisite tools or the experience.
Are there any Guitar Talk heroes out there who would like to attempt this repair?

V8

Ermmm, not me...yet! I've got my own beater to practice one and I keep on finding reasons not to do it 😁 I' ve got to take off the top, replace & glue in all the rotten bracing and then pop the top back on. Never done it before, so I'm more than a little nervous.

If in Cpt, I can recommend Traut Guitar Worx, they're really reasonably priced. Though I suspect the top would have to be taken off to do the job properly, hence the high quote (also you never know what else lurks beneath).

guidothepimmp

Once it has bellied, it will always have a tendency to re belly Im afraid. Glueing the bracing may stave it off for a while but it will develop again in my opinion. Good luck with the repair though. The bracing does indeed require all the goodies you mentioned. The belly in the top would likey need some steam treatment (note.. this is just info I have come across. I have no real experience with acoustic belly repairs).
There is a jig i have seen someone install before to support the internal bracings. Cannot find it offhand now.

Johnny-B

guidothepimmp Thanks Guido and V8 for the advice. StewMac sells the Thompson belly reducer and the Bridge Doctor but both cost way beyond the value of this guitar. If I could just find a couple a long reach U-clamps (about 12 inch max) I would give it a go myself.

V8

Johnny-B Bridge Doctor but both cost way beyond the value of this guitar.

That was a option for mine (despite being 5x the cost of the guitar 😁 ), but the bracing was too far gone as well.

guidothepimmp

Yes, bridge doctor is the gizmo. It is pricey though

Johnny-B

guidothepimmp $24.81 at StewMac. That's about R360. But I still need to glue the bracing. At the moment I have flat pieces of wood clamped across the top and back of the guitar just below the bridge, with a cup of warm water inside to humidify.

Johnny-B

So here is the guitar clamped behind the bridge. It seems to have flattened out pretty well. I first tried making a long reach clamp from umbrella struts but it only clamped in one place and that was insufficient. So I made two jacking clamps with coupling nuts and a glue applicator with a syringe, epoxy, perspex, credit card with a slot cut in it and a magnet to hold it in place inside the guitar. The clamps worked well but the glue applicator was less successful.
Getting the glue on the bracing without getting it everywhere was a challenge but I've glued it and clamped it and it seems the glue is squeezing out at the side of the brace, so let's hope it sticks.. I'll leave it for a few days, then unclamp and see how well it has glued.

V8

Johnny-B So I made two jacking clamps with coupling nut

That is cool! Great idea 👍️

Johnny-B I'll leave it for a few days, then unclamp and see how well it has glued.

Curious to see if the top stays flat or it still wants to pop back even with the bracing.

Nice one!

Johnny-B

I took off the bracing jacking clamps and the outside clamps on Friday evening and strung it with some old strings (12-53). The Alcolin wood glue held well. It seems to have settled with minimum bellying and is playing beautifully. I handed it back today and my friend was thrilled with the outcome.

guidothepimmp

Nice work Johnny.

modulator

That is a good session of persistance, well done. Not something I would want to tackle.
Have several celebratory toots.