Giannini Craviola 12String Help

[RobRus]

Hi guys,

This is a giitar I aquired about 20 years ago for a debt that was owed. It has a cracked bridge and neck (from overtuning I think). I knew it had the cracks in it when I got it but it played OK and didn't have any rattles or buzzes. I played it for a little while but decided to remove the strings and tuck it away thinking I would get it fixed some day. The only reason I kept it is because it has some beautiful wood and inlays.

I dug it out of the closet and decided I would try and fix it if I could. I have done a fair bit of wood working as well as wood finishing so I am pretty handy, but I have never worked on a hollow body before. I have refurbished a semi-hollow body electric but it was nothing in the line of this.

The pictures show the story pretty well but I should note that I inspected the struts inside and there is nothing broken. The only spot that appears to have a real issue (other than the neck) is under and around the pick guard. You can see from the picture there is an indent in the top of the body and the pick guard follows the contour of the top. I am not sure if the guitar had this fault in it when it was made since it looks like the pick guard was bent to fit the body. I do see a slight gap in the bracing inside but it does not appear to have even been glued in that spot where the gap is (about 1 inch long).

The neck is not cracked all the way around and appears to have split where the neck was laminated. When I removed the strings the crack did not appear to close or move at all so I think it is some what stable.

You can see the bridge is cracked with the grain along the holes but the "brace" that is glued under the bridge is not cracked or separated from the top.

I am not quite sure how best to go about fixing the problems but would like to give it a try.

Any suggestions or ideas?

Also, does anyone know about Giannini Guitars? About all I know is it was made in Brazil. I don't think it is worth all that much but any info you could give would be a big help.

Thanks

[Workingman]

What I think happened with the area by the pickguard is the plastic is of a kind that shrank with time pulling the wood with it. That can be a tricky repair. You have to very carefully remove the pickguard to release the tennsion. It may not be worth it. To do so you work with a warmed pallet knife. See if you can tell the direction of the grain run-out and work with it to minimize damage to the top.

Also, if the neck is stable it is probably better to leave it alone. You didn't include any good pictures of the bridge but if it is crack, it should be replaced. Good that the bridge pad is OK as that is much trickier. Once again on the bridge heat (but not to much is your friend). This assumes it was put together with hide glue. If not it may be impossible.

[RobRus]

Thanks for the quick reply Workingman,

I guess I forgot to post the pic of the bridge but it is cracked and needs to be replaced.

Fortunately it is put together with hide glue and I was able to apply heat and remove it as well as the pick guard. Unfortunately when removing the bridge I tore about 1/2 of an inch of the veneer up so I now have another repair to do... I am not sure if it is normal but where the bridge sits they removed the veneer under it so that is why it tore away.

After removing the pic guard and scrapping the glue off it appears that the dent is not as bad as I originally thought. I think you may be correct that the pick guard bent and pushed the top of the body down. Now it is only about 1 inch dent which I think I will be able to fix since I can lightly push it from the underside and make it flat.

In the past I have fixed dents and warps in thin wood on furniture by slightly wetting the back surface and then apply heat and some pressure to warp it back into shape. Would that be the same process on a guitar? The pick guard was bent so I was able to straighen it out with heat.

One the neck, I know it is a big job to remove it and I really don't want to do that since the guitar is not really worth it but I would like to try and fix it. I am thinking if I can use a hypodermic needle to inject some glue into the crack to keep it from cracking any further.

I am thinking of refinishing the neck and now the top since I had the veneer pulled up but I am no sure what the finish is on this guitar. I think it is laquer because of the age of the guitar.

Is there a way to tell what kind of finish is on this?

Thanks for the help, this is my first attempt at reparing a hollow body and I apreciate having a forum like this to turn to. I have already learned a lot here so kudo's to all the guys that contribute to the content.

[Workingman]

Sounds like the finish came off rather than a veneer. Some companies finished the body and then put on the bridge, others did not. You may be able to inject some thin CA glue. Lacquer on a guitar of the probable age (80's) would tend to get fine finish checks that are kind of a box pattern. If it is lacquer, you are in luck in that new lacquer will tend to melt into the old. This means you can do spot repairs which are harder with poly. There are others here who know much more about finishing though. When you get to that stage, you may want to continue the post in the finish section.

[RobRus]

Actually it was the veneer that peeled back but I used some Tidebond and glued it back down. It laid down pretty flat but I will still have to do something about the edges of the tear.

I am probably going to refinish the neck to fix the crack there so I will probably just redo the top also because of the repair I just did, so I will start a new thread in the finish section.

Thanks again for he help

Cheers

Rob