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Location: Fort Worth, TX | I've found an 1127-4 (I think 4 was it) Glen Campbell I was given a price of $100 for with a case. The issue it has is the famous crack in the same place they always happened, just off the bottom of the pick guard, down past the bridge (1/2" away from it) to within a couple inches from the bottom. The crack is all the way through the wood and the wood is curling upwards from the edges of the crack on both sides. The neck and bowl are in excellent condition. It has a silver foil label. After repairing the crack on the Elite I got recently, I have no qualms about tackling this one, although the repair is more extensive. This time however, I would live with the visible crack line since the top has aged to a deep honey color. Still trying to decide if I want to rescue another cracked O. I'm beginning to feel like it's a calling! |
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | Of course I meant "just off the bottom of the rosette" |
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November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | Well, pleasing change of course underway. Wife heard me telling someone on the phone about this GC and asked for an explanation after I hung up. She adamantly said "I don't want to listen to you again working on a project guitar. The next guitar you get is gonna be a new one!". Well... dang, if you say so honey. I'll give up on the rescue and settle for new instead. Gotta keep the wife happy right? |
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Posts: 135
Location: New Bern, NC | DaveKell - 2013-03-02 5:18 PM Well, pleasing change of course underway. Wife heard me telling someone on the phone about this GC and asked for an explanation after I hung up. She adamantly said "I don't want to listen to you again working on a project guitar. The next guitar you get is gonna be a new one!". Well... dang, if you say so honey. I'll give up on the rescue and settle for new instead. Gotta keep the wife happy right? Absolutely! So, go out and buy a new one as soon as possible. Keep that woman happy! (and this is coming from a woman)  |
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Location: Seymour, Tennessee | Where's the GC? I know someone who cloud use it.
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | BONEKROSHA - 2013-03-02 6:39 PM
Where's the GC? I know someone who cloud use it.
At a shop in Ft. Worth, TX. Long way from TN. Plus, it has a crack on the top thru the wood. I was into the idea of fixing the crack because of the extreme amber color of the top from age. I've been told a luthier would charge an avg of $100 for cleating the crack, which would make a rough total of $200 for an old Glen model with an excellent neck. No fret issues at all. I'd probably respray the bowl with a rattle can to tidy it up. Like I said though, my wife heard enough complaining from me on the last crack repair I did myself. |
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Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | I'm going back in a few minutes to see if they'd be willing to unload it for $50.00. I had a long conversation with a luthier about how to better repair the crack and he assured me if I followed his method the curled up sides of the crack wouldn't splinter off. Just have to be sure wifey will still let me get a new guitar soon. |
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Location: Sydney, Australia | DaveKell - 2013-03-05 3:39 AM
I'm going back in a few minutes to see if they'd be willing to unload it for $50.00. I had a long conversation with a luthier about how to better repair the crack and he assured me if I followed his method the curled up sides of the crack wouldn't splinter off. Just have to be sure wifey will still let me get a new guitar soon.
SWMBO said "No more guitars" the other day. She wants new floorboards (nothing wrong with the old ones).  |
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | richard.parker - 2013-03-04 3:55 PM
DaveKell - 2013-03-05 3:39 AM
I'm going back in a few minutes to see if they'd be willing to unload it for $50.00. I had a long conversation with a luthier about how to better repair the crack and he assured me if I followed his method the curled up sides of the crack wouldn't splinter off. Just have to be sure wifey will still let me get a new guitar soon.
SWMBO said "No more guitars" the other day. She wants new floorboards (nothing wrong with the old ones ).
Strange development. I have felt this guitar calling me to rescue it. Awhile ago my brother called to tell me he's giving me $100. He got 5 out of 6 numbers in the lotto a few days ago and got a check for $2,700.00. He's giving everyone in the family $100.00. I just got back from picking up the GC O. Another strange thing has happened since I last saw it. The wood that had curled up at the edges of the crack is all flat again. Must be the higher humidity we've had the past few days. Actually, this crack is gonna be an easier repair than the last one I did now. I think the line of the repair will be barely visible. I don't remember if my last GC had an ebony fretboard but this one does. I love the honey color top. Here, have a look! And her remark was a "new guitar". To hell with the floor.
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Dave,
I was going to tell you to look up a YouTube video by Taylor on repairing a guitar with a big split in it, using Dampits. Someone linked to it from this site, I'm sure, but I couldn't begin to tell you how to search for it. Then you said you weren't going to get it, so I forgot about it, but now I remembered. The video was made over several days, adding some humidity each day and the crack closed almost as good as new. I don't remember if Taylor refinished the top after that or just buffed it out. A little humidity can really make the wood expand, but you'll probably still have the crack in the finish because of the polymer that Ovation used. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Mark in Boise - 2013-03-04 2:53 PM
Dave,
I was going to tell you to look up a YouTube video by Taylor on repairing a guitar with a big split in it, using Dampits. Someone linked to it from this site, I'm sure, but I couldn't begin to tell you how to search for it. Then you said you weren't going to get it, so I forgot about it, but now I remembered. The video was made over several days, adding some humidity each day and the crack closed almost as good as new. I don't remember if Taylor refinished the top after that or just buffed it out. A little humidity can really make the wood expand, but you'll probably still have the crack in the finish because of the polymer that Ovation used. they're here:
Understanding Humidity - the Problem
The Solution
Hope that Helps...
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | arthurseery - 2013-03-04 5:09 PM
Mark in Boise - 2013-03-04 2:53 PM
Dave,
I was going to tell you to look up a YouTube video by Taylor on repairing a guitar with a big split in it, using Dampits. Someone linked to it from this site, I'm sure, but I couldn't begin to tell you how to search for it. Then you said you weren't going to get it, so I forgot about it, but now I remembered. The video was made over several days, adding some humidity each day and the crack closed almost as good as new. I don't remember if Taylor refinished the top after that or just buffed it out. A little humidity can really make the wood expand, but you'll probably still have the crack in the finish because of the polymer that Ovation used. they're here:
Understanding Humidity - the Problem
The Solution
Hope that Helps...
Help??? Dude after these two cracked guitar experiences you've given me an idea for a whole new industry! By the way, I have the Glen O laying on the floor with a sopping wet sponge in a soap dish now and the soundhole plugged up. Since cracked top guitars go pretty cheap I'm gonna start buying 'em up and fixing the cracks. When I posted about the artwork I did on the Elite on AGF a builder there posted pics of artwork he has someone do on guitar tops he builds. Frankly, it looked amateurish compared to my airbrush skills. I can airbrush designs right over visible crack lines and create art guitars. I have a great friend with a spray booth at his home who was the "clear coat artist" at the motorcycle factory where I was a pinstriper for 4 years. I can have him do the final finishing on them for me. I've absorbed a ton of useful new experience with these two guitars and my research. I can catapult it into some fine guitar acquisitions. Gonna try to stick with O's though as they present infinitely less finishing work than woodboxes. Anybody got any cracked O's they wanna unload? |
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | The crack is now fixed. I had a minor scare when I noticed a crack running all the way around the headstock on the back of the neck. I thought I would have a pile of junk as soon as I strung it up to pitch when the headstock would snap off. I got a Dremel tool and routed the crack all the way around and discovered it was through the massively thick finish these old O's had and not at all into the wood. I filled the groove I routed with clear epoxy and you have to look very close to tell I did anything there. Nest procedure is to fill the extreme ding on the top that goes thru the wood. I have removed and adjusted the saddle height. Possibly later today I'll be putting some 80/20's on her and taking it for a spin.
I have decided I will be selling this one as soon as I'm done with it. All that is really left is to mask it off and respray the bowl to tidy it up. I think it would make an excellent first guitar for a student at the price I'm gonna let it go for, $225.00. It would function as well as a more top line beater for someone at that price as well. With the Elite, I have the O I need for now until I can find a 1537 at the right price. Plus, any day now my luthier built OM with a soundport will be being shipped to me by Dr. Conant and I should be set with guitars until they put me in a grave and my two sond divide them up. |
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Location: Denver, CO | DaveKell - I should be set with guitars until they put me in a grave and my two sond divide them up. Sure, Dave! I predict that this time next year you'll have 3 or 4 completely different guitars. Hopefully some of them will still be Os! |
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | dwg preacher - 2013-03-06 11:41 AM
DaveKell - I should be set with guitars until they put me in a grave and my two sond divide them up. Sure, Dave! I predict that this time next year you'll have 3 or 4 completely different guitars. Hopefully some of them will still be Os!
I'll have to defer to your judgement jonboy. You know me better than anybody else here. There are two more O's at the place I got this one, including a cutaway Balladeer special with a flawless cedar top and OP30 preamp. I've talked 'em down to $500 for it and almost bought it. I'll be stopping in from time to time to see if it's still there. Only thing I didn't like about it is the logo on the headstock is a black outline only. Of course, I could fill it by hand with metallic gold paint as it looks a bit cheap the way it is now and is barely visible. This is the next guitar I'll be obsessing over! |
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November 2011
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | A lady flew into Dallas/Ft. WOrth airport today from Washington state and drove over to my house in a rental car and plopped down $225 for this guitar. It feels good to have rescued a 1979 GC O from a shelf it had sat on for nearly a year with nobody interested in it because of the cracked top. My repair job came out excellent and I made a $125 profit for about 3 hours of work. I cruised music stores today and found one with a display of 3 ovations, all USA, with cracked tops. I told the guy I had recently repaired two cracked tops on O's and I was interested in a sunburst Balladeer he had. He wouldn't budge a penny from his $250 price for it. Same price on all 3 actually, including one with some serious cracks. I'll stop in again in a few months to see if any of them have sold yet and offer him $150 apiece for the two best ones. This is getting to be fun! |
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Glen Campbell for $100...
