Acoustic crack: What would you do?

[DesmondWafers]

Picked up a taylor GA4, got it from a seller on reverb. It's a nice guitar, but within 10 minutes of playing I noticed this:







Now I tend to be the kind of guy to move guitars around a lot, so this concerns me. I payed like $750, not sure if it's worth negotiating down (to get it repaired) or just straight out returning it. Even if I get it repaired, I'm afraid of how it'll change the resale value. Anyway, what would you guys do? The guy had the guitar listed as basically mint.

Sorry for YUGE pictures.

[DesmondWafers]

Also, here's something interesting:



I know little about how acoustics are made, but I wonder if the crack is simply in the little black insert?

[daCod]

i highly doubt my acoustic holds a candle to your taylor - fender DG9 from late 90's - but it's had a finish crack on the black line that's in the same spot since forever. never got worse. never got better. think it happened with the change in humidity/seasons. you can feel it's there but just barely. your guitar looks like it's built a wee more better, especially with the threaded helicoil insert for the lower strap button screw - nice touch taylor! - so if it were me personally i wouldn't be too worried about it. might be worth contacting the seller to see if it's been there for a length of time, in which case they might have simply forgotten about it, or if it's semi recent OR wasnt there to start with and it's the shippers fault.

tis my .02

[Larry Mal]

That sucks. So, you got a good price on it, right? There's that to figure in.

Probably sounds good. I really doubt that crack makes any difference.

Hurts the value, so you probably would need to evaluate what you are doing here. If you like how it sounds, feel you got a good deal, and plan to keep it, then shake the tree and get it repaired. It's probably not a hard repair.

If you were thinking about moving it on, then you'll take a hit when you acknowledge either the state it's in, or the state it was in, fairly or unfairly.

I have a GA3-12, and like that very much. If it's anything as good as that then it's probably a keeper, especially at that price, even if you have to do a little repair.

[DesmondWafers]

I'm leaning towards keeping it, it just bugs me that I was expecting a "mint" guitar. The seller is going to give me a quote of how much he'll take off and I guess I'll go from there.

It came with an old DeArmond clip on pickup (230?) That actually sounds fantastic as well. The guitar player in me is saying keep it. Fuck. I probably wouldn't end up selling it as I sold my gs mini to fund this and it was my only acoustic.

The crack itself doesn't bother me, I'm sure it's a very easy fix and it honestly looks like it's not even in the wood, just the insert.

[Larry Mal]

I'm sure it's a million times the guitar that your old acoustic was, Taylors' have a great sound to them. I mean, you really got a good price on it.

I'd keep it. It might be all the acoustic you'll ever need.

[DesmondWafers]

I kept it. I was expecting around 100 or so off, but the buyer offered a ridiculous amount, so I had to take it. It ended up being less than my gs mini, so yeah, no brainer.

To me, martins and gibson acoustics always come off "cooler" or having some old world vibe, but I have yet to find one that I like as much as the taylors I've played. So thanks all for the advice.

[Larry Mal]

I'll tell you, Martins do the Martin thing, and it's a wonderful thing, and I'm still learning Gibsons. But Taylors are great acoustics, he kind of re-thought the acoustic guitar in some ways and it shows in the sound. I'm not saying it's "better" or "worse", but it's very strong, and very powerful, but it'll duck down into some clean and quiet sounds. Nothing not to like.

I think you made the right choice- congratulations!

[Embenny]

I'd put a dental mirror inside the guitar and check whether the crack goes all the way through, and whether anything else at the tail block looks loose or damaged.

The reason for this is that cracks in that location tend to either occur as a manufacturing defect, or as fall damage, in which case you need to look for loose braces, etc. It's not where humidity-related cracks occur (which are along the longitudinal lines of the grain in the top and/or back).

As long as there's no internal damage, and if the crack doesn't go all the way through, it's a stable location because it cannot progress past the margins of the top and back.

[DesmondWafers]

I actually just got back from my luthier. He checked the inside with a mirror, purely cosmetic. He told me not even to waste money having him put glue in there, it's stable. So yeah. 4 series taylor for $300 is not too bad of a deal.

[Embenny]

I actually just got back from my luthier. He checked the inside with a mirror, purely cosmetic. He told me not even to waste money having him put glue in there, it's stable. So yeah. 4 series taylor for $300 is not too bad of a deal.

Perfect. He's absolutely right. A surface crack is just that. That's an amazing deal!

[mgeek]

wow yeah...to me that just looks like a lacquer crack, in the same league as a finish crack around the neck pocket of a bolt on guitar. I'd have offered like, 50$ back haha!