understanding seam seperation and repair work

[shekhar]

I own a martin dx1rae its fairly new 8 months .... The other day i noticed a crack in it...i was stunned later found out that it was a center seam seperation its about 3 inches big below the bridge ...since im in india very few good luthiers here ..i gave it to the best person i could find .. They give it back to me after 20 days ...just a day ago ..... Saying they glued it and put some cleats on it for stopping further damage...but i can still see that stupid crack.... !! And i hate it... Have they done a good job ?? I thought after working on it the seperation wont be visible...but its still there ...as it was .... Any answers would be appriciated...

[uncle duke]

I was looking at an old dreadnaught plan, not sure if a Martin plan but probably, and I noticed the bracing pattern with your guitar has less and thinner wood used for bracing.  

 

If it is a level surface on top after the cleats I'd think they tried to do the best that they could do.  As long as it stays flat when fully strung tension that may be as good as you can get. 

[FiddleDoug]

It's very difficult to get cracks to disappear. Part of it is getting the crack glued and stabilized, and perhaps the bigger part is the touch up of the finish afterwards. Retoucthing is a very difficult thing to get done correctly, and can be quite expensive due to the time involved.

[Jeff White]

Not being able to see it, it's hard to comment on, but that never stopped me before!  As Doug mentioned, the touchup is tough and a light colored spruce top with  a clear poly finish over it would seem more than difficult to hide, not to mention not worth it on that guitar.  It's possible that the crack is so visible because the repair guys didn't clean it well enough.  Not sure without seeing it up close.   

[Pate Bliss]

but i can still see that stupid crack.... !! And i hate it...

If the crack is stable now, but only visible where it used to be, you should be happy with that.  It would have been good for both of you if he'd told you at the start what to expect, so you wouldn't be disappointed.   With some people the first dent on a new guitar is a traumatic thing.  At that point you either reject the guitar because you're too focused in this case on the instrument itself, or continue to use it to make music.  When you are focused on the instrument itself it impedes your ability to play more than anything else does.  The ultimate in being focused on the instrument is to become an instrument maker   If you have to think about the crack, think about it as your guitar's first story in a long, long life full of stories.  To me, a repair done in India would be a nice story, so I'd want it to be visible...