Can my guitar be fixed if a piece of wood chipped off?

Question

I was changing the strings on my acoustic guitar, and when I was taking out a bridge pin, I heard something chip off inside the guitar. I found out that a piece of wood chipped off where the pins come through on the inside. Now the pin won t stay in when I try and put in a new string. Can this be fixed? If so, does anyone know how much it might cost?

Answer 1

Wood can always be glued back in place or replaced. The question is *what* fell off, and how much work is involved in repairing it? Without pictures, we can only guess. The underside of the bridge is reinforced with a wooden piece called a "bridge plate". It really sounds like you damaged this. That would explain why the bridge pin won't stay in.



There are several fixes for this. Probably the *correct* solution is to have a luthier replace the bridge plate. If your guitar is expensive or vintage, this is definitely the way to go. No matter what you decide to do, at least have it looked at. Your local guitar shop can give you a free estimate of repairs, and then you can decide how to proceed.



If you have an inexpensive guitar.....say, under a couple of hundred bucks....it's not going to be worth paying somebody to replace the bridge plate. You might consider installing a "PlateMate".

http://www.mitchelsplatemate.com/platemate



Stewart MacDonald sells tools for building and repairing guitars. They have a tool for everything, including bridge plate repair. Probably not a cost-effective solution for one repair, but their video gives a good overview of how the bridge plate works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSm4kMSlIYo



I repeat: without photos, we can only make guesses as to what is actually wrong and how to make the appropriate repairs. Taking it to a guitar tech is the only way to know for sure. I've posted some possible fixes, but this is only to give you an overview of the possibilities. Good luck!

Answer 2

Repairing your guitar might cost more than buying a new one. I'm not sure about that, but guitars are made to very precise specifications. Variations of a tenth of a millimeter make a difference in the performance of a guitar, and the type of wood also matters a great deal. But check around.

Answer 3

Without a lot more information or without actually seeing the damage it's impossible to say. Removing a bridge pin shouldn't have chipped a piece of wood off but if a fairly large piece has broken off then you have problems.



I guess you don't know much about fixing guitars or you wouldn't have posted your question here. I'd say do NOT mess about with it yourself - you could make things worse. Have it looked at by so eobe who knows what they're doing. Try a music store.



Good luck.

Answer 4

its possible, but you probably need to find sonneone that will do it

Answer 5

Wood glue is fairly strong, if you can fit the loose chip in place, and clamp it while it dries.

Answer 6

all i can say is to take it to some local music shops, call ahead and look around online if they fix or repair such issues. then you can take it there and ask for a quote on how much it'll cost to repair, and estimate of how long.



i know this doesn't really help, but it'll give you a start of what to do.