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5 Attachment(s)
Charango top repair
I recently bought this charango for a few bucks in for parts/repair only condition with the top pulling up. I figure if I can't repair it it'll be nice wall art; people hang much uglier things costing much more on their walls and the gig bag it came with offset the cost as well. Anyway, is there any hope of repairing the top? I was thinking of just gluing and clamping the portion coming up; unfortunately it doesn't look there is much rim surface for the top to adhere to. I reduced string tension to nothing.
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Re: Charango top repair
Of course it can be fixed, but it is a situation where the cost of the repair (whether the cost is in time or dollars) will be more than the value of the instrument. Add to that the evident lack of quality in the construction and a repair becomes even less feasible.
If I wanted a good charango, I would get a better one. If I wanted a project but did not particularly want a good charango, I would repair this one.
As for how to repair, probably need to add some internal linings to improve the glue surface for the top, repair the separated top seam (or crack, whichever it is), re-glue top to the rim, looks like remove and re-glue bridge, and fix any other things that we can't see in the pictures. Several hundred dollars worth of repairs.
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Re: Charango top repair
Thanks for the input, I'll probably keep this on the side to practice repair skills somewhere down the line, and with a tourist grade instrument like this I won't be damaging a valuable instrument or anything. I paid just a little more than the gig bag is worth for it, so financially I'm not in the hole too much. I suppose the tuners are recyclable if need be as well.