My Experience Doing Repair Work

VegasGeorge

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So, I brought back this cute little Quatro from a Caribbean cruise many years ago. I forget which island it came from. But it developed a little crack between the top and the side. I decided I'd glue it back tight, but couldn't figure out how to get the glue in there. Then I had a brain storm. I'd use the vacuum cleaner to create a bit of negative pressure inside the instrument, and just suck the glue into the crack! I got a good bead of glue in place, and put the end of the vacuum hose into the sound hole. The effect was dramatic and immediate. Scrunch!!! The entire body of the instrument imploded and went to pieces. All I had left was a shattered mess hanging off the neck by the strings. So, I really can't recommend that method, just in case you were thinking about doing something similar.
 
It seemed like a good idea at first, but in the end it really sucked ...
 
Professor Dyson says you should have used his vacuum.

The instrument still would have imploded; it's just that, like a magician vanishing a dove, there would be a perfect clean up of the busted pieces.

Ta daa.
 
Sounds like an example for a video series....."Good ideas gone wrong".

I am sorry about your instrument, must not have seemed very funny at the time, glad you can laugh about it now.
 
Bummer. I think I heard a similar story from a builder who tried to vacuum out the last little bits of debris through the sound.
 
I'm truly sorry for your loss.

But I am at a loss too...I don't get it - did it collapse because the suction produced a venturi effect? or was there a very tight industrial seal around the sound-hole and mouth of the vacuum tube? like in vacuum-forming?

Or was there plenty of clearance around the inside diameter of the sound-hole, i.e., for air to be pulled from the outside, and despite that, the vacuum still caused the instrument to implode...

I might have tried something like this myself, so I appreciate gaining a full understanding of how and why this happened this way...
 
I think there needs to be a video of this, as a cautionary tale to others who may think that vacuuming the sound hole is a good idea.
 
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