New cracks

Gheorghe

So I haven't played my taragot in about 6 weeks. It sat in its padded case (made by me), taken apart, cleaned and dried properly.

I took it out now and noticed that all the rings are loose (they were on tight, shimmed with fabric). And of course, there are at least 2 cracks in those sections. That would be the mortise part of the joint which is wrapped by the rings.

I'm in MD and we've had temperature changes, but at the house things are pretty stable at around 70 degrees on average. Humidity has not changed much in that time.

I'll fix it with loctite 406 superglue that I used to fix other cracks before. Then I'll shim the rings very well with thicker fabric. Any other suggestions? In the past, I also "banded" the cracks with thread and superglue, as they were located in the tenon part and ultimately covered by cork. In this case, there isn't much room to work with, as the rings go on top. I'll see if I can squeeze in a few turns of a thin thread there. The wood is only about 1mm thick in that area - what is normally done in these situations?

George
 
Gheorghe said:
I'll fix it with loctite 406 superglue that I used to fix other cracks before. Then I'll shim the rings very well with thicker fabric. Any other suggestions? In the past, I also "banded" the cracks with thread and superglue, as they were located in the tenon part and ultimately covered by cork. In this case, there isn't much room to work with, as the rings go on top. I'll see if I can squeeze in a few turns of a thin thread there. The wood is only about 1mm thick in that area - what is normally done in these situations?

George
Click to expand...

Instrument is now fixed. Total of 3 cracks. It's amazing how well the 406 can seep into the thinnest cracks. I also wrapped several turns of strong thread (with superglue) around those sections before putting the rings back on (shimmed with fabric).

This thing is a Frankenstein now...
 
I notice significant humidity swings in my house - southeast Michigan. I use a temp/humidity digital thermometer that you can buy in Target to keep track of it all. I keep humidity stable with a humidifier. But It swings terribly here in the past week from a low of 19% (cold and dry) humidity to above 40% (warmer and raining). I normally keep it at 30-38 unless it goes above naturally. This not only for the instruments but I prefer humidity above 25 as my skin does not dry out.

You have an interesting situation. I'm not familiar with taragots so I've never seen them react to humidity. But I hope it doesn't expand too much. Did you oil the wood well when you cleaned it all up ?
 
Oh yeah, I'm good about oiling.

I just realized though that a February gig in NYC might have been the culprit - after the show we were in a rush, and I just did some quick cleaning + drying of the bore before packing up and hitting the road. Normally I let it sit after playing before putting it back in the case.

The wood in the cracked sections is only about 2mm thick, so that area is vulnerable.
 
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