A friend of mine brought over a D-35 which had suffered a trauma.  I promised I wouldn’t ask questions.  It had taken a blow on the upper bout which left the point of impact splintered and several long cracks on the back.  We needed a way to preserve the curve of the bout and apply clamping presure.  We decided to add a piece of veneer behind the damaged area to bridge the damage.  To apply clamping pressure we cut several strips of veneer that would conform to the curve and put a thin sheet of metal on the surface that would come into contact with the glue.  I wanted to use hide glue for this repair for a couple of reasons. It would not interfere with the finish and I wanted to glue the splinters in place individually with the hot hide glue to hold them in place and then use hot clamps to reactivate the glue for clamping into the final shape.

I didn’t get a proper before photo but here we are gluing the upper bout with heated pieces of sheet metal and veneer as a clamping pad to conform to the curve.  With the clamps off you can see the spider web of cracks.

We finished gluing all the pieces together and reglued the binding.  Most of the ugliness was a result of the chipped and uneven finish. With a little sanding the cracks almost disappear.

I used a little amber tinted lacquer to match the original color.  The binding, which was bright white after sanding, now matches.  I will need to build up the lacquer until the pores and small fissures are filled.