Repairing a crack in a moulded 4003 case

[henry5]

As per the thread title, what's the best way to do this? Is there a preference in terms of type of glue etc?

[jingle_jangle]

Shaun, I wish I had good news, but in my experience there's no way to patch a molded RIC case and have it look good, too.

These cases crack in the areas where high stress on the plastic is affects an area where the vacuum-forming manufacturing process leaves the plastic itself thin and vulnerable around the edges.

In other words, on the sides of the latches.

The plastic here is typically less than a millimeter thick, and leaves no area for the glue to hold.

You can patch a case using 1.5 mm thick ABS sheet, cutting pieces about 3/4" X 1 1/2", and gluing them using a plastic solvent glue onto the outside of the case, over each crack. Apply the glue with a large artist's brush. The glue must then be allowed to harden for at least a week (preferably a month!) before the case is used. A good plastic solvent glue to use is Weld-On 3. Tube glues like Duco or super glues won't hold up for very long--don't use them.

You can effect a patch that is virtually invisible by disassembling the case and doing this on the inside of each crack. Lotsa work.

[henry5]

Hi Paul

I've been offered a case which has a crack in the bottom corner. I'm not so bothered about it looking great, more about structural integrity; it would be a gigging case and would likely get a fair bit of wear and tear anyway. However I also don't want it to get any worse if I can help it. Link is below (buyer has pulled out; I had next highest offer. It's going for comfortably less than half the price of a new one). Do you think it would be fixable for gigging?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :BODO:UK:1

[jingle_jangle]

That's an impact crack in a low-stress area, and you can expect it to pick up lots more bumps in regular use. Still, it will protect your bass in anything short of a hurricane or a car driving over it...

[Len]

Shaun, I wish I had good news, but in my experience there's no way to patch a molded RIC case and have it look good, too.

You can effect a patch that is virtually invisible by disassembling the case and doing this on the inside of each crack. Lotsa work.

How does the disassembly work? I have a crack on the face of one of these cases. I thought that I could patch it from the inside if I could take the innards out, but it's not obvious how to do that. Thanks!

My case looks like it took a pretty good whack. No damage at all to the guitar. The tolex case in my opinion looks nicer, but the newer cases look more protective.

[henry5]

Thanks Paul. I'll give it some thought tonight; for regular gigging I'm not sure I see the point in buying a new one if this will work.

[FretlessOnly]

They are a bear to fix cleanly. My 650D case got a corner bashed in during shipment back from RIC after some warranty work. Rather than send the guitar back again to deal with damages, I just bit the bullet and rigged it up myself.

Getting the innards out seemed near impossible; somewhat "brittle" styrofoam-ish material well glued in there. I took a long screwdriver and torqued it into the corner to push the dent out. ThIs fixed the dent but the crack inside the dent (sort of a flap of plastic), just wouldn't go back into the original spot. Super glue helped to seal it all up (rain infiltration would be my biggest concern with a crack), and it's serviceable, but not pretty.

[cassius987]

There's always "duct tape chic" if any of the more legitimate methods fail you... that's what I resorted to with one case. I don't mind because like Paul said in one of his posts, the case continues to do its job of protecting the instrument in spite of the crack. Maybe if the case builder (SKB I assume?) would instead stretch a thicker, faux-leather sort of material across the styrofoam shell these cases would not see so many cracks.

[jingle_jangle]

I have not taken one of the molded RIC cases apart, as they are really not made to be disassembled. I suppose I'd start by removing the aluminum extrusions. I'd be in trouble from that point. on.

HINT: Whenever you see rivets, you should think, "CALL AN EXPERT".

[doctorwho]

I have a cracked moulded case that came with the 330 DG, but I haven't tried doing any repairs on the cracks. Or the mould ...

[mikko]

My 4003 had a crack in one corner. It got a hard hit during the transportation. Itook the innards out of the case. They were pretty tightly glued, but with a help of a hot air gun (I think hair dryer can do it too because you can't too much heat anyway or you will melt the box) and long and wide screwdriver it was possible to take the styrofoam out without destroying it. Then I pushed the dent back from inside, added some suitable glue and added couple of layers of duct tape over the repaired area.
While stryfoam innards were already out, I fixed again the strap that prevent box to open too much. They are glued to box and might get loose after some years of use. I used pop rivets and and big washers. When the job was done I re-installed the styrofoam. The original glue was still OK, especially after a short heating with hot air gun, but just in case I added some glue from a hot glue gun.
It's not like new, but much better it was.

[rickaddict]

Hot glue gun? Hmmmm....Well, if removing and replacing the innards is possible to someone more talented/adventurous than I, then I might have something that could be of use to someone looking to repair a molded case with smashed feet or a cracked shell...

I had a couple 4003 cases in a storage facility that took in around 4 inches of water. The water was just rainwater and was only briefly in the storage unit, but it was enough to loosen up the glue and cause the linings to come detached and mold to set in. I have replaced the cases with new ones, but I kept the old cases around in case I ever needed spare case hardware. The shells on them have no cracks or broken feet, and all latches and handles work fine.

I'd sell them for, say $20 plus shipping?