D-40 Construction Question

[Don]

My '72 D-40 has dark grey strips of 1.25" wide material that adhere to the sides of the guitar at regular intervals all round the inside of the box. A couple of them seem to be starting to peel away. Can someone please tell me what they are and if having one peel away somewhat should concern me? It's coming loose down the sides not the middle. Thanks in advance for anyone who might provide the answer!

Cheers!

Don

 

[adorshki]

My '72 D-40 has dark grey strips of 1.25" wide material that adhere to the sides of the guitar at regular intervals all round the inside of the box. A couple of them seem to be starting to peel away. Can someone please tell me what they are and if having one peel away somewhat should concern me? It's coming loose down the sides not the middle. Thanks in advance for anyone who might provide the answer!
Don

It was intended to help prevent cracking of the sides. Glue's prob'ly just finally dried up/giving out. If the sides haven't cracked already it's probably gonna be fine as long as you keep it properly humidified. Don't know if trying to re-glue or just touch up is troublesome or worth the effort...Anybody else know?
Oh hey BTW, Welcome aboard!

 

[GardMan]

Don't know what they're called, but as adorshki said, they are there to reinforce the sides and help prevent them from cracking. Some builders use them, others don't. All but one (my D-46) of my Guilds have them, tho' on the D-55 they are actually strips of rosewood veneer. 1.25" seems a little wide... the strips on mine are all only ~0.5". A couple can be seen in this pic of my D-35:

 

[Don]

You're right, on closer inspection they probably are closer to .75" wide. Okay, I won't worry about them. My brand new (To me!) '86 D212M doesn't have them. Not sure if my son's 90s era D4G does or not. I'll have to check next time I see him.

Thanks for the welcome and the great advice. This place is like being locked up in a magical treasure cave. I have to remind myself to eat!

Cheers!

Don

 

[yettoblaster]

My '93 D4-NT doesn't have the reinforcement strips in the sides, but my '06 D40 does.

I think they're a good idea with solid sides to limit crack travel should the guitar get bashed.

 

[Nigel Wickwire]

My '75 D25m has them. They appear to be made of canvas. Perhaps, that's what your D40 uses, as well. As Dave noted, they are about 1/2 inch wide. The edges are starting to peel up in a couple of places. I'm not too worried about it. If one became completely detached, I'd probably save and re-attach it on some future trip into the bowels of the guitar. Wouldn't consider it an emergency though.

Most of the time when I've seen these reinforcing strips, they're made out of a type of wood that fairly closely matches the back and sides.

~nw