A week or so ago a friend of mine pulled out his iPhone and called me over. He showed me a very sad picture. No, there was no three legged puppy in the picture. It was a picture of a badly smashed Taylor acoustic guitar that belongs to Chicago-based singer / songwriter Micah Walk.

Walk was playing a private gig at a party. As is often the case at parties, along came a drunk dude. In and of itself this is not a big problem. It becomes a problem, however, when said drunk dude knocks your Yamaha mixer over onto your early 90s Taylor 410.

"It did not land in a good spot." says Walk.

Seeing the opportunity to provide assistance, I though to myself, "who better to ask about fixing a smashed Taylor than Bob Taylor?

"Yes, it's fixable, but one could buy a used guitar, probably straight from us for less money," says Taylor. "We've fixed rare guitars that are not replaceable that were as bad as this, but I don't think the expense of fixing this would make sense."

Taylor referred Gearwire and Walk to Taylor customer service manager Glen Wolff.

"I agree with Bob. The expense in repairing this guitar would exceed the cost of a new one," says Wolff. "It appears to be a model 310. If so, we can offer a full body replacement for $900."

Of course the picture makes it impossible for someone to ID the guitar's model, and in fact the guitar in question is 410 that's almost 30 years old reframes, as it were, the repair question.

"The reason I'm more interested in a repair than a replacement is because I really like how this guitar sounds now that it's nearly 20 years old. It's broken in, ya know? [Ed. Note: ha!] I'm not concerned about the looks of the guitar, so even if the repair looked bad I'd be totally fine with it. I just want it to be functional."

Wolff responded quickly with a word from Taylor's best restoration guy. The price tag on a repair like this would be $1,200.

"You almost have to take the body completely apart to repair it," says Wolff.

Overall Wolff's news was not good for Walk.

"When a guitar is damaged as badly as Micah's, we usually discourage them from having it repaired. We offer neck and body replacements when the damage is extensive. We can offer repairs for customers with guitars made with rare woods that can not be replaced," he says "Or if their sentimental attachment keeps them from wanting a full body replacement, and the cost is not an issue. As you saw with Micah's guitar, a new body was $900 and the repair was $1,200. The repair is more work than building a new body!"

Wolff says that while it is hard to tell precisely how a guitar would be repaired without having it in hand, he can take an educated guess.

"On Micah's guitar we would most likely remove the neck and bridge, remove the top and back of the body, replace the side, piece together the back, reassemble the body, rebind the body, refinish the body, reattach the neck and bridge and finish up with a full set up to get it playing great, of course," says Wolff.

He adds that the guitar will sound a little different -- after all it was smashed -- but it will have the same fundamental characteristics as before. It will sound like a Taylor mahogany dreadnought with a Sitka spruce top.

"I imagine it will sound a little different to Micah," says Wolff. "He may even like it better after the repair. Tone is so subjective."

Walk decided to have Taylor repair the guitar.

What have other musicians done when they ran into similar problems, not just with valuable instruments but with sentimental ones? Even when a repair price vastly exceeds the objective street value of your instrument, can you really put a price on a long term relationship with a trusted axe? If any of you readers out there have had an acoustic repair horror story, please let us know at webmaster@gearwire.com.

Also, if you have a smashed Taylor you want repaired you can reach Taylor's customer service department at 800-943-6782.