Members Freeman Keller Posted August 29, 2014 Members Share Posted August 29, 2014 This could be subtitled "mothers, don't let your children leave their guitars out on stands...." In the past year I have fixed eight broken headstocks. When I was asked to give an estimate on this one I turned it down - I said that first it was a very difficult break and second there was no way I was going to try to match the finish. The shop asked me to reconsider - the guitar belonged to a kid who was heartbroken at the damage and couldn't afford a new one. I told them that I would try - but to expect a visible line where the repair was made on both sides of the headstock. While this looks like a "clean break" it is actually pretty hard to fix. Think of laying the fingers of one hand on top of the other and gluing them together - that is a nice long "scarf" joint with lots of gluing surface - that's the kind of break I like to fix. For this one think of gluing the tips of the fingers of one hand to the tips of the other - that is more what we have here. Add to that the fact that there are all sorts of little splinters of wood that are in the way of the joint sliding together. In fact the experts on this kind of repair caution not to do any trial fitting - you get one chance, do it with glue. I cleaned out the little pieces of splinters with a dentist's probe And got everything ready. Two flat pieces of wood covered with waxed paper, some clamps, some slow set epoxy in both black and clear and some cherry red stain. Also a little plastic headed hammer to tap it together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted August 29, 2014 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2014 I performed the ritual incantations to the glue gods and mixed up two dabs of epoxy. This stuff cures in a couple of hours and becomes very fluid before setting. I'm going to try putting the black stuff in the top of the crack and the red in the back at the same time - the squeeze out will fill the crack with hopefully the right color. I have also rubbed paraffin wax on the headstock right up to the edge of the cracks - I don't want any epoxy sticking to the outside if I can help it. Put everything together, smacked it with the mallet to seat the pieces and clamped it up It came out OK, but the tuner holes had some squeeze out so I reamed them out clean. By the way, when I first started I noticed some white stuff in the tuner holes - it was polishing compound from when Epiphone buffed the headstock. Stop and think about that for a minute - they left a bunch of abrasive stuff in next to the little gears on the tuners..... Not too impressive, eh? Anyway, I cleaned all that crap out and reamed the holes back to correct size. I told the kid that I could just lightly polish the repair or I could many hours into trying to drop fill it and make it better, but there was still going to be a line. He said this was good enough and I agree He promised to be more careful in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted August 29, 2014 Members Share Posted August 29, 2014 Wow, never seen a break there before. Tough job, glad he is happy. What did you charge him? As it's an Epi, I'd have just bought a new one but I get he didn't have much cash. He can play now, most importantly. Good on ya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted August 29, 2014 Members Share Posted August 29, 2014 You get points on that one! Especially ion helping out a kid who may become a be5tter person thru music, and realizing the fact that you helped him out. Good job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 It was nice for you to have compassion on that kid and take on what was obviously a very difficult repair. And you did a good job too - nicely done all the way around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted August 29, 2014 Author Members Share Posted August 29, 2014 Wow, never seen a break there before. Tough job, glad he is happy. What did you charge him? As it's an Epi, I'd have just bought a new one but I get he didn't have much cash. He can play now, most importantly. Good on ya. No, most of the time it is into the area routed out for the truss rod nut - that is notoriously weak on Gibsons and their clones. My estimate was two hours of labor for the basic fix, two more if I tried to restore the finish. I charged him for one and a half hour - my rate is $30 per. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundcreation Posted August 30, 2014 Members Share Posted August 30, 2014 My bet is the kid was playing pete townsend and smashed it. Nice job by the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Danhedonia Posted August 31, 2014 Members Share Posted August 31, 2014 Wonderful job and story. Highly reminiscent of a HS fracture on my ooooooooold Sonex 180 that my Dad (who is a pretty good woodworker as a hobby) repaired with a similar visible crack. The funny thing is that as a kid, I did not care one whit about the fracture line/cosmetic damage. I just wanted to rock and was so glad I could. I'm sure that kid is wailing away on his axe this weekend and you should congratulate yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Emory Posted September 1, 2014 Members Share Posted September 1, 2014 Well done. For some reason won't let me hit "like" button for other posts. Hopefully that split will remind him every time he tunes up to take care. I winced when I saw the photo. Phantom pain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted September 1, 2014 Members Share Posted September 1, 2014 I can see pics now so yeah, nasty break but good on you for fixing it. Let's hope the kid will be more careful from now on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RonsMidLifeCRXS Posted September 8, 2014 Members Share Posted September 8, 2014 Ouch! It hurts to look. I feel YOUR PAIN! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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