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Your opinion on a repair for this cracked headstock? Guess the guitar for a bonus point.


madh0us3

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Yes. Gibson Les Paul with a cracked headstock, big shock right?

 

I just picked this up yesterday through a trade. I saw the crack on it and decided that I needed some extra excitement and I took it anyway. IMHO I still came out ahead on the trade.

 

I tuned it up and played for a couple hours this morning and it seemed to stay in tune pretty well. The mojo seemed a little.. off.. on it if you know what I mean, but I have not messed with the intonation at all yet and I haven't really gotten comfortable with it (tuning keys seem more sensitive than I'm used to but this is my first real LP). It seemed like it was going out of tune a hair but on re-tune it was still good. Maybe it's giving in while I'm playing and then going back to normal when I'm not playing? That may have been in my head.

 

The crack is so small, I don't know how deep I'll even be able to get glue into it. Do you think I should do a fix anyway before it gets worse? Should I wait and see if/when it's going to get worse and then fix it?

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Repair it now, at least that's my vote. A little CA glue (thin) today can prevent a major repair later. Apply a light, very light, extremely light amount of pressure to very slightly open the crack, just enough to ensure the Thin CA gets in deep, then clamp, with your hands as tight as you can for 15 seconds, or spray with Hotshot, though that will be difficult while clamping with your hands. You may have to lightly sand off any residue left behind with some ultra fine grit sandpaper. Also, CA glue will bond skin, so keep that in mind.

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I would argue for fixing it now and doing it right. If it totally breaks off the repair is both easier and more difficult - you will be able to work the glue in better but you'll have to make some clamping cauls to hold the alignment. If you do it now it will self align but you'll have more difficulty working the glue in. I'm assuming the head is broken thru to the headplate but it is still holding things together.

 

My first choice would be hot hide glue but most people can't do that (and you don't get much working time). Second choice is AR (Titebond). Wedge the crack open as best you can, clean out any dirt or bits of splinters, work the glue up inside the crack as deeply as possible ( I would use a thin probe and a pipette to push it up in the crack, then clamp between a couple of blocks with some waxed paper against the front and back of the headstock.

 

This unfortunately is almost a textbook Gibson headstock crack. It may open up again, the best fix is to spline it or put on a back strap. I would not use CA or epoxy (or gorilla glue or anything else) - I make scarf joined headstocks with AR and if its done right it will be stronger than the parent wood.

 

btw - the reason it seems to be going out of tune is that you probably are opening the crack - keep tuning it up and sooner or later it will break off.

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I got a 1974 Gibson LPC and a 1971 Gibson Flying V Medallion Series guitars, both have valutes that strengthen and keep the guitars necks from snapping.

Gibson should start building guitars with values, considering the out rageous prices they are demanding these days 👹😤

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Just clamp the neck to a workbench, gently apply clamps to the headstock to open the gap. Force the glue in with a pipette and some sort of long probe - maybe a guitar string, eh?

 

IMG_3436_zpsrt3zawhv.jpg

 

Clamp it closed (the white cauls are a material that glue won't stick to, waxed paper would work also)

 

IMG_3437_zpslfkkhz8f.jpg

 

Clean up the squeeze out, don't try to fix the finish

 

IMG_3439_zpskedqdr34.jpg

 

Because this was a 12 string and the break was pretty bad I also added a carbon fiber spline and a back strap - that is always a good idea but I think from the pictures of this break that simply gluing it with AR will be sufficient.

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Any particular recommendation on which bottle of "Titebond" to use Freeman? It looks like they sell a few different types... Titebond original' date=' Titebond Ultimate, Titebond Premium, etc. etc.[/quote']

 

 

Titebond Original with the red label. LMI's white glue is basically the same thing but you have to order it, you can buy Titebond at any hardware store. My other choice would be hide glue but stay away from the bottled stuff (Franklin). For headstock repairs with badly damaged wood and lots of splinters some folks will use slow setting (24 hour) epoxy but I had a failure with it and have gone back to Titebond or HHG. The problem with CA or epoxy is that if you do have a future failure (and odds are good that you will) its almost impossible to clean the old stuff out to re-reglue it and glue bonds very poorly to old glue.

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Here's mine. I don't know what glue was used - it was broken / repaired when I bought it.

 

I've had the guitar for ten years and not had any issues with it.

 

I like the three piece maple necks on Gibson guitars - I suspect they would be less prone to such breaks - but they don't use them on LPs any more.

 

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Titebond Original with the red label. LMI's white glue is basically the same thing but you have to order it, you can buy Titebond at any hardware store. My other choice would be hide glue but stay away from the bottled stuff (Franklin). For headstock repairs with badly damaged wood and lots of splinters some folks will use slow setting (24 hour) epoxy but I had a failure with it and have gone back to Titebond or HHG. The problem with CA or epoxy is that if you do have a future failure (and odds are good that you will) its almost impossible to clean the old stuff out to re-reglue it and glue bonds very poorly to old glue.

 

Thanks Freeman! :cool2:

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Thanks for the input everyone, I did it last night. Even with a good amount of pressure I couldn't get the Crack to open up much at all. The crack was too small to even get a pipette into, so I blew it out with compressed air, put some titebond in there, and blew as much into the crack as I could with the compressed air.

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Thanks for the input everyone' date=' I did it last night. Even with a good amount of pressure I couldn't get the Crack to open up much at all. The crack was too small to even get a pipette into, so I blew it out with compressed air, put some titebond in there, and blew as much into the crack as I could with the compressed air.[/quote']

 

My father used to heat glue and use a syringe to get it into the tight spots.

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