Cracked headstock help

So i bought an Epi explorer bass off of da bay about a week ago. I got it for about half as much as they normally go for because it has a crack in the headstock.

Well tonight is the first night that I have really gotten a chance to sit down and try to fix this thing. And after closer examination I have a feeling that I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

I have watched and read nearly every luthier tutorial available and many of them seem to have a different approach to how to fix these things.

Now the way that mine is cracked I'm not sure whether or not I should try to crack or saw the thing off and glue it that way or if it would be a better move to glue it the way that it is.

By the way that the crack is running and how the wood is splintered, it seems as if the headstock is actually twisted a bit.

These are the pictures that were posted from the auction

http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/viewimage.x/00000000/my202/28epiKORINA032.JPG?vvid=3291051&allow_mailing_list=1&allow_track_link=1&track=0279d7c03c-92bd&sp=0&vsid=1&vgp=1&vimgs=28epiKORINA027.JPG,28epiKORINA028.JPG,28epiKORINA029.JPG,28epiKORINA030.JPG,28epiKORINA031.JPG,28epiKORINA032.JPG,28epiKORINA033.JPG,28epiKORINA034.JPG,28epiKORINA035.JPG,28epiKORINA0.JPG,28epiKORINA1.JPG,28epiKORINA2.JPG,28epiKORINA9.JPG

These pictures are better than the ones that I can take.

So before I take this thing to a luthier and drop all kinds of money on this thing...what are your suggestions for how to go about fixing this beast?

Just tried to take a look for ya and the link was broken. Try posting it again and we can take a look at it for you.

fixed

Well it is being held together in that picture pretty well.

If you could take the string tension off of it and see what if feels/looks like structure wise. Even if the picture quality isn't good but to be able to see the inside (if it is spread apart much at all) of the crack and how much of the fretboard is actually lifting off or if it is just enough to crack the finish.

Can't really see much from that photo, but based on what I can see, it dosn't look too bad. One of the best wood adhesives you can get is Franklins "Tite-Bond". It is available in just about any respectable hardware store. Take the guitar and support the neck with some type of padding. Sandbags work well if wrapped in something soft. GENTLY push the headstock to determine how much "working room" is within the crack.

Either by using a clamp or the assistance of a friend, hold the crack slightly open while pouring in your glue. Do not attempt to use the glue sparingly. Pour as much as the crack will hold. There will most certainly be areas affected by this break that you cannot see. Once you set your clamps, the glue will be forced into those areas also.

Release the headstock allowing it to return to it's normal position. wipe up any excess glue and clamp everything into position. Use maximum force on your clamps. If you don't see glue squeezing out from the break, you're not clamping hard enough. It may be necessary to make a clamping caul that duplicates the shape of the back of the neck for clamping. Do not simply use a flat base clamp on a round shaped wooden object. You will dent your neck if you clamp down as tight as you will need to. If you are concerned about tha caul becoming glued to the neck, use a layer of waxpaper between the neck and caul. Let this dry for 2-3 days and then it's time for clean-up and touch-up. Good luck TW P.S. I'm not trying to trivialize your damage but from the photo, I really don't see a significant challenge. If the damage is worse than shown, PM me and we can discuss it

That is a good basic crack tutorial. For your project I still recommend taking it apart and getting some better pics. There needs to be some confirmation on how deep that crack/sheer is running and what all parts are included.

One of the points of the forum is a knowledge library for all to see. While you probably know what you are doing TW, I'm not under minding that at all, it would be nice to keep repair based discussion in a public arena where others can learn from the case at hand.

I'm a Tite-Bond fan also, but I would have serious reservations about using Tite-Bond right out of the bottle on those cracks. I routinely cut my Tite-Bond about 25% with water, and on something like that I would consider thinning at least 50% and maybe using a 1:1 mix.

Unless those cracks can be opened up, or unless they're a lot more shallow than they look, I doubt regular Tite-Bond will wick anywhere near all the way thorough before it starts to set. You may not need a guitar expert per se, but I'd try to find somebody who's done some kind of wood working and ask them to take a look before I started gluing on that.

That's a good point. When I asked the OP to PM me ,I was simply trying to expedite solving his problem. Wasn't thinking about other folks reading the post for general interest.

No biggie man, just from someone who has learnt and continues to learn a lot from this entire forum, not just DIY

Completely unreadable statement that makes zero scense. The guy rebuilt a shattered neck and made it usable again. Whats wrong with that? And did a decent job too.

I can only imagine what our resident moron has come up with now in his endless ranting... thank god for ignore list... To bad I have to see his stupidity when people quote it....

Mr Brown

Its the result of national healthcare we got to look forward to.

Back to the matter at hand, another technique to strengthen any broken joint is to epoxy graphite rod sections into the joint. These can be obtained in various sizes from Stew-Mac and cut to length. One of the strongest epoxies you can use for this, is a product made for gunsmiths called Acra-Glass by Brownells. Brownells is the Stew-Mac of the gun world and if you do much guitar work, you might find some of their tools quite useful. If you do a repair of this type DO NOT get this stuff on the truss rod. Godzilla will not be able to break it loose. It comes in 2 consistencies, The red box is a thinner more syrup type of material. The green box is a thicker. paste type of material. The green sets up faster but the red flows better---your choice.

Best of luck TW

Thanks for the Brownells headsup TW. Nice site. A lot of good finishing supplies if you like natural finishes. Plus if there is one thing that I have learnt. There are many tools for working on guitars. There are also many tools that are much more inexpensive if you are able to us some creativity with give them multi-uses. Sometimes they make jobs easier as well. Again thanks for the source.

The Watthead missed the fact that the op bought a broken guitar and he's trying to fix it. Yes, someone was stupid. But not the op. John, lighten up and go back on your meds.

Please leave political comments out of this forum.

Thank you.

No Problem Issac.

John, I see your point. An ideal repair would be to get a replacement neck. But this is a case where it just isn't feasible. I doubt if you could find one to begin with. And if you did I don't think that would be cost effective. It is, after all a budget instrument. And yes, there is a possibility of losing some resonance. But not enough to really be a factor.

We're not discussing repair techniques for a turn of the century Martin. The OP has an Epi that probably wouldn't cost much over $500.00 brand new. You must take this into consideration when planning a repair. The lofty goal of being concerned about the acoustic transparenty of a repair has to be balanced with the fact that the OP's guitar (in it's current state) is incapable of making any sort of music.

I would be truly surprised if someone could factually prove the sonic differences between a neck with a rod epoxied in place for support and the effects that a 18-20" truss rod (which is present in most guitars) have on a guitar when compared to each other. The basis of any repair is, and always will be, to return any given instrument to a playable state.

Wow, great info, Tomm and most others! This is great, having another knowledgeable guy around here.

As for cracks about sound quality, consider the source. That's from the guy who considers good tone beating the {censored} out of throw pillows and tapping with a pencil. Playing a guitar is how to judge tone, not playing with it (or yourself). Oy vey.

John Watt, can I buy pot from you?

This past year bought a broken head stock epi lp...somewhat like your break but much more severe, had chunks missing and completely off. liberally used tite bond, set it in and then used latex tourniquet straps, e.g., 20-25 of them and wrapped them as tight as possible; let it dry for 3 days, used epoxy wood putty to fill in the rest of the missing chunks and then sanded. It came back together perfectly, can't tell except from the very slight sanding dimple on the back of the neck and slight discoloration...did not paint or refinish it. IMO the latex straps worked really well...probably better than clamps. And as for tone, it seems just fine and doubt if anyone could hear any difference.

If after gluing up, you had to do more, you could route out a couple of small length-wise slots and epoxy in some carbon fiber bars/rods for reinforcement.

I see so many of these Epi's with broken headstocks. A local GC sells them at a discount, they usually have a couple available. I don't know if the problem is a weaker grade of wood used in the China/Korea factories or just a really lousy job of packing. I wonder if the foreign factories harvest and mill their own wood for these guitar, or if we ship American mahogany to them.

Either way, the loss rate must be staggering considering how many I run into in my small corner of the world. TW