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I acquired this guitar today that obviously needs major surgery on the neck. It is a vintage (year unknown) Tal Farlow archtop, as far as I know. I am in Los Angeles and will be looking for a top luthier for this job.

I will write more later. Very late and been a long day....

Very nice. Should be a relatively easy repair in my opinion.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Really? You think so, Chris? Several people have told me it could be quite expensive to get it right. Several others advised to just sell it as is, but I have no plans of doing that.

Check out Brian's thread

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=44525

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

It won't cost a fortune to have it fixed, but get it done by a good luthier. And detune those strings and get the tension off that neck immediately! Looks to me like the string tension is pulling the crack open with only the peg head face lamination holding everything together. It is acting as a hinge--and possibly acquiring a bend in the process. Loosen the strings, put it in the case. Get it to the doctor as soon as you can. I've never played a Tal, but I think yours is a cool find.

Nothing to add other than sucker is sweet!

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Looks like a candidate for a set of splines. But it's soooo cool! Check what WudWerker did with this old beauty and some Preservation Polish.
viewtopic.php?f=10137&t=44161

First of all, Fumble, no: It's you guys who are soooooo cool. I've felt so welcome here since I first dropped in as a newb a couple months ago. And your post could not be more timely, cuz I was just gonna ask you folks (honest!) what kind of polish to use on this guitar once it gets to that point. I know I want something VERY gentle on that 60-year-old finish, and here you are giving me the keys to the kingdom. Thanks! I looked at that other thread and it's very cool.

But there's more. You guys are really gonna hate me now. There was a second guitar in this deal from the same seller that I haven't even shown you -- a really rawnchy 1967 Fender Tele with a lot of mojo.

It's late so I'm just gonna post a few pics below, but here's a link to the full album on Photobucket:

http://s28.photobucket.com/user/educatedguess417/library/1967%20Fender%20Telecaster?sort=3&page=1

It's kinda sick, actually. I'm certain I'll never run into another deal like this again. I feel very humbled and fortunate.

Unfortunately that is a pretty common break but the repair isn't that bad. Dan Erlewine describes it in his book on repairs, there should be lots of threads and descriptions on the internet - I think there are a couple on Frank Ford's site. I'll add one thing, don't try to do a lot of preliminary fitting - every time you try to push it together you'll bend little slivers of wood and make the fit that much worse. As Erlewine says, you get one chance. Get all the cauls, glue and everything ready, clean out any little slivers that don't look right, coat the glue, tap it together with a mallet, clamp and hope. I've used a slow setting epoxy on newer guitars that have broken headstocks like this - it has a very low viscosity and penetrates all the little crevices. HH might be a better choice on this old beauty.

Freeman, thanks, but I'm a newb and a novice. No way I would tackle this repair on my own. I live in L.A. and have a couple of good luthiers who can easily do the job.

Thank you for the input, though. I'll get there someday.....

Cool, I've never seen a Bigsby vibrato with a Fender logo.
I wonder if it has been sanded down and refinished at some point?

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