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Got to Help on This Les Paul Repair
http://mowrystrings.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10137&t=47607
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Author:  Woodie G [ Sun Apr 10, 2016 7:17 am ]
Post subject:  Got to Help on This Les Paul Repair

This repair was - from what I have seen - pretty routine. Some missing wood and lacquer, but good long grain gluing area, and the owner was kind enough to avoid causing too much additional damage due to handling or curiosity about whether the two parts would rejoin. After a tense session using the surgical loups, vessel clamps, and various dental picks to remove each offending splinter, we got this one back together with hot hide and our neck splint fixture.

We see a fair number of repaired and re-broken Gibson head stocks, as well as amateur neck repair attempts, so the last thing the boss wanted to see was the usual shaded or 'sunbursted' shortcut repair. I ended up doing the fine point and airbrush work and most of the top lacquer coats...with extensive 'over the shoulder' surveillance, of course. gaah

The toughest part of these sort of repairs seems to be gaining and maintaining alignment of the fragments of the peg head with neck shaft. I found some useful posts on fixtures and different approaches to disguising the damage on several other web sites, as well as in the archives here, but ended up using the existing shop fixture for the job.

If you look carefully, you can see why the boss made me strip the strings, tuners, and truss rod cover to retouch the transition area of the neck and to rebuff the peg head near the upper truss rod cover screw. Came out better, but the customer was at that point 20 minutes out from pickup, so no 'final-final' shots. :oops:

Thanks, OLF!

Author:  Chris Pile [ Sun Apr 10, 2016 8:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Got to Help on This Les Paul Repair

Very well done!

Author:  jfmckenna [ Sun Apr 10, 2016 8:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Got to Help on This Les Paul Repair

Broken neck? What broken neck?

:D

Author:  Johny [ Sun Apr 10, 2016 11:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Got to Help on This Les Paul Repair

Clean!

Author:  Mike2E [ Mon Apr 11, 2016 1:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Got to Help on This Les Paul Repair

Very neat job

Author:  Alex Kleon [ Mon Apr 11, 2016 2:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Got to Help on This Les Paul Repair

That's better than new!

Alex

Author:  SteveSmith [ Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Got to Help on This Les Paul Repair

Excellent repair. Any chance you can share a photo of your shop fixture? I have an acoustic with a broken headstock in the shop that eventually needs to be repaired so it can go to a good home.

Author:  Woodie G [ Tue Apr 12, 2016 1:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Got to Help on This Les Paul Repair

I'll see if I can get a shot or two...those are not yet on the Google Drive! A richly deserved weekend off coming up, so it may be a few days. From what I recall, it is based loosely on David Collin's fixture, which is in this thread on Frets.net (yes...I lurk in many, many forums... wow7-eyes)

http://fretsnet.ning.com/forum/topics/headstock-repair-jig-that-i-would-love-to-get-the-plans-for?id=2177249%3ATopic%3A118560&page=1#comments

Author:  SteveSmith [ Tue Apr 12, 2016 6:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Got to Help on This Les Paul Repair

That's it Woodie. Thanks. I'll be headed up to David's shop at the end of this month so I should be able to see it in person.

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