Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi

A friend of mines managed to snap the headstock off one of his guitars. Its a cheapie and he's decided its not worth paying to get it repaired professionaly. He asked me if I fancied having a go at fixing it.

As you can see from the photo its pretty much an identical break to one shown in Frets.com
here

So I'm basicaly planning to try and fix it in the same way.



The only difference is that there are a few flakes of wood missing. So I was thinking that maybe epoxy glue might be a good idea since it is better at filling gaps ?

One thing that concerns me is the posibility of gluing up the truss rod. I was thinking of trying to protect it with a piece of cling film or maybe tape.

Any suggestions or advice greatly apreciated !

Thanks

Richard

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Richard

Richard-
Thanks for asking this question- I've got a similar project in the closet(offshore Gibson/Epi 335), waiting for inspiration!
I'll be watching for the answers here!
...bump...

Cheers
John

Heh, I also have a Chinese Epi 335 needing a similar repair - not a complete break, and no missing wood, but I also worry about gluing the truss rod, which in my case may be harder to get to cover if needed.

My friend who owns the guitar is not chomping at the bit to get it back yet, but it has been sitting there for a while

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I only use epoxy on neck breaks when the wood is really damaged
and lots of missing chunks. This looks like a really clean break so
hot hide glue would be my first choice. If you are not geared up for
that, then original Titebond would be acceptable. After glueing the
parts together, you can fill any missing areas with a good filler like
thickened epoxyy. I like to use Water Putty for the filler if it is a dark
finished neck. It sands easily and readily takes a stain.

To keep glue out of the truss rod, Scotch tape would probably work.

Thanks Barry.

Theres a small partly detached flake of wood (for want of a better word !)near the truss rod . Should I try to glue this down first before doing the main glue up . Or is it better just to make sure I get some titebond under it when gluing the 2 parts together ?

John & Jim

Funnily enough this is also a 335 copy.

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Richard

It would probably be better to glue the small chip first.

One important aspect I left out of my first post is clamping. With a sloped joint like this you can't just put a C-clamp on it and expect it not to slip. You need to keep the parts in perfect alignment which requires some special setup. I would clamp the neck face down to my work bench with the fretboard in contact with the bench top. Dry fit the headstock to get it perfectly aligned, and then clamp a block of wood onto the work bench at the end of the headstock to keep it from slipping away from the neck. (You may also need blocks to prevent sideways slipping.) Then make a curved caul to fit over the break. Use wax paper to keep stuff from sticking and glue her up. Don't worry about cleaning squeeze out until after the glue cures several hours or overnight. Take the clamps off and use a rag dampened with warm water to clean up the dried glue. It will come off the finished surfaces with a little wiping. Good luck!

Thanks

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Richard

Barry - Thanks , I did as you suggested and it worked great.

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Richard