Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi All

I just found this site this morning and joined.

The headstock of my Ibanez Artcore AFB200 bass broke off from behind the nut to about four inches down the back of the neck. I glued it back on yesterday with TiteBond. Before doing so I rubbed candle wax all over the truss rod and onto the chamber groove for just in case any glue got in there it will hopefully not stick.
Anyways, my next step is to fill in the gouges that are left on the neck and also to do somethnig about the chipped, cracked and dented finish. I'm not looking for a pro job and I could care less how it looks afterwards. (This bass is a 2'nd.) All I want is for the end result to be smooth and playable.
So, what should I use to fill the gouges in the mahogany?
After filling and drying, should I just sand away the cracked, chipped and dented finish and fill and then apply new finish?
Lastly, what do I use to refinish?

All help is greatly appreciated.

Well

some wood use bondo.

others wood use commercial wood fillers

some makes their own fillers...sawdust and white glue, or epoxies or CA.

some wood "melt in" furniture restores wax.

Regarding finish....best to determine what the existing finish is and follow suit.

If it is lacquer, then you can simply apply new lacquer which will "melt or dissolve" into the cracks and cure.

Quick and dirty...bondo and a spray can.


blessings
the
Padma

_________________
.

Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

Pictures are often helpful when seeking advice on repairs.

Pat

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com

The CA (super glue) and sawdust trick works great, but can be messy and a pain to sand smooth. The advantage to CA and sawdust is that the glue can soak into the original wood for a more solid 'stick'. Also can be a real joy to get off your hands!!!

Bondo or similar filler (wood or other) should do fine. For the finish, rattle-can will do if you aren't too worried about looks, though you may need to do some sanding to get a smooth transition between old and new finish.

-Matthew

Here are a couple of pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25506184@N05/

BrownAle,

Are the pictures after gluing it up?

It looks like a pretty clean break, lucky for you.

If it were me, and I didn't care about the appearance, I'd go with CA. After getting it smooth, you could use black from a rattle can to sort of extend the the black further up the neck.

Pat

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Looking at your photos make me think this neck was broken before and repaired. The black finish on the back of the headstock looks like a coverup job to me. Anyone else think that? I would just sand it down fill with a filler. Like someone mentioned bondo is great for this stuff and they now sell a bondo just for wood thats natural in color unlike the pink car filer. Then i would just extend the black paint down far enough to cover it up.