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When you get near finished with a neck, bang it on a corner and the end of the trussrod area breaks through
Thankfully this is a guitar that isn’t “for “ anyone but me.
How do I make this as UN ugly a repair as possible?
Feeling sad



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Looks like it's time for a new neck.

Fill with strong epoxy then do some sort of inlay. But like TruckJohn said you really need a new neck. It might work, it might not, probably wont once you need to crank the truss rod. If it's a bolt on neck and easy to remove then you might consider trying it.

I feel your pain. I did that sometime back in the 80's. I patched the hole and finished the neck black......

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

This is a bolt on
I guess I’m asking if it can be repaired without failing structurally:
What about using a dowel as a plug then shaping it to contour?
Just grabbing at straws


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Patch it with a diamond shaped inlay. If it sucks, THEN make a new neck. Might as well get some practice doing the repair, you might save it.

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

A dowel I don't think would be ideal.

If you're really not concerned with looks, I've fixed many holes using a similar method to a soundpost patch repair like you would on a cello/violin.



You just take a shallow gouge (#7 or #5 sweep) cut the shape out of the neck, then flip the gouge over and cut your fill. It'll be pretty close and shouldn't take too much fitting after the fact to make it work.

It's a decently elegant way to fix it, and it gives alot of long grain for the gluing surface so it'll be pretty strong. That's my suggestion.

Unless the truss rod presses back on the neck there shouldn’t be pressure there... but gah I hate it
It’s the first real project altering mistake I’ve made:/


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If that is a double acting rod and you are countering normal string tension which is pulling the nut up and back, the rod will be pushing down at that point and the heel, and up in the middle. It will just blow out worse.

My thought would be to route a channel in the back of the neck and put in a skunk stripe. You might have to change to a thinner truss rod (maybe a Martin style single acting). But honestly, its new neck time.

What kind of truss rod is it?

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Looks to me like is was bound to happen. Wood appears very thin, to my eye. Better now than after finish. I like Freeman's idea a lot. Even
if the stripe only goes partially up the neck. How much wood was there before breaking?

It is one of those stewmac hot rod dual action rods
Will have to measure the depth.
I guess it really is time for a new neck


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That is a costly lesson. The T/R looks like it is not sitting at the bottom of the slot. I doubt the T/R would even work...
I wouldn't use a Hot Rod T/R.

I would remove the fingerboard and truss rod, then using a table saw and stacking a couple of blades together and raising the blades saw out the truss rod slot area (going through the back of the neck). The neck would still be held together at the heel and peghead. I would then glue in a decorative stripe (as Freeman suggested) and rerout the truss rod channel - not going quite so deep this time.
The neck could be hot melt glued to a piece of masonite to align the neck slot with the table saw blades. After sawing the hot melt can be released with denatured alcohol.
I use light weight Gibson style single acting rods and try to leave some wood under the rod. I have them adjust at the heel and they actually "bow up" (just under the fingerboard)at the first fret and have more wood under them at that point.

In that case, you might want to take a look at htis thread if you haven't seen it:
http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=50588&hilit=truss+blow+out

There are some other suggestions for repairing a blown out Hot Rod truss rod.

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Out of my ignorance ....what truss rod would you recommend ?


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Even MAKING A neck is a stretch for me... this sort of repair seems impossible. But I suppose if it doesn’t work... I still get to make a new neck:/


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Blanchard for me in the past, although I hear the new Martins are also OK. What I can't understand is that folks will spend thousands on wood and labor, then put a 10 buck T/R in it...whatever it is make it stainless so it doesn't rust like those dang Hot Rods...
What Clay says is a good fix, I'd make the cut on the bandsaw and then sand flush on 6x89, but then you have to have one. Put in a filler and align carefully, glue. Then rout a new slot. I think the Blanchards were 3/8", so shouldn't be more than 7/16" deep with the filler on top. You will waste a couple of headstock veneers unless you can get them off with heat.

I have had very good luck with the LMII rods in everything I make. They require a 3/8 inch deep slot, the Hot Rod requires 7/16 inch. I make the slots on a router table and I'm pretty careful about how deep it is. I have also made a mark down 3/8 inch on my neck profile templates to remind me where the T/R is relative to the bottom of the neck.

Might be a good time to ask - what function does the T/R filler perform? Seems like if the the T/R was flush with the face of the neck, it would bear against the bottom of the fretboard just like it would against the filler, and the slot would be shallower.

Ed

You don't want the T/R glued down to the fingerboard, so a 1/16" strip of maple or something was glued on edges of neck slot to fill the gap. That way if you had to get the fingerboard off...I just used a little cya gel and glued the edges down, then sanded flush.
Yea, I used LMI for a long time, the Blanchards were more positive though...

I knew I couldnt be the first one.
Makes me sick. Best neck I’ve done yet, but I guess the best one should always be the last one


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I stopped using a filler a long time ago when I started using LMII rods. They say a filler isn't necessary, I make the slot deep enough that the flat part of the T/R is level with the top of the neck. When I'm ready to glue the f/b on I put a piece of 1" tape over the t/r, spread my glue (I use Titebond), pull the tape and it leaves a little edge of wood next to the t/r with no glue. I know that when I clamp it there will be some squeeze into that area but not enough to keep the rod from working. Done this a dozen times, it seems to work, I'll keep doing it..

The filler strip is used for the single acting Gibson style rods because they are not very "high" (thick? wide?) and need to be placed below the "center" of the neck to work well. The filler strip fills the gap between the fingerboard and the truss rod. The fingerboard is stiffer than the neck in most cases so it allows you to hold the rod a - little - higher in the neck and keep a little more wood under it. I always glue the filler incompletely, but I make sure to wrap the rod with teflon tape (plumber's thread tape) so it doesn't get glued in.

"Even MAKING A neck is a stretch for me... this sort of repair seems impossible. But I suppose if it doesn’t work... I still get to make a new neck"

If I get a chance I will try to take some pictures to help explain better what I mean. With a little care in the set up it wouldn't be difficult to do.

Use a filler strip when you are installing the LMII style double-action truss rods (I personally use the Blanchard trod). The purpose of the filler is to suck up the slack in the middle of the trod. Tonally, this is important and eliminates any possibility of buzzing. How many times have I heard over the years on the OLF questions about buzzing and there is always a guy who says make sure your truss rod is tightened. Well use a filler strip folks and that doesn't happen. You can also rap the back of the neck and get a nice, strong tone when you use a filler strip.