I Dropped A Guitar Today:

I removed the weights and clamps this morning. It's looking like a decent repair. Good crack closure and consistent glue visible throughout the seams. Truss rod is also free.

Darned if the headstock area seems more rigid than it did before the break, based on attempts to deflect it.

Progress!!!!
 
I know one trick pros will do to strengthen a broken headstock to near original quality is to use a spline joint after the headstock is rejoined.

Basically, you route 2 notches from the headstock to the neck, roughly 1/2-3/4" deep depending on the thickness of the headstock and neck itself. A popsicle stick/tongue depressor is actually a fairly good jig for cutting the splines, typically made of a very hardwood. You glue and insert the splines and then ultimately will have to refinish the back neck, but it's an incredibly strong repair system.
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Looking Good, Robert. I can see it if you approach things in your usual detailed way, with work, you could make the repair virtually disappear.

If the surface cosmetics are completely massaged and reapplied, the only difference between this being repaired and a gluing that is planned ( such as wings on a Gib Style 3x3 head, skunk stripes, tenon into body glue joints etc,,,,,, is that this is an unplanned connection of 2 parts that were once a single piece.

If you can sand thoroughly and repaint, re logo, etc, this guitar will be almost like new.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
Looking Good, Robert. I can see it if you approach things in your usual detailed way, with work, you could make the repair virtually disappear.

If the surface cosmetics are completely massaged and reapplied, the only difference between this being repaired and a gluing that is planned ( such as wings on a Gib Style 3x3 head, skunk stripes, tenon into body glue joints etc,,,,,, is that this is an unplanned connection of 2 parts that were once a single piece.

If you can sand thoroughly and repaint, re logo, etc, this guitar will be almost like new.
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Gonna retain the spray painted/stenciled headstock data.
 
Robert Herndon said:
Gonna retain the spray painted/stenciled headstock data.
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From the break, and then the real estate between the break to the area of the Logo etc, I can see no reason you need to alter the written/stained part in order to sand and blend in where the crack is. I think you can make the repaired area disappear and maybe re-stain and shoot some clear over the whole thing.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
From the break, and then the real estate between the break to the area of the Logo etc, I can see no reason you need to alter the written/stained part in order to sand and blend in where the crack is. I think you can make the repaired area disappear and maybe re-stain and shoot some clear over the whole thing.
Click to expand...

I found a small stash of red dye too.
 
The only gaps are where small splinters of wood are missing. The crack closed up tightly enough that it "bled" glue for 15 minutes after being bound/clamped.

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These will be colored with red dye and filled with clear poly.

Yesterday at lunch, I started sanding and smoothing out the raised edges around the breaks in the finish....

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And also did some reshaping on the tip of the headstock where it struck the cement

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Truss rod is free and produces immediate changes to the board with only small movements.

This is a 24.0" scale guitar and the nut/saddles are cut for .052" x .011" strings...

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And a pre-break shot showing the custom-made, extra tall roller strings trees...

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If I dropped my prize Strat, this would be me....


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sticky poly neck

My son has a epiphone elite sg. It has the poly finish on it and that really slows him down so much that i can't my hw1 tele away from him. Says its easier to play. Especially in the summer. Any suggestions to cure this. It is a very nice finish on the guitar and not sure if i want to put the...
www.tdpri.com www.tdpri.com
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
Looks like high quality stuff,

Funny thing is--Adrian, Ray, Sg John, Bastard and even Smitty will tell you, STICKY is going to happen on Poly, Nitro, or likely even tung oil finishes here in the East and SOUTH. IT is called HUMIDITY.
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Doesn't happen on my DoubleNeck. 3 week cured U-Pol, sprayed in 2017.

My Les Paul 50's Standard Gold Top gets so sticky during a show I have to clean it repeatedly at every break.
 
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