Headstock repair jig that I would LOVE to get the plans for!

[Kerry Krishna]

•  Have a quick look at this vid. The maker is A2 Guitars,(I have no clue!) but is articulate here, gives terrific detailed description, and I am positive this person probably has a ton more jigs at his shop. I invited him to come over and post on this Forum too. I hope he joins, as people with as much instrument repair experience as this gent has, would be a welcome addition here. Anyone know whi the Gent is? 

• A2 guitars repair jig

[Andrew]

So Ive completed my iteration of this headstock jig, more or less anyway. Theres room for a few small adaptations...

I made the main body and much of the working bits of red oak, because I happen to have a small stockpile of it in the garage. As youll see in the pics, its a beefy sucker, and I like it that way. And theres very little slop. Like Kerry, I made the table of two sheets of 3/8ths plexi laminated together. I just used super glue it didnt turn out as transparent as Id hoped, but thats no biggy. Also like Kerry, I made used of the cam clamps supplied by Lee Valley. Theyre great litle things and cheap! The bottom one works perfectly to secure the elevation adjustment. The top one also provides enough pressure to achieve its purpose, but its being pushed to its limit in fighting the rotational force of the table, so Im thinking of ways to improve the grip in that area. It could also use a couple of toggles with greater throat depth, and I might change their hole mounted arrangement into slots to make setup easier. I just hate routing plexi, and sawing and filing that much of it is no fun either. The only other issue is the side pressure situation. The toggle clamps get in the way in this configuration, but I figured if I put it together anyway Id see a way around it that would still eliminate finicky stuff. That didnt help, so Im still thinking on that one too - maybe something like what FF's jig has.

Anyway, heres the pics.

[Andrew]

Here they are:

[Mario Cardenas]

God Job!

[Andrew]

And another..

[Ben Williams]

I'm really grateful for this thread, and all the contributors.  I've got to make my own David Collins' jig, without a doubt, but also I am also having to make a jig that will allow me to machine that scarf cut on a bajoquinto neck.  Due to some earlier unsuccessful repair attempt, I just have to replace the entire headstock right up to the scarf cut.  I'll post a few pics shortly.

[Ned Knepp]

Wow, Ben, that's a very... flamboyant instrument you have there. 

Why do you need to replace the whole head?

Does it have a truss rod?

[Ben Williams]

Why, yes it is... flamboyant. This is the first bajoquinto I've ever seen, and as you'll see in these photos, somebody made a very unfortunate repair attempt on it. I don't know how I could salvage the headstock either, though I may try to salvage the face of it - I have no idea what the wood is or what I could match it up to. The headstock itself is mahogany, with the lighter wood laminated over the top, so I'll probably have to try and save the facing.  Any suggestion on how I might save the headstock? I just don't see it.

The customer says it has a truss rod, so making that scarf cut is gonna be a little tricky, depending on where it ends up. It's not an adjustable one in any case, so I'm not sure what I'm going to find in there.

[Ned Knepp]

I see what you mean, Ben, it's a mess.  The only way I can see to make it right, without messing up the tri-species back strap on the neck would be to remove the fingerboard and recut the original scarf joint. That's easy for me to say since I'm not doing this sort of thing for a living. If you are really good with a chisel, you might be able to do it with the fingerboard and truss rod in place.  Guess it's not much help to you. 

The face plate on the head looks a lot like a light colored Luan to me but I've seen a lot of South/Central American instruments with wood that looks like this and I doubt that they are importing it from the Philippines.  

[Ben Williams]

Yeah, thanks for confirming my thoughts on it as well - Remove the fingerboard, and re-cut the scarf joint.  I have my router table jig all set up and ready for it now. If the fingerboard removal goes well this morning, I should have the scarf done pretty quick, if the truss rod isn't too much of an obstacle.

I better get my bandsaw really tuned-up to take that headstock facing off. erg.

[Ben Williams]

Well, here's my version of David Collins' headstock jig. I added an adjusting wheel to the vertical axis, so I could a) dial in the alignment with precision, and b) apply vertical clamping pressure when mating up a scarf joint.  The sled top slides back and forth as well, and locks into position with the wingnuts underneath.   This is all made from reclaimed lumber - a friend gave me a stack of 1-1-2" thick, weathered Ebe boards salvaged from the boardwalk in the pirate ship attraction at Treasure Island casino here in Vegas. Working with ebe was a huge challenge - It's so hard and dense you almost have to work it like it was aluminum, but wow is it strong and precise to work with.  I even had to drill holes for the little spikes on the Tee-nuts after the first one I tried to hammer into place just bent the spikes over!  They barely dented the wood!   Thanks again to all who contributed to this thread for the inspiration and info!

[David Farmer]

Nice work!

Now all you need to do is go nock over a bunch of guitars!

I think you mean Ipe'. Ebe' must be that punkie stuff you can get from an auction site.

[Mike Kolb]

Yikes... here's an article on ipe in the Wall Street Journal. The stuff seems to be not for the faint of heart!

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1000087239639044486820457806309193135...