Severed Head!

[Mario Cardenas]

Hey Folks!

Any thoughts on this? I've repaired a break like this before without any reinforcement, but it was a repair on a nylon string guitar. I called my customer to check it's still glued. It is!

But recently, i've been reading some posts about end grain gluing and how weak this joints are. So, now i have some doubts. 

This guitar i'm supposed to glue is a steel string (a cheap one).

Have any of you done this kind of repair without splines or overlays with good results? Do you think it will hold on a steel string?

Thanks

[Mark Fogleman]

David Collins has an excellent jig for repairing neck breaks and a great video showing how it works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6lzTM__Yrs 

There was a thread here a while back discussing it: http://fretsnet.ning.com/forum/topics/headstock-repair-jig-that-i-w...  Something like this could be used to allign both sides of the break in prep for cutting/fitting whatever you use to join them.

[Mario Cardenas]

Thank you mark, i remember seeing that jig before. A great high tech jig. I think is time to try and build one. Do you know if there is a plan for building it or something like that? 

[Paul Verticchio]

One more thing, Mario....

The ability to execute a stable repair without splines & a backstrap are further compounded by the ultra low quality wood used in guitars in this price range.  I offer this only as a consideration.

Otherwise, I'm in the camp of those who say it's a gonner. As someone else said, your reputation will suffer if the wood itself isn't "up to the task".

David Collins can be contacted at Ann Arbor Guitars http://www.aaguitars.com/  in Michigan. He designed and built the jig. He's you best bet for the info you request. He's a true "device"

Best of luck in the resolution of your project :)

[Paul Verticchio]

should read: "device WIZARD!"

[Mario Cardenas]

I'm definetly gonna give a try on that gig. Thanks for the infor Paul. Best!

[Mark Fogleman]

No, but you may want to contact David.   The use of a mini satellite dish bracket discussed in the thread is a great idea.  

[Mario Cardenas]

Thank you Folks, all of your replies are really appreciated. I'll give it a thought, talk to my customer and let you know how it ends. Cheers!

[Tim Mace]

If the box is valuable just make a new neck !

[John]

I've used a variation on an old school way of doing this repair. The old school way is too glue it together, scoop out across the crack, the end of your belt sander will work. Then you fit a new piece across the crack. It adds a lot of strength and it's easy to feather it in and finish over. I've done it this way and it works my variation is to glue in veneer until you fill it and then trim it and finish it. I have a few pictures of it in the works but not complete.

[Mario Cardenas]

That's nice John i think the veneer is to avoid shaping and fitting a new piece of wood. Or does doing it that way adds more strength to the repair?

[Jeff Highland]

Why I'm not keen on splines

This just came in, the owner purchased it like this.

Previous repaired break, all solid but the  end of the spline weakened the area which has broken

Going to need a backstrap

[Mario Cardenas]

I guess that spline is not well fitted to the bottom of the channel. That's why it lifted. That's the difficult part, getting splines fitted to the bottom. Good luck with that one, i'd like to see some pics when is finished.