A Quick way i have been repairing head stalks but i still need help with ?

[FRANK]

Has been to Remove all the head cap of the main piece i will use either a disc sander or a belt sander to kiss the head cap or until the finish is off to then Aline it back up with the program dry clamp for a minute or two to get a feel for it tightbond #1 and 2 clamps usually do the trick 24 hours latter like baking a cake unclamp and remove what head cap may remain below the big break usually the area where the head cap meets the nut and truss rod area no big y dose not need to be perfect level enough to re glue the new head cap on after a trim and sanding time for a quick oil dry time take a walk or play my guitar a few minutes pass, wax, assemble, restring and call the customer i did this at a snails pass at home for $90 but i haven't found a sure way to do the back crack anyone to help suggest what i should try to learn to about hiding big cracks in poly and or lacquer what have you learned is there a fast sure way ? do i color it with some kind of fill stick and spray it ?how much time do you spend and what do you charge ?whats the best way ?

[Tim Mace]

If you had some of the dust from the neck you could use it as a toner in the early glue up stage,mixed in w/ the glue to possibly diminish the crack path...but it's iffy IMO.

[Russell Vance]

There is no way that you can hide or cover this type of 'repair' - once the neck goes under tension the crack will open up under stress and no omount of lacquer or fill is going to remain intact. The way we do it is as shown in the attached file: four or five layers of mahogany laminates (we machine our own laminate thicknesses at varying thicknesses for the repair) and one to cover the back of the headstock to hide the join there (we don't do it on all, especially when we retain the serial numbers etc) which are steam bent to be conformal with the curve of the initial machined out section. We reface the peghead front where necessary to further reinforce the repair.

Glue up with Titebond under fairly aggressive clamp pressure (we like the laminates to squash into each other to give a tight join) and then refinish the whole neck to the body joint where it is less evident - particularly when the finish is poly. Rusty

[Penql]

Great photo there showing what a good amount of clamp pressure can do

[FRANK]

for sure although it was pretty easy to piece back together the way it broke off it went back together easier after removing the head cap very easy and then i re glued the new head cap and trimmed it out really fast like a day for the glue to dry with the main piece of the head stalk and the head cap i waited like 45 minutes before i trimmed it out a quick sand oil and wax didn't hit the sides so it looks custom which it is sweet yea ?

[William F.Eden]

Nice job Russell I do some of ours a little different in that I clamp the guitar down to the bench and take another clamp and slowly pull the head down and pack all the tite bond we can get into the brake then I take the air brush and blow the glue in there a time or two & clamp over night If i don't think it is going to hold .I will sand a half moon shap into the under side of the brake and glue a piece the same shape with the grain running the other way.Then reshape the neck and shade it a litte darker in that spot. Bill.""""""""""""