First broken headstock repair

[Lee Gendvilas]

I have a Epiphone PR 150 with a broken headstock. The break appears to me to be "clean". I retrieved it from being thrown away from the High School I worked at the last 9 months. This will be my first attempt at doing this type of repair and I would like opinions on whether or not I should simply clean the bare wood (deonized water or naptha), using hide glue instead of epoxy and clamping until dry. I've read the recent discussion of a broken headstock and am unsure if backstrapping is necessary in this situation. Thanks in advance for your help.

[Greg Mirken]

You have a lot of gluing surface there; no mechanical help will be needed. The wood surfaces look clean to me. I would remove the tuners, of course, and glue and clamp. Done.

[Jeff Highland]

If you know what you are doing with it, Hot Hide glue would be best, not liquid hide glue.

Otherwise, Titebond original.

I would not use epoxy for this, it looks like you have good surfaces already no need for cleaning further,

You do need a really secure clamping arrangement that prevents the pieces sliding when clamped with glue.

Done properly it will be almost invisible, but you only get one chance so take your time with setting up your clamping arrangement so that alignment is perfect.

[Lee Gendvilas]

Hello Jeff. Thank you for replying. I plan on using HHG. I'll do my best to make sure it's clamped properly.

[Lee Gendvilas]

Hello Jeff. I have glued the headstock on (pics attached). I've done the acetone test and it's a poly finish. This is a practice guitar so I was thinking of replacing the missing mohagany and refinishing. I'd like a little help in the best way to approach this since the Epiphone decal is painted on. The chip on the front of the headstock disintigrated when I pulled the wax paper off (go figure). Anyway, what do you think would be the best course of action?

[Grahame Myers]

For a guitar in this price range, I'd be inclined to replace the missing wood on the top of the headstock with black epoxy or black CA, and then scrape it flush and then polish. If it was something valuable, I'd veneer it with ebony veneer or black fiberboard like Gibson use, and replace the Epi decal with a new one (you can get them on Eb*y), and then spray with clear lacquer.

But, being realistic, it's only an Epiphone: If this was a customer repair I'd suggest the first method to the customer: it ain't pretty, but it works :-)  and if they really want it to look like new, then the second method, and charged accordingly.

[Lee Gendvilas]

Hello Grahame! I've enjoyed reading your posts/replys and thank-you for your reply to me. The black on the headstock looks to me to have been painted on. Will I be able to get by with paint and lacquer?  Right now in my meager shop I have some clear waterborn lacquer, epoxy and shellac. Is it possible to use any of these or should I get some poly? And thanks for reminding me it's only an Epiphone but it's gonna be a great practice guitar to get my skills in order. I'm gonna go for the second method for the practice and I guess I'll have to barter with myself on the price.

[Grahame Myers]

OK, here's how I'd do it, bearing in mind that the black fiberboard that Gibson uses isn't available here in Europe (I've never managed to find it anyway), so I'd use Ebony veneer. Clamp well (best to use a caul the same shape as the headstock, make one out of scrap), and glue the veneer onto the headstock face, leaving it slightly bigger than the headstock. After the glue (use Titebond or HHG), has dried well,(leave it overnight to be sure), trim it to size using files and a scraper (I'd use a copy router bit with a bearing in my shop, but I'm guessing you don't have a lot of machine tools available)

Drill the tuner holes from behind, but be sure to clamp a piece of scrap wood onto the headstock to avoid blowout when drilling through the veneer.

Then I'd copy the Epiphone logo by first tracing it onto tracing paper with a fine pencil, and then transferring it to a piece of white printer paper. Carefully cut it out with an Exacto knife till you have a template. After sealing the veneer with shellac and letting it dry, glue the template onto the veneer in the right place, taking care to glue the edges well so that the outline isn't fuzzy, using water-soluble glue (like HHG). Mask off the rest of the headstock, and spray the Epiphone logo onto it. You can use normal car paint, match the gold color as best you can.

When it's dry, soak the paper template off, and to finish off, spray with clear lacquer (car lacquer is fine)

 On the other side of the neck, I'd fill the small areas where wood is missing with Epoxy, color matched as close as you can get it. You can color epoxy with any water-based dye, I use the StewMac colors, and keep on trying till I've have a matching tone. When it's good and hard, scrape flush and polish.

Have fun with it, and be sure to post some pictures of the finished result.

[Lee Gendvilas]

Hello Greg. Thank you for replying. The guitar had been sitting in a storage room outside of it's case. There was dust on it so I used a paint brush and some compressed air to clean it up for the picture. That's why I was wondering if it needs to be further cleaned before gluing. I promise to remove the tuners.

[Mark Pollock]

PLEASE DON'T TAKE THIS AS ADVICE, but I have a question to add to all this -

 

I see that the break passes through some of the tuner holes. Would it make sense to use the tuner hole with some kind of dowel to help align the break for regluing? Perhaps a dowel with lots of wax on it to prevent the glue from sticking? Or is this a terrible idea?

 

[Chris Rochow]

Nice work for your first try. If you go with Lacquer to touch up the headstock, use some shellac first to seal it. Otherwise the lac. will keep soaking in.  Well waxed dowel rod is a good way to go, even dowel wrapped in wax paper.