Shattered headstock on Tenor Guitar

[Christian Johnson]

OK, Boy Scouts, here's another slightly different animal.  Cheap Gold Tone tenor guitar with broken headstock.  Fairly conventional situation,  good gluing surface, but: truss rod right there.  I know glue squeeze out will get on there when I clamp it up.  Should I coat it with something (wax, tape, plastic wrap) to keep from gluing it in place, rendering it useless?  I think it will still be playable after repair.

As you can sort of make out, there's a secondary break on one side.  I'll glue that up first.  Hide glue my first choice.  Gotta make some cauls.

[Glen H]

I'd lay some tape over it, then glue it up. If you're careful with how much glue you use, you could probably skip the tape.

[Ned Knepp]

I was thinking of painting on a thin layer of "Vaseline" which should work as long as you don't get any on the glue areas

[harrison phipps]

I have successfully done this type of repair using water based white glue from LMII.  After removing any small splinters, apply glue to both pieces and loosely put them together for almost 2 minutes to give the glue time to soak into the wood. Then apply clamping pressure for a brief moment, take the pieces apart, clean out any squeeze-out, and quickly reassemble.  Full clamping pressure should not squeeze any more glue out into the rod cavity and the two pieces should have enough glue for an adequate bond.  Since the break is at an angle, I would clamp stops on the workbench at either ends of the instrument to keep the pieces properly aligned.  Pressure from the clamp will make the broken off piece want to slide away from the rest of the neck. 

[Christian Johnson]

Great suggestions all.  Harrison, I like the stop idea; one of the things I like about hide glue is its initial "grab".  Keeps sliding to a minimum.  I might try your idea, though.

[Russell Vance]

Hi Christian,

I use shiny brown plastic packing tape (the thin stuff used at the post office is my best call on what you guys call it) and one thin wrap will stop yellow glue, CA, and epoxy sticking to anything covered by it.  It can be left in place and is what we use to protect the truss rods/channel from squeeze-out in our necks when gluing on fingerboards. 

I wouldn't use the two minutes loose clamping with Aliphatic yellow glue and (generally)  a couple of  sliding motions back and forward to pull the parts together with surface tension and even out the glue application is all it takes to get things going prior to clamping.  The clamping will more than ensure sufficient glue penetration whereas manipulation prior to clamping may result in the joint "seizing" and compromising the overall glue joint result.

The bench stops are a good idea to stop the joint sliding and you can also use a 1.2 meter speed clamp to negate the sliding tendency (on jaw on the peghead tip - one on the heel block) - this allows subsequent adjustment during and after clamping up if the joint wants to move about.

Have a good one, Rusty.

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

I would use fingerboard "bandclamps" (those sold by LMII) and hide glue. I wouldn't fear the glue to cause any problem with that kind of already protected trussrod and hide glue. If I would, I'd CAREFULLY apply some wax on it.

[Christian Johnson]

Hey, thanks Pierre-Antoine.  Those look great.  Perfect match for hide glue as you gotta move fast.  Easier than cauls with clamps.