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Gibson headstock fix questions
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Gibson headstock fix questions
I have 1988 Gibson ES-335 with a broken headstock. It was poorly glued before and is broken again. I can’t get the broken faces of the wood to close up due to the mess of glue or whatever is in there. The headstock overlay is the only thing holding it together. I have a couple of questions:
– Any idea what glue was used to attach the headstock overlay? Is it easy to remove cleanly? I’d like to at least loosen the part of it on the neck side (around the truss rod cavity) so I can separate the pieces and maybe clean up the surfaces.
– I’m thinking that even if I get the pieces apart, it will be hard to achieve good gluing surfaces. I know splines are one way to strengthen a repaired headstock. I am wondering if instead I could rout both surfaces flat, and then glue in a new piece to take up the gap. In this case I’d need to remove the entire overlay. In the drawing I’m attaching the red hatched area represents the filler piece.
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5 Replies
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This project was and is a real can of worms due to the short grain over the transition between to barrel of the neck and the padle of the headstock.
I think you are right that the peghead overlay needs to come off, the headstock needs to be completely broken so clean up of old glue is possilbe and then some kind of reinforcement.
As far as the reinforcement goes, it needs to have long grain going over the afflicted area and for it to be long enough to actually carry the load of the bending neck. Be wary of repairs that inflict more shorgrain close to the transition area like short splines. I usually like back straps, but if splines are your jam, look at the ones that Mike McConville uses https://youtu.be/KSl8lPRCFOw?t=337 .
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I have removed several overlays, not sure what type of glue is used, but it requires quite a bit of heat and patience. start with a razor so you don’t crush the mahogany. Every overlay that I have removed was damaged and needed to be replaced, so I was not gentle with it; burns and tears and the like. Replacement overlays can be purchased here: https://www.crazyparts.de/overlays-inlays/ I have ordered a couple times from them; parts come from Germany, they ship DHL, usually in about a week. They are oversized slightly so you can trim them back with a router/file/sandpaper/scraper. Some have holes and a rough shape, some are simple rectangles, all have the pearl Gibson Logo.
Like Ian said, splines are a good way to go. Another option, once the overlay is off, is to remove the glued and damaged area completely, machine the surfaces flat, and add a new piece of wood, like a double scarf joint and shape it from there.
crazyparts.de
Crazyparts 30 years experience with guitar parts, pickguards and hardware for Vintage Fender and Gibson guitars. Europes No.1 for Aged - Relic guitar parts. We offer rare parts for Vintage Restorations.
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Yes!
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I was hoping to hear that the overlay comes off easily and can be reused, but I sort of knew that wouldn’t be the case. I think I do need to remove the overlay and assess what’s going on with the break surfaces. In my idea for the gap filler approach that I mentioned in my original post I was figuring on the grain direction of the filler piece to match the headstock grain direction, so yes, in effect a double scarf joint. I may end up adding splines as well. The long, curved splines shown in the video are new to me.
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