[Ryan Foust —Gibson Repair & Restoration—]

Looks like the real deal.

The Memphis factory used the ME prefix on the serial numbers of some guitars.

[Ryan Foust —Gibson Repair & Restoration—]

What Ian said.

We don’t try to repair these. It looks to me like you’re dealing with celluloid rot. I’m not aware of anything that can stop it. The rot just keeps rotting and it’ll attack nearby finish & hardware as it does.

Even the varnish finishes.

All that to say, a repair is probably temporary and may end up doing more harm than good in the long term.

[Ryan Foust —Gibson Repair & Restoration—]

I’ve always used epoxy. Tried some pretty quick & unscientific experiments with hide glue and it didn’t seem to bond to the carbon fiber very well.

I also inlay the rod beneath the surface of the neck face and cap it with wood, like you would a Les Paul truss rod, again with epoxy.

You can hide glue your fingerboard back on with hide glue and have full wood-on-wood contact that way.

[Ryan Foust —Gibson Repair & Restoration—]

I’ve never used the JB Weld, but for me any of the epoxies you get at the hardware store have been hit and miss. Likely user error.

We use RBC, don’t know the version off the top of my head. I think you have to order direct from the company.

I’ve also used West Systems 105. Easier to find and you can get it in single use packets – they call it the 101 handy repair kit.