Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello everyone,
I attach two pictures of a fretboard in the area where it joints the body of the guitar. As you see it is a bit detached. It is stable and does not affect playability. Neck is straight, truss rod works well, there are no other damages in the guitar. Do you think there is any way to "heal" this area (of course without major ingerention)? I would like to do something with this to prevent further detaching. Or maybe is it something that does not need repairing? Share your opinions if you can, please. Thanks a lot!

It could be a sign of something worse. The neck joint might be coming loose. I don't build electric guitars so hopefully a more experienced person will come along to confirm or refute my statement.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

If that is a semi hollow body guitar built in the style of a 335 then my guess is it will hold ok but the crack that is verticle to the body will grow. If the joint is like that of a Epiphone or Gibson the neck joint extends under the pickup. The glue area for the joint is mainly the bottom and the sides of the neck. As the area flexes, cracks can develop. It is also possible that the joint is failing. But if playability is good and not changing then it is probably just cosmetic and not stuctural. Time will tell.

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http://www.cushmanguitars.com/.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

Wait until it breaks.
THEN fix it.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

This does not sound like your best advice Mr. Pile. Do I detect sarcasm?

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

You do not.
I was quite serious.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Cracks tend to propagate under stress. The deformation around the neck area indicates a major blow occurred. More pics would help in analyzing it. It could be that simple string pressure is not enough to propagate the existing cracks...but letting it go might also result in a complete failure of the joint. Fixing it now is likely to be easier than fixing it later if a catastrophic failure occurs...though fixing it properly would require removing the neck.

My willingness to attempt fixing this would be entirely based on the value of the guitar.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

It kinda looks like it's just the finish to me. I used to have a lot of old Ibanezes and a couple had that, never had any problems.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

This picture is of an Epiphone. These cracks have looked like this for at least the 5 years I have owned it. The joint is solid. If you look under the pickup you may be able to tell if the joint is intact or not.

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http://www.cushmanguitars.com/.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

Well I stand corrected.

_________________
http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

What I see on the sides is from the shrinking celluliod bindings. The FB edge along the top is most likely from RH related expansion and contraction of the FB causing the finish to bridge a little bit. You can follow that damage at the bottom of the FB right on up the neck in the first pic. Looks cosmetic from here, If the neck joint were failing the action would be changing.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Aaaannnddd that's why I say wait until it breaks.
It will cost the client the same now - or later.
Save the drama for a real problem.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Ahh.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

If it has been like this for five years, and the action hasn't changed,the cracks are in the finish.It really is nothing to worry about.

cecil

I usually sit down when I'm corrected.

I'm doing that now.

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Thanks a lot for your responses! This is a cheap (ca. 500$) vintage solid body guitar (not mine). My first impression was that it is just a cosmetic issue, however, as I am not a luthier I decided to ask you to see what you think about this.