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I am attempting to repair a repair on a friend's ovation. His daughter had fallen on it and broken the neck off. He took it to guitar center and they shipped it off to someone who did an absolutely horrible job of re-setting the neck. I just got the joint apart, and got rid of what ever kind of glue that was, but am now not sure what kind of glue to use myself because the majority of the joint is wood to plastic. If anyone has experience in this I would appreciate the help.

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

Epoxy.

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Guitars, guitars and more guitars.

What kind of Ovation is this, and how old? I avoid Ovations as much as possible, but just reset a neck on newer one two weeks ago. That was a flat bolt on joint with no glue at all used at the heel, and just conventional wood glues for the fingerboard extension. What kind of neck joint does this one have?

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

At one point Ovation used a thickened polyester for gluing on the necks.   But using epoxy would be the equivalent.   Older ones had a very loose mortise and tenon that was filled with goop.   They had jigs that aligned the neck and body and that didn't depend on an accurate joint.   The goop filled any gaps.   But it was more than a few years ago when I visited the factory...more like a few decades ago...

This is a set neck. I am not sure how old it is, but I did some more digging in the joint and it was definitely glued with epoxy originally. It is kind of hard to tell the difference between the epoxy and the composite. The first repair used either pva or hide but it was dyed black. Whoever repaired this also put a wood screw into the heel from the inside.

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

The main thing is to get the "set" of the neck right, and it may take a quickie jig to hold the neck in the right alignment with the body while the glue hardens. PVA or hide glue will not cut it for this fix.

I called Ovation on a repair - epoxy!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

You'll be very disappointed if you use anything other than epoxy in this repair.

Ovations are tough repair items since they are very difficult to disassemble and the mix of materials makes the use of epoxy necessary.

I've worked on tons of them, but always try to avoid it now.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars

Well, I used epoxy, I will know in a few hours how well it will hold. I appreciate all the help.

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

I put an Ovation Rosette back on a doctors guitar. Hot Hide Glue. Third time was a charm though, my son, who knows nothing about building guitars suggested Epoxy. I agreed. Problem over.....

I know you are doing this guy a favor, kudos to you.

It's amazing how many of those they sold!

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Yep Epoxy and it is tough stuff.

I like to add that i seen a factory tour video somewhere and newer at least some of them at least have bolt on necks that are bolted through the end pin hole on models without large soundholes. They used a long allen wrench type of tool and pass the bolts through the endpin.

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Guitars, guitars and more guitars.