Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi, 1st time poster....I would like to get some input on the best steps to take on a neck repair. I've included pics below....The crack does not show thru to the topside of the headstock, painted black. I THINK this would be a pretty straight forward glue/clamp/sand and possibly clear coat affair? I would hope I could pull this off to where the repair is virtually invisible....The specifics are obviously crucial, so here are my questions....what kind of glue would you use? would gorilla glue or that titebond stuff work? how far apart would you gently tug the two crack sides when putting in the glue? what type and grit sandpaper would you use? Can you tell from the pics whether clear coat is on it now, and would it look natural or even needed spraying some on as a final touch over the repair? The crack runs about 3/4 of the way down both edges, but does NOT run to the topside of the headstock, which I think is lucky, because if it ran thru the black paint and logo, I know that would be beyond my abilities to make as it was....My biggest concern, other than sanding just enough to hopefully make it disappear, but smooth and natural (it's lucky that it's running with the woodgrain) , is having the crack appear on the topside as I'm prying the two side apart to put the glue in. Any and all input will be helpful to consider here, thanks! Mark

whoops , no pics?

Try to post the pics again...

.jpeg works very well, especially around 100 KB size.

Thanks
Stephen

_________________
www.ziegenfussguitars.com

Try again....






I bought some clamps , titebond glue and 220 grit sandpaper....can I make it disappear??

A couple of thoughts...

That does not appear to be a very structural crack - which means life could get easier for you.

It also does not appear to go through the whole piece.

Get some very thin CA glue. With the crack open (as it is) wick in the CA glue, and the press the crack closed as tightly as possible where you cannot do any more cosmetic damage to the headstock. It will set up quickly. When it does, I would start with 400 grit sandpaper and a small 1 x 2 wood sanding block and gently dress it back level. Then work your way up the grits to about 2000, and polish with something - polishing compound typically found in a garage would do you fine without costing too much.

Stephen

_________________
www.ziegenfussguitars.com

do not CA glue your clamps to the crack !

_________________
It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

Be sure to drill a good pilot hole for the tuner screw (test with some hardwood (maple if possible) scrap), so that you don't wedge the crack open with the screw.
The hole will probably have some glue in it, which the new pilot hole will clean out. Tapered drills are very handy for this sort of thing. You can grind your own pretty quickly if you don't have a commercial tapered drill.
http://www.wlfuller.com/html/taper_point_drills.html
Be sure to put a piece of tape or similar 'depth stop' on the drill to keep from drilling too far - popping a hole though the headstock will ruin your whole day.....
The screw just has to be tight enough to keep the tuner from rotating, so no need to go overboard with a tight fit.

Cheers
John

Thanks for the replies......Well, I don't think this worked out as good as I hoped .....I dunno if I over sanded, didn't clamp tight enough or both....OR....this is about as good as it was going to get...It is structurally sound and strong it feels like, but I thought the line would virtually disappear....I used tight bond glue and after that dried ,went over it with crazy glue and sanded, now there is discoloration ....I had a pro guy tell me to use satin clear coat...I'm hoping that will magically make things look uniform again....I see why this is expensive work, it's not easy! Here's the after pics...

That's not too bad.
Part of the problem is the angle of the crack, if you just clamp the neck together, it wants to slide apart. The face veneer keeps it together, but a small gap appears as a result of the joint sliding a little. Clamping it on a board with an end stop helps.
I think if you sand it properly, use a little wood filler, and do the satin finish, it'll look fine.

_________________
Old growth, shmold growth!

I fixed a bass version of one of those not too long ago. Terrible design the way the head angles, lots of short grain. It had been fixed before and cracked again so I glued and clamped it, then thinned it and added a maple piece over the entire rear of the headstock.