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WOW! What can I say but WOW?

I've built 3 guitars now, well the 3rd isn't quite done, and I've managed to break the heads off ALL of them!

The archtop had a tuner get stuck. Pounding it off I smacked it right off. The tuner card me off easier then.

The baroque I dropped, and luckily it broke right on the joint.

This one I was hammering in fret wire on my knee and I don't know WHAT happened. I really don't know. It broke through the bottom of the nut slot.

No photo. Use your imagination. I'm thinking that the next one will be a one piece neck.

That must be some sort of rare talent. For not being a big guy I'm quite the animal. I think it was the sixth one. I did ten more and called it a night. They will all be in before I glue it back together.

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Why be normal?

I made a cradle for the back of the neck from a bag of loosely packed birdshot. Conforms to the shape and helps absorb the shock…

What kind of headstock joint? I've always done scarf joints of this style (hopefully you can see the joint line clearly enough, I couldn't find any better pictures):

They seem to be nearly indestructible when cut so there's no runout out the back of the neck (which also gives the best playing feel, with open pore shellac finish). I coat the partially exposed endgrain with hide glue, let it dry, lightly sand it back perfectly flat, and then glue it on. I'm too lazy to set up a proper clamping fixture, so I just rub joint it and hold by hand for a minute until it sticks. Then put some clamps on with light pressure to be sure no corners start to curl up from moisture expansion.

I test them by standing on the nut area. Only one has ever failed that test, which was Spanish cedar and broke along the grain due to some runout.

One piece necks break much more easily due to the headstock being made entirely of short grain.

That sounds like a great idea.

The first two were v joints and the latest was like a scarf joint. The first ones the joint split on the glue line. I'm happy with that. That's what you use hhg for, isn't it? The one last night is Spanish cedar, so was the baroque, but this one split on the grain; the joint is still there. So this one was wood failure, and I wasn't even pounding on the head. Weird.

I didn't ever think of standing on it! That stuff dents so easily.

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Why be normal?

Third time's a charm so they say. It gets better with time.

I use a beanbag behind the neck for hammering in frets.

I have had this happen to me on a repair once though. I was hitting in frets and a crack developed under the fretboard. I'm almost certain it was about to go anyway and that could be the case with your joint too. Did the V-Joint you made fit perfectly in all spots? Did it break on the glue line or through the wood?

They were both right on the glue line. The baroque fit right back on, The arch top seemed to go back perfectly, but I scraped it smooth, added fresh HHG, and rubbed it together, and set it aside. It is working fine now, and the instrument sounds great with about 100 pounds of string. But it isn't in the same place! I made it look like it was, but it wasn't in the same place. I WAS really pounding the thing though!

This one is wood failure. This joint I used fish glue, and the joint is all solid. It seems like you can soak it in on both faces, and then the joint is good. Squeeze out is a problem because it is really hard. My fretboard is thin on this one, and the fish glue seems to have curled the one side up some. So all that moisture on thin pieces isn't good. Maybe something else for fretboards?

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Why be normal?

Breakage on a glue line indicates an improperly prepared joint.

Many of us use epoxy for gluing fretboards to necks.

I use epoxy now, but when I did use water based glue, I wet the top of the fretboard with water precisely to prevent curling like that.
Still do it for bridges.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Anyone who's owned a Gibson will tell you they always sound better after the head has been broken off and then repaired.