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Just read that Liz Truss is the new PM of the UK. I Googled her to make sure her husband, if she has a husband was not named Rod but I digress... He's a Hugh so there goes my Truss Rod joke...

Anyway here's a bear of a headstock repair one of the harder ones Dave has done (he does a lot because of his jig, people seek us our for these) and a beautiful outcome as well. A G*bson Double cutaway Les Paul in a color that is nearly, nearly impossible to match well. I can't even figure out what this color is, is it yellow, is it green, is it both

This was a bad break and Dave pieced it back together. G*bsons with the narrow neck and HUGE opening for the truss Hugh/Rod adjustor are weak in this region and one good face plant and they shed their headstocks. I don't have stats but it's my experience if a caller tells us they have a head stock break it's usually a G*bson. Watch me get sued for saying this and watch me sue them back and get millions..... I have the right to what my experience is.

So this one took some time but it's great and the owner is a great lead player in a great band that is popular in the tri-state area here in the midwestern US.

No splines were used, Dave is not a fan of splines and only on rare occasion will use them. It's all HHG and the paint was mixed up from scratch here to match and took several attempts.

In person you cannot see the break or the paint repair and of course you can't feel a thing either. Nice Job David Collins!!!

PS: Decal is where G*bson incorrectly put it, the break was below that and we did not damage the decal it is what it is....

Amazing work!

I suspect that the factory worker was living by the motto when placing the decal….. good enough.


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Good point Brad!! The irony eh...

Hesh - we need a before photo.

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

great job
Having a milling machine helps to make accurate splines when you need them
agree if the break is clean you can glue them

Matching paint is the hardest part of the job and your shop did a terrific job
shows high level of skill and ability

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Sorry Bro don't have one. We should have taken one but we are busy as can be and even working nights now.

Dave was not all that happy with it until I started telling him he did great. He will tell you that his spray gun sputtered and that the original paint is more translucent than what he mixed up but to me I see near perfection and for this color I would call it excellent and perhaps as good as it gets.

But with us it's important to know that we are very stressed and pressed for time and turning away more work than we accept. I wanted this one done and gone some time ago but Dave thought he could do better and he did indeed.

Some of this work can't be rushed and I tend to be impatient, sadly.

I worry too much about the bills and people waiting too long. Dave worries about doing the best work he can, always and I need to be more like him. Of course we would go out of business with no one paying the bills

If you look then you can see the difference in the finish but sheesh, I don't recall seeing anyone do much better without spraying the whole thing. Excellent work.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Yep, milling machine.


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Well Hesh we Brits have probably made a Trussrod for our own backs! Dave

When you cut the slot, do you ramp it up so the bottom doesn't come poking out of the face of the headstock?

I think he did great. Repair guys, especially well-known and highly regarded ones, do develop a perception among their customer base for being geniuses or supernaturally skilled when it comes to totally invisible repairs. This can lead to a lot of pressure on the luthier, both from the customer and themselves.

The reality is that all luthiers can do is their very best given the commercial realities at play and we cannot change history - the headstock was broken and will never truly be 100% as it once was. This job by Dave to me is as close as anyone gets with a colour like this, absent a genuine full respray which in many cases prices the repair out of reach for many customers. He deserves applause for it and I’m sure the customer will be ecstatic.

Full respray is and was not an option since we don't have access to genuine, crooked G*bson decals and such and that's scope creep too and not necessary.

As important as how well the paint matches to me is actually getting the dang thing done and back to the client. A 98% great job delivered on time to a gigging musician is more important than a 100% great job delivered late so much so that the relationship between client and Luthier was damaged AND the client may have moved on from the instrument too if enough time passes.

So again as academic as these kinds of repairs are to many here we have a different monkey on our backs that pressures us to deliver in an allowed time frame keeping promises of ETA and budget.

Structurally the repair could not be better in my experience it's 100%. Color match the translucency of the paint is slightly different from the original G*bson paint but what are ya going to do. It's minor, it can't be noticed until you are very close and with great lighting and the steward wants his Lester back

Most importantly the client is thrilled and that's what matters to us, among other things...