How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

[Zerberus]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

#2 .... A neck is easy to repair. A headstock is difficult to fix. Tuners, tension, angles, etc.

Ehm, no. At least not on a standard gibson neck (not the 3pc lam)

When you remove the tuners, you`re basically left with 2 halves of a board that (usually) split away cleanly along their own grain. Also, it is in an area that does not need to be superprecise to guarantee plkayability, unlike a break near a scarf joint or under the nut.

Any monkey with a bottle of titebond and a 2 clamps can repair this properly

 

[blueman335]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

Any monkey with a bottle of titebond and a 2 clamps can repair this properly

Well, monkeys and most guitarists.

 

[CTN]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

I just know there usually isn't enough nearly enough wood to support the headstock given the very steep angle. One of the main causes is the truss rod nut. Gibson uses the hex nut instead of an allen key, which requires more room to adjust. Therefore they have to make the adjustment cavity deeper, usually leaving about 1 centimeter of solid wood under the truss rod adjustment nut. The high tension of the strings given the angle just makes it worse.

I'm not sure why Gibson doesn't address this issue. Sure you can be very careful, but sometimes the drunk roadie isn't. Thankfully it is so common by now that it is considered an easy repair as the technique has been perfected after many cases. I guess they are just so hell-bent on "tradition". Plus, mahogany is not a very strong wood (in terms of breakage). Dense, but not very hard like rock maple.

For the people calling bogus, the insides:

View attachment 44397

They did address the issue in the 70s, which is when a bunch of Gibbys came with volutes at the headstock. Buuuuuuuut all the Gibson fanboys made a big stink about sticking to the original designs blah blah blah, and instead of accepting the wisdom of luthiers who know better, Gibson chose instead to listen to their relatively less knowledgeable customers, and went back to the no-volute design.

I'm sure this is also a blessing to a lot of guitar repair guys though, because it seems that everyone who does repair guitars can practically make a job of it by fixing years upon years of this one mistake by Gibson.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

They did address the issue in the 70s, which is when a bunch of Gibbys came with volutes at the headstock. Buuuuuuuut all the Gibson fanboys made a big stink about sticking to the original designs blah blah blah, and instead of accepting the wisdom of luthiers who know better, Gibson chose instead to listen to their relatively less knowledgeable customers, and went back to the no-volute design.

I'm sure this is also a blessing to a lot of guitar repair guys though, because it seems that everyone who does repair guitars can practically make a job of it by fixing years upon years of this one mistake by Gibson.

The volute did little to nothing to address the headstock breakeage issue with gGibsons, beceause of the location of it.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

They did address the issue in the 70s, which is when a bunch of Gibbys came with volutes at the headstock. Buuuuuuuut all the Gibson fanboys made a big stink about sticking to the original designs blah blah blah, and instead of accepting the wisdom of luthiers who know better, Gibson chose instead to listen to their relatively less knowledgeable customers, and went back to the no-volute design.

I'm sure this is also a blessing to a lot of guitar repair guys though, because it seems that everyone who does repair guitars can practically make a job of it by fixing years upon years of this one mistake by Gibson.

I am pretty sure I acknowledged somewhere in a previous post about Norlin taking notice, but currently it has been reverted to the status of not being addressed.

On the Gibson forum they'll tell you that newer models are reinforced, but I don't know about that for sure. To be honest I'm terrified of having say a dream SG only for the headstock to break at some point in time, despite knowing it is a simple fix that I KNOW I can handle. It is always a good excuse for a refinish as well.

The volute did little to nothing to address the headstock breakeage issue with gGibsons, beceause of the location of it.

The volute absolutely made a huge difference.

View attachment 44441

The volute is placed exactly at what would be the weakest point for a Gibson headstock. You can easily see it by the picture I have posted already. Some volutes are bigger than others, but they were all placed in the correct spot to be functional. The laminated necks also help.

And I want to correct myself from a previous post. Gibson does not always (to my knowledge) glue headstocks on at an angle. I remembered the whole "one piece neck" deal where they cut out the entire neck and headstock (with exception of the ears) on one stock of wood using a bandsaw, which just makes breaks with the grain incredibly easy.

 

[TattooedCarrot]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

They don't break spontaneously. Most break because they get knocked over, nothing to do with string tension. In the case is rare but can happen. I had a UPS guy recently tell me all the neck snaps he's seen were from hitting the side inside the case, not front to back.

 

[Aceman]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

The headstocks still can break very easily in the case.

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/gibson-les-pauls/4725-how-not-break-your-headstock.html

Volutes absolutely help in addition to the laminate maple necks. Simply because there is more wood, and it keeps the grain between the headstock and neck parallel, which is the way Fender headstocks are (tell me the last time you saw a broken Fender headstock that was an accident). Like it was said in the MLP thread, the Norlin era made many mistakes, but they found the perfect solution to Gibson headstock breaks. Even Epiphone headstocks are stronger than Gibson headstocks because they glue on the headstocks with parallel grain and have a smaller truss rod adjustment route.

I find it a shame really because I love some Gibson SG models, and will still buy them, but just dread the day when something goes wrong at it is time to get it fixed. That is why I search for Norlin models and repaired models - a huge price reduction AND added headstock strength.

No, headstocks in cases DO NOT break EASILY - not saying it can't happen. But I guarantee is is way more rare than OUT of case.

And the Volute helps prevent a NECK break. But the downside is that it INCREASES breakage in the headstock - a WORSE proposition for repair.

 

[uOpt]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

I had a UPS guy recently tell me all the neck snaps he's seen were from hitting the side inside the case, not front to back.

Yeah I wanted to mention that, too. Bad cases aren't only those that have the headplate touch the bottom, but the headplate side can hit the case side. That isn't only a headstock crack risk, it also bends the tuners over time.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

How do Les Paul headstocks break?

From dropping them.

 

[JeffB]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

#3.

Leo Fender's ghost breaks them telekinetically.

Boo! Broke your headstock beatch! Buy a Tele!

oooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo...........

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

how do they break?
Pilot error usually.

 

[Securb]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

How do Les Paul headstocks break? From dropping them.

I have long thought that the strap lock pins on Gibson Les Pauls are the biggest flaw in their design. When the guitar is played the pin is pointing up allowing the strap to pop off. I had to catch my Les Paul once, I had strap locks on it 24 hours later. Strap pins are the biggest culprit for broken Gibson headstocks.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: How do Les Paul headstocks break? (poll)

#4 Stiff breeze