Neck break repair questions....

[WhoFan]

I have a Korina style Epi Exployer that i got with a baddly broken neck! Man it was nasty! Fell about 9 feet and the headstock came off and the forearm area had piece missing.... Nastly break.

I glued everything back together and used a million clamps but it still didn't glue back just right as i missed one spot to place a clamp. It works and has been back in action for a few months now... Last night i picked it up from my bed by the neck and i heard a funny noise and i looked at the repair and one of the cracks had cracked about another inch... So i didn't get enough glue into it as i thought.. The crack i'm worried about runs from the nut area to the middle of the back of the neck... It was there from the original accident but it just got bigger... Hard to tell but it maybe just a finnish crack.

1-should i just drill a few holes along the crack and glue in some dowl wooden rods? I've done this before on a few repairs and the rod adds some strength and the glue gets forced into the crack... The main repair seems ok it's all the little cracks that seem to need more sopport.

2-The break is in such a way that routing out for long wooden spins to glue in is useless.. The main break starts at the Low E String side at about the 3rd fret and goes across the neck and ends on the highstring side of the headstock ... about halfway up the headstock.... so it was one big long break and is in such a nasty spot for an Exployer headstock. I guess i could try this....

I don't really care what it looks like as long as it works.....

Also i have another Epi with a broken neck that i'm fixing up... It's a Les Paul Standard.... It needs a refret as the guy i got the guitar from tried to glue it himself and didn't use enough clamps or there was a fair bit of weight on the headstock when he glued it bending the headstock back.. There is a large hump in the fingerboard at the 3rd fret! I don't think i could get the fingerboard unglued again and even if i did it would mean doing a hell of a lot of work to it! I figure i'll pop the frets and sand the board true and refret... If it warps on me i know what to do with it.... i'll Townshend it!

WhoFan

 

[octavedoctor]

Re: Neck break repair questions....

You know, sometimes the damage is so bad that your more into damage limitation than professional repair...

With the Korina Exploder i'd probably be breaking open a tube of superglue by now. Not the ordinary type you get in the corner shop but the low viscosity type made by Flair or Zap. Just let it bleed in and hope for the best...

THe Epi; that's exactly how I'd do it myself.

 

[theodie]

Re: Neck break repair questions....

It sounds like a duzy!!! Do what Octavedoctor said, if that dont work, you might as well get a roll of duct tape and a tube of JB weld and Macgyverize that thang!!!! LOL!!!! ROTFLMAO!!!!

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Neck break repair questions....

Sometimes i think i'd be better off if it breaks again... at least that way i could get some glue in the trouble spots. I picked this Epi up for the value of the hardware on the guitar... the place just wrote it off because of the extremely bad damage... so if it works it is a huge bonus... If it dies i could care less... I want to use it as a club guitar... i hate jamming with my good guitars... I go to the odd open jam once in a while that a friend holds and my guitars always get knocked over, or someone borrows it..... I have bought a few broken guitars just to fix and use in cases like this...

I think the store was pretty surprised i got this thing playing again.... I didn't even have to fret dress it.... It plays perfect. Another spot that shows signs of damage is the neck to body joint.... There is a crack that runs around the joint half way.. Nothing feels loose but oneday if i need to luck has it that there is a fret above the crack..... I figure i could pop a fret and dril a small hole to get some glue and dowl rod in there and replace fret.... hide the repair.

WhoFan

 

[proxy]

Re: Neck break repair questions....

Gorilla Glue is cool stuff. Before it hardens, the stuff expands alot, pushing itself into every crevice.

 

[octavedoctor]

Re: Neck break repair questions....

Sometimes i think i'd be better off if it breaks again... at least that way i could get some glue in the trouble spots.

I often find that things have to get worse before they can get better.

I never give up on a guitar if possible; I had a Les Paul brought in today that I think might change my mind. It had suffered a traumatic headstock break after a bout of what it's distraught owner described as "an episode of artistic temperament". The same artistry also trashed his Telecaster and, tragically, his G4 powerbook (i thought they were indestructible) but apparently his Line 6 amp survived, so that's the model i'll be buying!
I haven't worked out yet how to get the Les Paul back together, but maybe I'll post some photos just to let you know what i'm up against.

I think it must be a Brit thing, and more specifically a Welsh thing; Parfitt of the 60ft Dolls is the only person I know who has been able to destroy a 70's tele neck beyond recovery and a Les Paul studio was brought to me looking as though it had been seized by an industrial sheet metal guillotine...

 

[octavedoctor]

Re: Neck break repair questions....

Nothing feels loose but oneday if i need to luck has it that there is a fret above the crack..... I figure i could pop a fret and dril a small hole to get some glue and dowl rod in there and replace fret.... hide the repair.

I like your thinking; you show signs of true incipient professionalism.


:notworthy

 

[MVI]

Re: Neck break repair questions....

I had a Gibson that had a minor headstock crack. The pro repair guy said it was better than new, and I never, ever, had a problem with it. That was for a $1300 guitar ( new in '89 ). For the headache of a super major repair on an epi, my opinion is that getting a new one is cheaper, less worrisome, and more effective than dealing with the old one. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Neck break repair questions....

I had a Gibson that had a minor headstock crack. The pro repair guy said it was better than new, and I never, ever, had a problem with it. That was for a $1300 guitar ( new in '89 ). For the headache of a super major repair on an epi, my opinion is that getting a new one is cheaper, less worrisome, and more effective than dealing with the old one. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Ya but i like challenge of making something busted up work again.... The store had wrote these guitars off as firewood basicly... I have made guitars by hand before so i figured repairing these 2 Epi's can't be much harder then making a guitar from scratch....

WhoFan

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Neck break repair questions....

I like your thinking; you show signs of true incipient professionalism.


:notworthy

Thanks

 

[octavedoctor]

Re: Neck break repair questions....

I had a Gibson that had a minor headstock crack. The pro repair guy said it was better than new, and I never, ever, had a problem with it. That was for a $1300 guitar ( new in '89 ). For the headache of a super major repair on an epi, my opinion is that getting a new one is cheaper, less worrisome, and more effective than dealing with the old one. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Depends how much you get charged for it.

Generally speaking, fixing the break is the easy bit, it's the retouching and colour matching of the finish that clocks up the man-hours.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Neck break repair questions....

Depends how much you get charged for it.

Generally speaking, fixing the break is the easy bit, it's the retouching and colour matching of the finish that clocks up the man-hours.

Ya that is for sure! I tried to touch up the paint on my epi LP's break and it turned a different colour when it dried.... now i have to do it again.... mixed up a bad batch! It's a see thru red. For a real Gibson i would have the best shop in town to do the repair work... For my Epi i would never take it to a pro....

WhoFan