BillFitzmaurice.info

Tonight at the studio, I tripped over a cord and sent my Les Paul to the floor. I bought it brand new 40 years ago this week.

I'm numb.

Its a sad day Bruce

Nice axe. You must be

That has got to hurt.

There is hope though... this guy specializes in les paul headstock repairs...

http://www.specimenproducts.com/gibson- ... ar-repair/

There does seem to be a wealth of information on how to do it too...

Still sucks.

Do not despair!

I had that happen to a 12-string acoustic. Although I usually do anything wood related myself I took it to a guitar repair guy. When I got it back I couldn't see the break, and it's still holding, 15 years later.

OOOoooohhh, that's gotta hurt!

Once you get over the pain, get it fixed like the other guys pointed out.

Glue it with yellow glue. The hard part is refinishing it to make the break invisible, but that can be done as well.

There is a guy just up the road toward Austin who has done repairs for a lot of my friends. He also does work for Eric Johnson and is pretty widely known around the Austin area.

This isn't one that I'm going to try. It is a clean break and the veneer on the head didn't break. It was truly a fluke. It could have fallen inches left or right and probably been ok.

Funny thing is that I didn't even get mad......I was just in shock. I'v always prided myself on taking care of my gear. The guitar is always last to come out and first to get put up after a gig.....yet, I figure out a way to do it in the studio. At least I did it myself, and not one of the other guys.

Of course, it couldn't happen at a worse time, being in the studio under a time crunch. So, it will either be the old ES335, the Tele with a humbucker, or my buddy's LP or PRS.

Oh man, that was a gut punch.

Bill Fitzmaurice wrote:Glue it with yellow glue. The hard part is refinishing it to make the break invisible, but that can be done as well.

This is not a job for PL premium? Seems like that would be stronger, except for the squeezeout which would have to be carefully removed somehow.

fwew, thats the same year as my dads les paul HE bought brand new, and it looks like the same aftermarket tuning pegs we installed a few years back..... Sunburst?

Definitely a job for yellow glue. TIghtbond II imo. squeezout is a pain, and you dont want the glue expanding because you want a "tight" fit identical to the original positioning.

I wouldn't use yellow glue; I've experienced problems in the past with violins, where the neck heel to upper block was glued with this, and on a hot summer day the glue can soften enough that the glue joint will open up from the string tension. Arguably, the violin shouldn't be exposed to temperature extremes, and using carpenters glue is frowned upon in the violin world, but some people still continue to use it.

I would recommend G2 epoxy made by Industrial Formulators. This is an epoxy recommended specifically for hardwoods, especially those that are oily and difficult to glue. They use this epoxy for laminating wood aircraft propellers, so you know it isn't coming apart.

I've used it for repairing difficult breaks on violin bows made from Pernambuco, and it's performed admirably; glue joints from 23 years ago holding perfect.

Ideally for your repair, a spline would help reinforce the break considerably, but being a vintage instrument I would avoid doing this. The G2 will hold fine, and it dries translucent.

A quick search brought up a thread you should read through. This is on a forum I frequent, with many well respected luthiers as members, so you know the advice is coming from professionals.
http://www.maestronet.com/forum/index.p ... s-of-glue/

sine143 wrote:fwew, thats the same year as my dads les paul HE bought brand new, and it looks like the same aftermarket tuning pegs we installed a few years back..... Sunburst?

Definitely a job for yellow glue. TIghtbond II imo. squeezout is a pain, and you dont want the glue expanding because you want a "tight" fit identical to the original positioning.

It's a '73 model that I bought in January of '74. It's a sunburst Deluxe with the mini-humbuckers. Tuners are Schallers.

He will be re-attaching the headstock with titebond. He's done a bunch of these and is recognized as the guy to use.

Going to have him put in the new (original replacement) bridge pickup that I just bought for it and hadn't put in yet. Then soon, I'll get him to do a fret job. I guess 40 years with no maintenance is a long time.

Oh....and I still use the original Gibson leather strap that came with it.

I had a similar thing happen to my second bass, my first proper bass, which I bought back when I was a student with next to no money. It cost me an arm and a leg at the time for a used Spector neck through. It dropped straight from the stand face forward on a concrete floor, cracked the head. Yet it stayed perfectly in tune and I had no money for repair so I kept playing it for many years. After some 10 years I had it repaired by a luthier. He glued it properly but invisible repair would have required a respray which I could not afford at the time. The repair is now some 12 years ago. The bass is not worth much due to the repair but it is dear to me and still plays perfectly fine. I felt the same as you did Bruce. Just shocked.

It's looks like you found "the guy" for the job at least.

You'll always know what happened, but here's hoping you are satified with the end result.

I really hope it goes well for you Bruce...

Bruce Weldy wrote:
He will be re-attaching the headstock with titebond. He's done a bunch of these and is recognized as the guy to use.

I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but if it was me, I would be doing more research into the glue issue. I can tell you from first hand experience PVA glues are not that permanent / stable long term, despite what anyone tells you.