software

...Gorilla Glue (urethane) or Wood Glue?

A friend's father recently made the very unwise decision to put his Strat on the airline baggage belt in nothing more than a gig bag. I suppose he should be thankful that a cleanly broken headstock was ALL that happened.

It's a simple repair. What's best to use?

DEFINITELY wood glue....you may want to inlay 2-3 splines as well to strengthen the joint, but properly guled with wood glue it´ll be stronger than it was before

Tip: Use pins to fixate the headstock so it doesn´t move around, as the glue WILL have a mild lubricating effect for the first few minutes to hour ..


Originally Posted by ZerberusDEFINITELY wood glue....you may want to inlay 2-3 splines as well to strengthen the joint, but properly guled with wood glue it´ll be stronger than it was before

Tip: Use pins to fixate the headstock so it doesn´t move around, as the glue WILL have a mild lubricating effect for the first few minutes to hour ..
What are splines? are they similar to biscuits or dowels?

I'm planning on using pins and 3 of these cool clamps my dad had made just for things like this, and letting it dry for 2 days.

I have used Gorilla glue and it makes the strongest joint period!!! Problem is, it squeezes out a good amount! More than wood glue. If you want to use Gorilla glue, you need to dampen the wood where you will be glueing, then put the glue on the damp wood (this activates the glue) and clamp. You will have to stay on top of things and whip off the squeeze out over an hour or 2! Gorilla glue is the strongest but, Wood glue is the easiest to work with!!!

I have glued back a few Epi Headstocks with standard Wood glue and they are still playing fine! Even i was amazed they held together! Bad bad bad breaks! One had the truss rod come thru the bottom.... The one Epi i was pissed off as i had missed putting one more clamp and the wood moved just a hair over.... so there is a hair of maple sticking out past the fingerboard. I missed putting a clamp to squeeze the neck together! one of the other Epis i have that was breakin at the headstock was glued and clamped up before i got my hands on it and the guy didn't clamp it right either... Now i have 2 epis that had baddly broken necks and were not clamped just right... but they play again and didn't cost my much at all. I gave the store about the same value as the parts on the guitars.... Anytime the store has an accident they seem to hold onto them to give to me.. I still have some work to do to those guitars. The LP needs to be refretted as there is a lump in the fingerboard at the 3rd fret.... I dressed it out so it plays fine but it needs to be refretted. These Epis are what i call jamming guitars... take them to jam nights and i don't care what the hell happens to them.... They get bumped around or broken again i could care less...

GW

I got some real good wood glue and started the repair last night... glued the headstock peice back on and clamped it there in three different spot. I'll check on it tomorrow, should be fully dry by then. I didn't use gorilla glue because the wood glue sands easier... or so it says.Thanks guys!

2 words: Flight Case

Hey guys... almost forgot. At a jam i was at a guitarist was telling me about his 2000 Les Paul that the headstock got broken off. It was repaired by a Toronto store but he said the glue joint broke again?!?!?!? He said the headstock gave with the string pressure right at the glue joint.... would that be because of not enough clamp pressure when it was repaired? Must be... why would a glue joint like that break again!?

WhoFan

PS also with all this talk of headstock repairs i have been wondering if on my Epi LP that has been repaired somewhat, what should i do about the finnish..... should i a-remove the finnish off the neck area and oil it? b-just fill it in the best i can and forget about it?

On the Exployer i just filled it in with super glue and that is all i'm doing as there is lots of finnish damage... The LP on the other hand i tried to match the finnish colour but it turned black over night! Now i have to remove it...


Originally Posted by Xeromus2 words: Flight Case

That's what I told him. He saw the price of a nice one and freaked.

He's not a gigging musician like his son is, though. Nevertheless I don't know why he didnt at least put it in a decent hard case...

Whats your email? I have some material I can send you.

That also happened to my Daughter's BC Rich BRONZE MOCKINGBIRD
headstock at the first tuner. I used wood glue and she has not had a problem since.

BTW for her birthday going to change the tuners to some grover tuners