There's a sad story and lesson to be learnt behind today's ebony Gibson SG Special Headstock and Neck Repair tale. The used SG in question had been purchased online for a mere 2.5K. That was way too cheap, and for a reason. The current owner only found out that something was not right after playing it for the first time at home. The black paint suddenly split open to reveal a crack where the neck meets the headstock. He immediately contacted the seller, who replied to his messages for a while, and then dropped off the web; never to be seen or heard of again.
The heartbroken owner, who works and lives in Dungun; brought it to me on one of his rare off days. He really loved the SG, it had been his dream guitar ever since he'd started playing. I immediately noticed some black overspray on the sides of the nut, and curiosity stoked by what I was seeing; scraped off the paint and sealer right down to bare wood. We looked carefully at what was thus revealed -- remnants of glue from a previous botched repair job. So it was clear that the dishonest seller had knowingly offloaded a damaged SG to our unsuspecting buyer.
Though visibly devastated by the confirmation of his suspicions, the owner quietly asked if his beloved SG could be restored; and if it would be worth it. I told him that he'd gotten the guitar at a ridiculous price, what more with a genuine Gibson USA gig bag thrown in for free. As such, even with the added-on cost of a headstock/neck repair; it would definitely be worth it. And so, I ended up being entrusted with the task of restoring this ebony beauty to gig-able condition.
Due to the severity of the damage, I knew that nothing short of a full backstrap overlay would suffice for this repair. But that would mean that the serial number would be removed. Now, as this was a genuine Gibson SG Special (yes, I checked), it would permanently devalue the instrument. But the owner was okay with this as he was never ever going to sell it. For good measure, I decided that I would carefully saw off the upper portion of the back of the headstock (where the serial number and "Made in USA" is) and keep it safe in the gig bag pocket.
The first part of the job was cleaning off as much of the old glue residue as humanly possible. Once this was done, I re-glued the crack with Titebond III and clamped it shut with rubber bands. After two days, off came the rubber bands; and I proceeded to remove wood from the back of the headstock and neck. That is, after sawing off the upper portion; as planned earlier.
Having removed the required amount of wood from the area to be repaired, evidence of the previous botched repair revealed itself in the form of two figure eight-shaped wood inserts/splines. I've arrowed them in the related pic so you can see for yourself what I'm talking about. Next, a pre-shaped and pre-bent Nyatoh backstrap overlay was glued on to the back of the headstock/neck, once again with my go-to wood glue; Titebond III. Clamps were applied, and eventually removed after five days.
After removing dried glue squeeze-out, the backstrap overlay was trimmed and scraped to fit. Holes for the tuners were then drilled and the tuners test-fitted. Everything up to this point had gone off without a hitch, thankfully.
The next step was grain filling and sealing, a tedious and repetitive task; but absolutely necessary. Now, I'd normally spray on an undercoat after this, but in this case; I'd have to blend the new finish with the original paint job on the neck. And so, I went straight to color-coating with flat black. Then, it was clear coating time, hang time of about a month; followed by waxing and polishing. It sounds relatively simple, but that's because I've fast-forwarded through mind-numbing tasks such as wet-sanding.
Finally, it was time re-assemble the components previously removed; string her up; and do final setup and testing. This Gibson SG Special passed with flying colors, I'm happy to say. I called the owner, told him the good news; and he asked me to hold on to his baby until he had a day off. So I waited. And waited. Seems he could not wrangle a day off yet.
And so, on a dark and stormy night; the wife and I decided to deliver the SG to him instead. We drove all the way to Dungun via the Lebuh Raya Pantai Timur (LPT), which proved to be an interesting experience. Met up with the owner, who came in his work clothes on a motorbike; much to my surprise. Happily took possession of his SG, slung the gig bag over his shoulder; and off he went into the night.
As for the two of us, we were hungry. Found a nice little restaurant, had our dinner; and headed back to Kuantan. If the drive to Dungun was interesting, the return trip was "far out," as John Denver used to say. And why not, it was raining cats and dogs, the wind was a-blowing, lightning and thunder flashed and rumbled; and there was a few inches of water on the surface of the road. Thank goodness we arrived home safely that night. What an adventure it had been, and all because of a lovely ebony Gibson SG Special!
The heartbroken owner, who works and lives in Dungun; brought it to me on one of his rare off days. He really loved the SG, it had been his dream guitar ever since he'd started playing. I immediately noticed some black overspray on the sides of the nut, and curiosity stoked by what I was seeing; scraped off the paint and sealer right down to bare wood. We looked carefully at what was thus revealed -- remnants of glue from a previous botched repair job. So it was clear that the dishonest seller had knowingly offloaded a damaged SG to our unsuspecting buyer.
Though visibly devastated by the confirmation of his suspicions, the owner quietly asked if his beloved SG could be restored; and if it would be worth it. I told him that he'd gotten the guitar at a ridiculous price, what more with a genuine Gibson USA gig bag thrown in for free. As such, even with the added-on cost of a headstock/neck repair; it would definitely be worth it. And so, I ended up being entrusted with the task of restoring this ebony beauty to gig-able condition.
Due to the severity of the damage, I knew that nothing short of a full backstrap overlay would suffice for this repair. But that would mean that the serial number would be removed. Now, as this was a genuine Gibson SG Special (yes, I checked), it would permanently devalue the instrument. But the owner was okay with this as he was never ever going to sell it. For good measure, I decided that I would carefully saw off the upper portion of the back of the headstock (where the serial number and "Made in USA" is) and keep it safe in the gig bag pocket.
The first part of the job was cleaning off as much of the old glue residue as humanly possible. Once this was done, I re-glued the crack with Titebond III and clamped it shut with rubber bands. After two days, off came the rubber bands; and I proceeded to remove wood from the back of the headstock and neck. That is, after sawing off the upper portion; as planned earlier.
Having removed the required amount of wood from the area to be repaired, evidence of the previous botched repair revealed itself in the form of two figure eight-shaped wood inserts/splines. I've arrowed them in the related pic so you can see for yourself what I'm talking about. Next, a pre-shaped and pre-bent Nyatoh backstrap overlay was glued on to the back of the headstock/neck, once again with my go-to wood glue; Titebond III. Clamps were applied, and eventually removed after five days.
After removing dried glue squeeze-out, the backstrap overlay was trimmed and scraped to fit. Holes for the tuners were then drilled and the tuners test-fitted. Everything up to this point had gone off without a hitch, thankfully.
The next step was grain filling and sealing, a tedious and repetitive task; but absolutely necessary. Now, I'd normally spray on an undercoat after this, but in this case; I'd have to blend the new finish with the original paint job on the neck. And so, I went straight to color-coating with flat black. Then, it was clear coating time, hang time of about a month; followed by waxing and polishing. It sounds relatively simple, but that's because I've fast-forwarded through mind-numbing tasks such as wet-sanding.
Finally, it was time re-assemble the components previously removed; string her up; and do final setup and testing. This Gibson SG Special passed with flying colors, I'm happy to say. I called the owner, told him the good news; and he asked me to hold on to his baby until he had a day off. So I waited. And waited. Seems he could not wrangle a day off yet.
And so, on a dark and stormy night; the wife and I decided to deliver the SG to him instead. We drove all the way to Dungun via the Lebuh Raya Pantai Timur (LPT), which proved to be an interesting experience. Met up with the owner, who came in his work clothes on a motorbike; much to my surprise. Happily took possession of his SG, slung the gig bag over his shoulder; and off he went into the night.
As for the two of us, we were hungry. Found a nice little restaurant, had our dinner; and headed back to Kuantan. If the drive to Dungun was interesting, the return trip was "far out," as John Denver used to say. And why not, it was raining cats and dogs, the wind was a-blowing, lightning and thunder flashed and rumbled; and there was a few inches of water on the surface of the road. Thank goodness we arrived home safely that night. What an adventure it had been, and all because of a lovely ebony Gibson SG Special!
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