This acoustic guitar came in a few years ago for a headstock repair. I used a nyatoh backstrap overlay to repair the damage, and it has held up admirably all this while. That was until one of Che'gu Awal's guitar students carelessly dropped it after a private practice session. This time the crack was in a different location and even more severe, which led me to suspect that there was a problem with the wood of the neck itself.
After the back of the headstock and neck was shaved down, I decided to remove wood from both sides of the crack; and glue in rectangular blocks of wood for reinforcement. Upon chiseling out wood to form channels for the wood blocks, my earlier suspicions were confirmed. Wood on either side of the truss rod, especially in the truss rod area; was rotten. So rotten, in fact; that some sections looked as if they'd been eaten by termites.
Once the wood blocks had been glued in, the back of the neck was shaved to accept a backstrap overlay. This time, the backstrap overlay consisted of a "sandwich" of pine and chengal. And instead of bending the overlay, an extra-thick slab of pine was carefully shaped to conform to the profile of the shaved headstock/neck area.
The backstrap overlay was glued in with Titebond III, clamped; and set aside for a week. Once the clamps were off, it was time to trim the overlay to size and reshape it as necessary. As it turned out, most of the chengal ended up being sanded off completely; leaving just two small areas near the end of the headstock and volute. Yes, I added a volute because I believe it adds strength to the weakest areas of the headstock/neck joint.
Following this, the entire back of the neck was sanded down, and refinished in Tru-Oil. About 10-15 coats were put down, with some steel-wooling action going down every three coats or so. The final coat was considerably thinned down with naphtha; and left to cure for about a week. As a finishing touch, Birchwood Casey Gun Stock Wax was applied to the entire back of the neck and headstock; and the area buffed by hand.
This RC Stromm Acoustic Guitar came in at the end of July, and the job was only completed yesterday. This means that it took about five months for this repair, imagine that! I sent the guitar to Che'gu Awal earlier tonight at RF MusicWorks. While he was trying out the guitar, I recorded a short video (with his permission, of course). I've also put together another video that summarizes how this repair was carried out. Here are the videos, then. Do check them out:
RC Stromm Acoustic after Neck Repair
With that, I humbly take my leave. Thanks for dropping by. Stay home, stay safe, and God bless :)
Looks fantastic and sure it sounds great, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, it is a nice guitar indeed :)
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