Techno RD41 Headstock Repair | Part 1

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'Techno Guitar RD41EQ3T' is what's printed on the soundhole label of this two-month-old acoustic guitar. Armed with said information, I spent the better part of a hour at the Techno website, only to discover that it wasn't even listed. OK, that's enough griping, methinks.

Soundhole Label

 

The guitar recently suffered a bad fall, resulting in its headstock snapping right off. Luckily, the break was clean, with no missing shards. During a dry run, I was able to mate the headstock and neck after careful realignment, followed by a gentle hammer tap or two. So, then, here are pics of the break and the first Titebond glue-up. The spring clamps are there to provide a little pressure while the glue cures.

Headless Neck

Here's the Headstock

Initial Titebond Glue-Up

Now, since you're already here, let's look at the rest of the guitar. We'll begin with the body, specifically, the softwood top. There's no pickguard, and binding is five-ply black/white/black plastic. Particularly attractive is the five-ply soundhole rosette, comprising alternate rings of an abalone-like material and a dark-colored wood. Rounding off the top is a dyed hardwood bridge. The two pearloid dots on either side of the bridge pins most probably conceal bridge mounting bolts.

Softwood Top

Close-Up of the Top

Five-Ply Binding

Five-Ply Soundhole Rosette

Dyed Hardwood Bridge

The hardwood back of this RD41 features rather attractive '3D' striping and single-ply black plastic binding. The sides, meanwhile, are of the same wood as the back, and bound in three-ply black/white/black plastic. The left side of the upper bout houses a Techno T-170 onboard preamp. Among the highlights of this preamp are three bands of EQ, a phase switch, and a tuner. 

Hardwood Back

Close-Up of the Back

Single-Ply Binding

Hardwood Sides

Close-Up of Right Side

T-170 Three-Band Preamp

9V Battery Compartment/Output Jack

Rear End Strap Button

Moving on to the neck, what you see is straight-grained hardwood lacking any figuring or flaming. The neck heel, however, is far from plain, as it's decorated with a black plastic heel cap. Last but not least is a dyed hardwood fretboard featuring 20 frets, pearloid fret markers, and white side dots.

Hardwood Neck

Neck Heel/Heel Cap

Dyed Hardwood Fretboard

Pearloid Fretboard Dots

White Side Dots