RC Stromm Acoustic Guitar Headstock Repair

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 Headstock Repair

RC Stromm Acoustic after Neck Repair

With that, I humbly take my leave. Thanks for dropping by. Stay home, stay safe, and God bless :)

 

Gibson SG Special Headstock and Neck Repair

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!

LTD FX-260SM Headstock and Neck Repair

This LTD FX-260SM came in with a cracked 5-piece Mahogany neck. The gaping crack extended all the way from the back of the neck to the headstock face. I was told was that the former owner had put it on the floor during a break from wood-shedding, and had himself stepped on the neck accidentally. Then, believing the guitar to be damaged beyond repair; he sold it to the current owner for the princely sum of 700 bucks.

The first part of this repair was cleaning the gaping "wound" of loose splinters, aligning any slivers of wood; and removing the truss rod adjustment nut. Super glue was then applied to the cracked areas, and clamps applied to hold the damaged areas in place.

The next day, the clamps were removed and wood shaved off the back of the entire headstock and neck, past the cracked area. Doing this would ensure maximum repair strength with the least wood removal. A pre-shaped Nyatoh backstrap overlay was then glued to the shaved area with Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue, clamped; and the glue allowed to dry/cure for four days.

Once the clamps had been removed, tuner holes were drilled through the overlay; and tuners test-fitted. After the tuners were removed, the edges of the overlay were trimmed to fit the outline of the headstock, shaved to the correct contours; and sanded to 220 grit.

The Nyatoh backstrap was then successively stained and sanded to the desired shade, and then grain-filled with StewMac ColorTone Clear Grain Filler. The grain-filling involved repeated application and sanding, resulting in a surface level and smooth enough for Tru-Oil application. The front of the headstock was also sealed and smoothened in a similar manner, save for the staining.

Tru-Oil was then applied in the usual manner, with light sanding after every three coats. The Tru-Oil was applied to the whole length of the back of the neck in order to adequately blend in the repaired area. Tru-Oil was also applied to the front of the headstock to seal the cracks in the pre-existing lacquer and make them less noticeable.

After the final coat of Tru-Oil, the FX-260SM was set aside for a month to allow ample time for the finish to cure. Once the finish had cured and hardened, the whole guitar was waxed and buffed by hand (as I don't own a buffing wheel). The tuners and nut were re-installed, the guitar strung, set up and tested; after which I gratefully called it a day.

Takamine D Series Acoustic Guitar - Headstock Repair

The headstock of this Takamine D Series Acoustic Guitar "snapped right off while it was still in its gig bag," so said the distraught owner. I suspect that he'd been using way too heavy strings, and the poor guitar couldn't handle the tension. As luck would have it, the headstock had sheared off at an angle from the neck. This was good, as I had a wide surface area for gluing.

At this juncture, I regret to inform you that I clean forgot to take a picture of the broken headstock before repairs were carried out ... bummer! Anyhow, after gluing back the headstock to the neck, I used a nyatoh backstrap to reinforce the repair. Note that the backstrap blank had to be pre-softened before bending it to conform to the curve of the back of the headstock/neck.

This pre-softening was carried out using a kitchen steamer, much like what one would use for steaming dumplings (pau). Without this pre-softening, the backstrap blank would have cracked when I force-clamped it to the back of the headstock.

I'd wanted to cover the splits and cracks on the headstock face with teak veneer, but the owner was not willing to lose the "Takamine" logo. As such, I had to settle for a super glue job. Finally, the back of the headstock and neck were stained with StewMac's ColorTone Liquid Stain diluted with ethanol, and refinished with Tru-Oil.