Decapitated guitar, damaged in shipping...

Jason from The Musician's Den in Evansville Indiana examines a guitar with a failed headstock scarf joint, and discusses a few possible solutions. The instrument was purchased on eBay, and damaged in shipping.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• guitar
• headstock
• Dean
• Vendetta
• glue
• broken
• eBay
• shipping
• neck
• luthier
• luthiery
• repair
• The Musician's Den
• Evansville
• Indiana

[woofwoofwoofie]

First of all, your diagnosis is incorrect. There is no such thing as "overclamping" It's physically impossible to "pump the glue out" by clamping it too tightly. it will merely force the glue into the grain of the wood... which is exactly what you want to happen. It is however VERY easy (and common amongst the uninformed) to not clamp tightly enough, thus leaving a thick layer of glue between the two pieces of wood. Clearly they just didn't use an adequate amount of glue. period.

[smbstressfest]

@woofwoofwoofie I suppose that depends on the type of glue and the particular timber we're glueing. When you clamp a joint, the glue will follow the path of least resistance. If that happens to be out of the joint, then that's what happens. Certain adhesives that need a good fit between the parts and that fill cosmetic but not structural gaps (aliphatic resins like what is typically used for this application) can have their bond compromised by too much pressure in the clamping procedure.

[smbstressfest]

But, epoxies and cyanoacrylate adhesives (rare for this application) fill both cosmetic AND structural gaps and will not experience a weaker bond by less clamping pressure, assuming there's enough to bridge any gaps between the pieces. I agree with you, probably the factory didn't use enough glue on this neck. But at very least I would say that at a certain point, overly tight clamps CAN in fact cause a problem with the glue joint on guitar necks when using common yellow wood glue.

[doctorgone]

Why not just buy a new neck to replace that one? If he found that guitar for a $100, then one can probably find another of the same model for that again. I understand that this is missing the point of learning to repair a broken head-stock, but I can't help but think this would be more economical.

[smbstressfest]

@doctorgone You're right, that would be more economical.

[MrHeavysteel]

Why would you sell a guitar to friend who gave it to you ?

[smbstressfest]

@MrHeavysteel He gave it to me because in the condition shown here, it's worthless as a musical instrument. If you were in my position and decided to make this a playable guitar again, wouldn't that time spent be worth something to you?

[EldubeG25]

Heres one tip, don't buy a Dean guitar, even signature models.

[tinytux100]

@smbstressfest In response to woofwoofwoofie,You can most certainly clamp to hard and squeeze out most of glue in a joint.I have to assume that your experience in woodworking is limited.

[eggymoo]

If a guitar arrives broken it's either the shippers fault for not handling it properly, or the seller's fault for not packing it properly. Whether a shop or an ebay seller, send it back and insist on a refund!

[billgator2005]

1st: if you cannot handle the unit do not buy it...2nd: the unit may be what is called surplus in asia areas. already defective from factory, purchased by wary middlemen who will resell to unsuspecting buyers. good for ebay sales since you cannot handle it first and the pics likely didn't pickup the fact it had defective glue joints..designed by WESTERN INTERESTS and MADE IN CHINA SAYS alot about the product...profit is all that matters...

[snakev10v5]

@smbstressfest I don't see why over tightening the clamps would make the joint any weaker, infact it will make it stronger as you have a tighter bound. I use PVC glue, and am currently gluing wood using the highest amount of clamping pressure I can get with 3 clamps. That seems to be working the best for me ^_^.

[woofwoofwoofie]

@smbstressfest I like you and I don't want this to turn into a pissing contest because that will detract from the overall quality and informative nature of this video.. I'll pm you and try to explain a bit clearer what I'm talking about, but suffice it to say, you are correct about epoxys, but not about aliphatic resins.

[woofwoofwoofie]

Having said that. The rest of your video was great. Very cool and interesting problem actually, (and one I've never seen before) and I'd like to see which direction you decided to go with the repair.

Cheers!  :-)

[MrHeavysteel]

@designator99 I would take a guitar, repair it and charge repair job.