"Fixed" hairline fracture?

[Curtis__atkins]

Hi all. It's been a while.

About a year ago, I purchased a Warwick Rockbass Corvette $$ 5 string. The only downfall (which I knew at the time) is a hairline fracture/crack at the headstock end of the neck. It appears to have been repaired, but I'm not sure to what extent. The left side of the fracture is clearly pronounced, and doesn't feel too great on the thumb while playing.

I've asked around at all the local guitar stores, and they all say it *should* be fine, but I'm still a bit nervous about it- haven't even restrung it because I'm worried that the pressure will worsen it.

Realistically, I just want to know if it is safe enough to restring and sand + re-coat, or if not, explore what other options may be available.

Anyone with related experience or advice, please, fire away.

Thank you.

 

[Curtis__atkins]

Here's a better shot of the more defined section.

Thanks.

 

[vid1900]

The luithers who saw it in person would have much more weight in their opinions that those who are only seeing pictures.

The repair is not a great one, but if the gap does not **open up** when you tune it up, then it might be good enough.

I'd not waste effort into refinishing it, yet.

Play it for a year. If the joint holds, then refinish.

If the joint breaks, have it properly fixed (hopefully they did not use Epoxy on the joint)

Good luck, and keep us posted

 

[byacey]

That's something far, far beyond a hairline crack. I hope whoever glued it did use a good epoxy; it's just too bad they didn't clamp it up properly. A break like that could have been made almost invisible if it was properly done.

 

[vid1900]

Epoxy is a terrible glue for strong wood joints, and is always the signature of an amateur repair.

Epoxy also hinders the proper gluing of the joint in the future when it fails .

 

[sissy kathy]

@Vid1900's advice of keeping it for a year is sound. At this point you've already had it for a year. so refinish it if you like. That repair seems to be holding up fine.

 

[byacey]

Epoxy is a terrible glue for strong wood joints, and is always the signature of an amateur repair.

Epoxy also hinders the proper gluing of the joint in the future when it fails .

I would argue that. I come from a background of building violins, where hide glue is the ONLY glue used, the biggest reason is that any glue joint can be undone for repairs and cleaned up with water for re-gluing.

However, in breaks like this that you never want to come apart, I would be inclined to use an epoxy, but not just any consumer grade hobby/craft epoxy.

I've mentioned this before- a product called G2 epoxy; this epoxy is used for laminating wood aircraft propellers, the manufacture of wooden long bows for archery, Gluing joinery in marine applications, and many other glue joints you never want to come apart. It has a tensile strength of 6000 lbs per square inch, which is more than adequate for a neck repair on a guitar.

PVA glues are prone to creeping over time, and if you ever need to re-do a glue joint made with PVA, you have a mess on your hands. Ask any restorer of violin family instruments what they think of PVA glues, and they'll show you the door, if not becoming downright violent.

 

[vid1900]

I would argue that.

I do respect your opinion

In my 40 years of luithery, I've never seen any respected luither use epoxy (except for repairing some oddball, oily wood; like when I needed to glue together a Teak volume knob that had split in half)

Same with those Polyurethane glues (like Gorilla)

Not only is Epoxy the weakest choice on most regular hardwoods, but it violates the luither rule of "Don't do anything to an instrument that can't be undone"

As every Les Paul owner knows, even the best glued headstock can be broken again (and again).

Headstocks that come in with previous epoxy garage repairs instantly add $200 to the new repair.

Woodworking mags do bi-yearly shootouts with every brand glue and no epoxy brand has ever won.

Again, I do respect your opinion.....but I'd save epoxy for exterior and oily wood repairs

 

[byacey]

I agree with avoiding the use of anything that can't be reversible, but I make an exception in the case where I never want it to be undone, and I never want the glue joint to fail.

I too have seen home hobbyist attempts at repairs using commonly available epoxy offerings that have failed, and as you say, create a lot of excessive work to clean up and re-repair.

I've done my own long term tests on G2, over a 32 year span (so far), and the glue joints do not show any signs of creep. Stressing and trying to break apart hardwood glue joints done with this epoxy has only met with destruction of the wood around the glue joint, but never a failure of the glue bond itself. I have seen a failed attempt with G2 used by another luthier, but it he had never used it before, and it was found that he didn't properly mix it well enough. In using this stuff, when you think it's mixed well enough, go and mix it some more; I usually mix it for a good five minutes.

I would invite you to try some of these tests yourself; you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Turnaround]

I would argue that. I come from a background of building violins, where hide glue is the ONLY glue used, the biggest reason is that any glue joint can be undone for repairs and cleaned up with water for re-gluing.

However, in breaks like this that you never want to come apart, I would be inclined to use an epoxy, but not just any consumer grade hobby/craft epoxy.

I've mentioned this before- a product called G2 epoxy; this epoxy is used for laminating wood aircraft propellers, the manufacture of wooden long bows for archery, Gluing joinery in marine applications, and many other glue joints you never want to come apart. It has a tensile strength of 6000 lbs per square inch, which is more than adequate for a neck repair on a guitar.

PVA glues are prone to creeping over time, and if you ever need to re-do a glue joint made with PVA, you have a mess on your hands. Ask any restorer of violin family instruments what they think of PVA glues, and they'll show you the door, if not becoming downright violent.

I’ve done plenty of repairs that were previously done with PVA glues. If you know what you are doing it’s not much different from re- doing hide glue repairs. There’s a lot of misinformation out there about pva’s. Perhaps there’s a satisfactory way of re-doing an epoxy repair, but I haven’t found it. Would love to hear about it if there is one.

 

[vid1900]

Perhaps there’s a satisfactory way of re-doing an epoxy repair, but I haven’t found it. Would love to hear about it if there is one.

MEK or Methyl Chloride works, but it's slow going, so only for $$$$$$ instruments.

On mid-priced, painted headstock instruments, a bandsaw with .016" blade is probably the most practical solution

 

[Pilgrim]

That's a headstock break - funny not to see it on a Gibson.

Nothing to do but string it up and play it.

 

[Frampton]

Many luthiers perform this repair with great success using PVA glues which are water-soluble. I have not seen the repair done with hide glue. I haven't worked with hide glue often, but it is the preferred adhesive for violins and their kind.

 

[vid1900]

I have not seen the repair done with hide glue.

Old video, but anything is better with Dan's soothing voice....

 

[JimChjones]

It's all to easy to think that all epoxy is the same, and it's utterly wrong. As has been mentioned appropriately formulated epoxies are superlative adhesives for wood, used in very high end applications like racing boats and aviation. But that sort of adhesive is very different from the stuff that comes in tubes from the hardware shop.