Gibson Les Paul-making good an ugly neck break repair

Making good a repair that someone else has done can be difficult. Firstly, the job is coming to me because it has not been done well. Secondly, I can not be certain how the guitar has been repaired and what issues I might encounter as I make good the repair. So I can be reluctant to take on these repairs. But this one turned out OK in the end.
David Kennett
Flame Guitars-London
flameguitars.co.uk

[@willrowe9920]

Can’t recommend David enough. He refretted two of my guitars with stainless steel frets. Fantastic job.

[@paulpendlebury1882]

Huge improvement brave man for taking on the job with all the unknown underneath the owner must be thrilled with the result

[@flameguitars5770]

Thanks Paul

[@stealingtomorrowband]

Back in 2016 during band practice, lets just say i had a childish outburst and tossed my bass down it landed half on the carpet and the headstock and tuners hit the concrete and well cracked it. In 2020 the crack developed into a huge split from the tip down through the tuning peg holes and into the neck and stopped halfway under the 1st fret . I tried contacting several luthiers about repairing it and no one ever reached me back. I ended up drilling 4 holes 2 completely through the headstock and 2 that went halfway through. I things down some wood glue and pumped the entire crack full of glue and used a wooden dowel and inserted them in the holes i had drilled. The repair was successful and still holding strong, I'll never throw another instrument down again... Thank you for your videos and content my friend... Hope you will start showing us some bass love!!!!

[@Mr57blackbeauty]

Make sure you "cut" the original finish back with compound way past where you intend to paint, mask off the edges of the fingerboard, and sides of the headstock, apply your colour coat a little thinner and "dust" it on leaving longer between coats, when you are happy with the depth of coverage, using just clean thinners in the gun, lightly go over the dry edges to "melt" the edge, this should help reduce any witness marks and give a better finish, I would not mask above and below as this can leave a line, I would also have lacquered the whole rear face of the headstock and blended the finish further down the back of the neck. But nice job all the same.

[@primusstovis3704]

When dealing with a repair done by someone else, you really are delving into the unkown. Sometimes you are lucky, sometimes not so.

[@J0HN01DATA]

That is where I am at with finishes, getting to the finish line! So close, more time and patience. Great to see a nice job. Thank you!!

[@jefftucker201]

Fantastic work David!!

[@flameguitars5770]

Thanks Jeff

[@danielbreaux1842]

Great job! Makes me so glad I have polishing wheels to speed this process up quite a bit!

[@peterbayliss1484]

Nice work 👍

[@duhkha75]

Excellent job 👌

[@stevebrooks4th]

I was also wondering if the witness line derives from the paint applied during the original bad repair job.

[@S2KD0GGY]

Great video

[@christopherfidler3019]

Every once in a while I see a Bolt or Screw used in a Headstock repair however recently someone on Reddit chopped part of the headstock off from a Epiphone Thunderbird just so it would fit in a gig bag which was a trash bag with a zipper. Thanks for the video 🍺🇨🇦

[@Ray-um3if]

Hi David, great video (as always) another top repair which makes the neck much better. Aiming for perfection is always a good thing, but like you say sometimes 98% is as good as can be achieved by anyone. The only other solution might be to completely re-finish the whole neck but I think that would be taking something away from the genuine history of the instrument.

[@ericheder777]

That looks spot on compared to how it was. Another great video!

[@flameguitars5770]

Thanks!

[@forresta65]

can't complain about that

[@MarkBennett118]

Hi David, ask Trogly about Gibson finishes. He'll know

[@MinivanMegafun100]

Hi David! Wonderful video as usual! I’m curious, have you ever had anyone bring you a repair that you have turned down because it was unfixable? Thanks!

[@flameguitars5770]

Yes I have. Sometimes it can be because the cost of any repair is out of all proportion to the value of the guitar. I am also in a position where I can choose the repairs I want to take on. I am also more cautious about taking on the larger repairs that are hard to cost. I have done jobs where I estimate for say, 8 hours work, only to to encounter a number of unforseen problems and the job takes twice as long.

[@S2KD0GGY]

15:30 what is that. You used it instead of the buffing wheel. What paste is best to get gloss back to a neck someone buffed with 0000...

[@deandee8082]

hit it with a high speed orbital polisher maybe the heat generated will meld that seam into one layer?

[@oqsy]

What is “in-filled” vs. “filled”?

[@wizrom3046]

I think that if you are a professional refinisher you should have a system to accurately determine the type of previous clear coat. Like applying a tiny drop of certain solvents and seeing how the old clear coat reacts to each solvent, to tell you if it was poly or nitro.

[@timothyrehn421]

Looks like a chinese serial number its probably poly not lacquer

[@flameguitars5770]

No it is a Gibson. Someone watched this video and did some research. He found a statement by Gibson that, in order to keep costs down on this model, they used a poly finish.

[@NunchucksHabit]

I know how a neck break can affect resale value, but as far as the instrument goes, if the repair is this good like this one, I'd have no problem investing in it. Proof of repair, methods used & by whom, should feed directly into the post-repair value. With that nasty 17 degree angle on Gibsons, the purists horrified at the concept of a repaired neck should perhaps buy something that doesn't snap when it tips over. It's like a public shaming, haha. I'm dredging up well-worn argument & pun, I realize, but paying 400% of the initial value to have someone else to add fake wear (hipster wear) to a guitar in an effort to make it look more authentic (or dragged behind a car) is a forgiveable dishonesty, but a repaired & reinforced neck that is as straight as the day it was born? Unforgiveable!

[@asw7696]

Why is repairing a neck unforgiveable?

[@NunchucksHabit]

@@asw7696 Sarcasm only. People see a broken Gibson neck, they consider it almost trash re: resale value, which is hypocritical when they spend so much on making them look worn.

[@asw7696]

@@NunchucksHabit Ah, I see. That makes more sense now! I have an ES335 which had a headstock repair when I bought it. I paid less than normal market value for an unrepaired one, but maybe more than usual market value for a repaired one. It was too good a guitar to pass up so I paid the price the seller was asking. He was a nice chap and he knocked off £50 anyway! I must admit that I do also have reliced guitars, but they were all the same price or less than the available non-reliced versions and they played the best. I don't really care what they look like.

[@christopherfidler3019]

@@asw7696 Players shouldn't mind a headstock repair, if done right the area that broke should be stronger than when it was unbroken. people that collect guitars is another story 🍺

[@tonyhills2112]

If done well a neck break repair shouldn’t be much different than a scarf joint, which is a perfectly acceptable way of constructing a neck.