Unbelievable Headstock Repair: Making It Invisible and Undetectable on a Rare Gibson Les Paul Lite!

In this heartwarming video, witness the incredible restoration of a rare Gibson Les Paul Lite that was accidentally knocked over by a small child. The distraught owner, on the verge of tears, brought the broken guitar to me with a single request: to make the repair invisible.
Using my expertise and meticulous craftsmanship, I embarked on the journey to restore this cherished instrument. Employing the same nitro lacquer used at the Gibson factory, I skillfully repaired the headstock, ensuring it would seamlessly blend with the original finish. To further conceal the remaining crack, I meticulously filled it with a tobacco brown nitrocellulose lacquer, precisely matching the guitar's unique hue.
Not stopping there, I went above and beyond by refinishing the entire back of the guitar in a slightly darker tobacco brown, meticulously covering the entire repair. It's important to note that the color is a rich brown, not black, preserving the original aesthetic of the instrument. Additionally, I took care to redo the front of the headstock, painstakingly removing all the prior scratches accumulated from regular use.
The result is truly astounding-the guitar now appears almost new, with an impeccable finish and a rejuvenated appearance. Most notably, and to the owner's delight, the repair is completely invisible. No matter how closely you examine it, you'll be astonished to find no traces of the unfortunate incident. The guitar stands as a testament to the power of restoration and the skillful craftsmanship that can breathe new life into beloved instruments. Witness the transformation and marvel at the artistry involved in this remarkable headstock repair.

[@tiagosina3158]

Superb job. It would even pass the black light test. The headstock is likely now stronger than it was originally. Ed Roman used to joke that all Gibson headstocks should be broken and glued at the factory before they are sold.

[@WoodesosGuitarMods]

Thanks dude. Can't believe next year will be 10 years learning this crazy stuff😂

[@dickietinklesongreaction9225]

Unbelievable

[@solarismoon3046]

@@WoodesosGuitarMods TEN YEARS?! I've been doing this for more than THIRTY YEARS. And it never seems to change.

[@Hitman23NYY]

Nelson, that looks amazing! Beautiful work.

[@LegitHippo]

Glad to see you're back Nelson, Keep 'em commin!!

[@cnserviceuy]

Welcome back Nelson! We miss you a lot

[@mojorisen74]

Thanks for the upload! I've been missing your videos. Fantastic job as always

[@WickedFesterBand]

Very nice! Great to see you back!

[@philsinclair]

I was randomly thinking this morning how I enjoyed your videos and this pops up on my feed. Weird! Great video, nice to see you back.

[@LapsangTe]

That was really impressive! I have missed you on KZbin, by the way. I hope we won't have to wait a year for your next video.

[@robs3253]

Welcome back sir! Great job!

[@tommythiel9268]

Welcome back, we miss your videos

[@gsstrings339]

Beautiful job!!! Good to see a new vidja!!

[@1980bwc]

Looks great Nelson.

[@jameshughes6049]

Awesome work!!

[@jasonlong1036]

Hell of a job Nelson. Damn impressive. Glad to see a new video.

[@paulsharp6559]

Absolutely beautiful work. 👍

[@williampereira8868]

Wow well done and also welcome back missed your videos

[@rockhead69]

Fantastic work, my man... congrats !

[@jessebrigden2920]

Glad you're back man!

[@davidwood351]

Welcome back, it’s been a while since I’ve seen new videos from you.

[@kerryfrymoyer4551]

incredible repair work!

[@denisholland1850]

Good to see you back. Nice repair, looks great. 👍

[@brunolevasseur]

Really awesome work, man ! 👍👍👍

[@jakesmith4506]

excellent work

[@rikjones5924]

Watching you work reminds me of a Dr visit,look and explain..great job!

[@saarbrandvin7749]

Amazing job

[@dalepal]

Excellent job. It takes extra effort and skill to make the repair invisible.

[@wolfgang4136]

Awesome job👍👍👍

[@user-bj2nd8ge7x]

brilliant job well done

[@theneigh]

Nice job !

[@timlyons8994]

I have not seen a video of yours in a long time I hope you start posting like you did before I love your videos thank you so much for posting again I hope yon post like you did before

[@adrianpineda3346]

Damn, awesome job

[@Coppertunes]

This is the 'Less+' model, thinner body with the belly cut. They also came with the robot tuners, brass nut, one tone knob, the other was replaced with a mini toggle switch, they also had real mother of pearl inlays instead of the acrylic ones.

[@lateralus614]

Oh hell yeah you're back.

[@JuddLofthouse]

Nice job 👌

[@ashleyjackson8538]

Amazing effort

[@srt8speed]

Helluva good job man !!!!

[@glennjohnson7828]

Welcome back sir, missed ya👍

[@pileofstuff]

Oh, hey! I remember this dude. Good to see you again

[@solarismoon3046]

That was beautiful! It's the easiest repair I've ever seen. I've fixed my share of guitars and guitar necks but this is by far the easiest repair and the best I've seen personally or on KZbin. Thank you for sharing this with us.

[@EmbelekoBand]

Awesome work it’s been a while. 👍🤘

[@tommy8608]

HES BACK

[@maxpuppy96]

Great repair, probably better than new.

[@jamescooper5372]

Welcome back Nelson.

[@monmixer]

Had that happen to me once. Well, not to me but it was my NEW guitar that was handcrafted by a very reputable company that was building hand crafted guitars in 70's and 80's called Hamer. Bassist asks me if he can try it. I said sure, don't drop it. No strap locks. 1 minute later it was on the floor and broken. No he did not pay for it, Then he tried to sleep with my wife. Yah, he was fired forever.

[@seanhoward5562]

Damn bassists! lol

[@colourlessbluethings]

Hope you're actually back this time and this isn't another of your teasing one offs.

[@crucifixgym]

Best possible break scenario

[@mikecatg]

Great video, what glue did you use, how long did you leave it clamped, what grit of sandpaper did you use.

[@dananthony6258]

I had my neck glued like that but it didn’t hold very long before it broke again. There’s another way to cut and put supports in but it’s way more time consuming. I would have tried had I known but it was years ago. Looks awesome . I hope for the person who’s guitar that is it never comes undone. What a heart breaker.

[@elwrongo]

yes my luthier routed four inch slots and glued carbon fibre cleats in there when this happened to mine. that was six years ago

[@jamalabdul2009]

That was amazing!!! I doubt professional luthiers could have done a better job!!!! You have a gift my friend.

[@violao206]

Thank you for sharing your skills with the greater community. Now, when players break their necks, they will not panic knowing that there are skilled chaps like you that can come to the rescue. Yes, we did miss your videos and we are glad you are back. Please ignore the torrent of jerks out there that try to tear your efforts down. They are just a bunch of pathetic sad sacks and we should all just feel sorry for how miserable their lives must be. Your videos inspire many to learn more about their instruments, and even attempt basic repair and maintenance ourselves. Thanks for all the great education. Cheers, Nelson! (I never knew that was your real name--just tracking to other's comments.)

[@thehandseesall]

Good job. I have a Yamaha Revstar Standard to repair a Parcelforce headstock break on... I too am a big fan of dive watches.

[@sneifert1968]

When did they make les pauls with belly carves at the top?

[@tommythiel9268]

How long did you wait before wet sanding?

[@staive70ss]

Dude, there's nothing tragic about it, assuming you know what you're doing. It's literally a chapter in the life of many many Gibson's and my Heritage btw. It will be stronger than ever after you fix it.

[@bigbasil1908]

The real tragedy is the prices Gibson charges for their guitars

[@robertcaffrey6097]

Great glueing job, you must have managed to get every strand of the timber fibres to go back into exactly where they were ripped apart from and bonded them so tight it will be a much stronger neck. BTW thats a really cool and beautiful guitar.... a real keeper.

[@edwinh7908]

NICE! That's The Way To Do A Headstock Repair!

[@BlueberryStinkFinger62]

Happy birthday Les Paul and thank you for inventing the solid body guitar in the Epiphone factory 1939 - 41..if not for you and Epiphone there would be No Gibson Les Paul today period!..Also I would Add that Les Paul played Epiphones especially recoding from the early 1940s to the end of the 1950's..when he was under contract with Gibson..Gibson eventually to him to stop and when his contract ended with Gibson he started playing both epiphone and Gibson Live I should know saw him in March of 2009..

[@Seven7Pain1]

The man is good I mean real good 🤘🏼

[@rockinchairboogie3222]

This is a Gibson Les Paul Access model, that you did a great job on man.

[@rideough]

I love my 2015! Cuz I got clumsy fingers!

[@douglasmorrison9098]

I get SOOO tired of people putting Gibson down because of Headstock breakage and ACTUALLY that isnt all that common with gibson. Ive owned Gibson and epiphones all my life and never had not even one headstock break and the ones I have heard of has always been because the instrument got knocked over in ALL the cases Ive heard of and you are right it does devalue the guitar some but if repaired properly it is stronger after the repair than it was before the repair. Jerry Rosa always cut a V shape with the top of the V being under the fretboard and headstock face and glued back in place and reshaped and when he got finished you couldnt tell it had ever been broken

[@gregm959]

Apparently they are a les paul light. Sporadically released over 80s, 2000s. Nice work mate.

[@spconn3867]

Good to see you're back. Nice job on the headstock repair. Sorry you stabbed your finger removing the strings. The tuners looked like Locking Tuners. If they were Locking how come there was so much winding on the post?

[@PaulLue]

Oh man. Hate seeing headstock breaks. So unfortunate.

[@Beats_by_Bill]

That Richard changes guitars like changing underwear.

[@1980bwc]

I think he changes guitars more often than underwear. Lol

[@michaelj63]

Yeah as others have said, Less Plus model, i had one of these but the neck was so fat, couldn't get on with it. Hardcase was cool with these also. And good to see you upload again.

[@wayneg296]

👍👍😎✌️🤟 All guitars deserve a chance, keep them in your case!!!

[@royshroud9536]

Hadn't seen anything from you in awhile. Hope all is well.

[@gaylen8467]

sounded like you were gonna cry

[@GregsGarage]

I was just praying the headstock back didn't peel off the face veneer like a post-it note... Tragedy reversed!!!

[@danmcleod7365]

How's it sound???

[@RattiDave]

Just wondering why you didn't use splines or some other type of reinforcement on the break. Even with Titebond it's still a weak spot.

[@TheWGLOVER]

Maybe Gibson should have done that in the first place. Leo engineered his guitars, Gibson didn't.

[@user-lp2yg7gc5g]

Most of them damage has come from like you said a toddler somebody stepping on it .

[@Seven7Pain1]

Hey buddy I follow you on TikTok this is old video are the trolls as bad here as the clock app 😂

[@harlequingr]

It's a les paul lite. Thats why it is thin.

[@schmoemi3386]

Actually, in 2015 they were called the "Les Paul Less+". Someone must have replaced the truss rod cover... else it would've read "Less+" on it.

[@wuldntuliktonoptb6861]

It blows my mind that someone breaks a 2015 rare limited run Gibson. Use strap locks that have the treads superglued for a strap that won’t fall off. If ya have young kids or animals don’t place it on a stand still plugged in when taking a short break. Invest in a hard shell case. Then just use common sense and be careful. Have a non limited run 10,000 Les Paul as your everyday and gig guitar. I’ve had 2 90s Gibson Les Paul Studios that never were dropped by me or the previous owners. They’re great player guitar workhorses and if your careful they won’t ever get dropped. It amazes me that a Les Paul with probably under 500 playing hours already had the headstock snapped off. Unscrew those OEM strap buttons and screw 2 Schaller buttons to the guitar and dpend 30 bucks on a fender tweed strap. Stick the strap locks in then tighten the bolts down. Might take a bit of work to loosen the leather to get them set nicely. Once it’s sufficiently tightened down add superglue to the threads of the bolt and strap lock and allow to dry. Good luck ever getting the bolts back off but since the actual locks have no glue ya won’t have to worry about hurting the guitar. Now regardless if your standing or sitting out that strap on and your not gonna drop it so it hits the ground. So long as ya put it away in the Hardcase and don’t like swing the headstock into a wall ya won’t really have much chance to break it. So long as the temperatures don’t drop into like the negatives in your home or in the trunk of your car the problem is solved. Ya can always change pack the OEM buttons if ya sell your guitar and since ya haven’t snapped the neck your gonna make at least 500 or more on the resale value.

[@andrewmize823]

If I'd smacked over something that cost as much as a Les Paul as a toddler, my baby pictures would be all over KZbin in videos about missing persons and cold cases.

[@3cardmonty602]

Where the hell you been?

[@WoodesosGuitarMods]

Bit sick.. but I'm on the mend.

[@3cardmonty602]

@@WoodesosGuitarMods Dude, I had open heart surgery for a hole in my aortic valve. I know what being sick is.

[@thestuffmikedoes2309]

That will for sure break again, adjacent to the first break. All those surrounding fibers have weakened.

[@MrVulcanbomber]

❤

[@peterwilliams8922]

Less Plus model - amazing guitars, wish they had pup covers though! I do wonder if the guy who replaced the nut went too far to hide the original, a titanium replacement was offered for free. But hey, we all know it's a weak spot.

[@edisonkillingelephants]

How come when it's a customer's guitar they come out looking insane but when you do one for you it's always getting dropped or the finish gets messed up

[@jaydean3543]

I would have been so tempted to take off that awful anniversary les paul logo and put a proper original style one back on..... That would have helped increase the value back up! 😛😉

[@johnrathbun2943]

Yes it was a good repair but I think I still would have done a couple of Mahogany wood strips from the neck into the headstock. This is double security that this won't happen again unless you did something almost deliberately to break the headstock again.

[@shartne]

Guitar was so nice the toddler got excited and showed his enthusiasm towards it. I like this guitar this much wack. Yeah baby.

[@gregoaks4413]

Les Paul Lite

[@dennisneo1608]

Breaks your heart that Gibson won't alter the angle of their necks. A Strat headstock never broke in 60 years.

[@vadenk4433]

They did go from 17 to 14 degrees around 1966 and all it did was make the guitars less resonant. They still broke and will still break if you leave them on a stand and it gets tipped over. Gibson went back to the historic headstock angle post Norlin era. They also tried laminated necks with volutes and those guitars still broke at the same rate. Any angled piece of wood will break when dropped with 120 pounds of string tension on it. And I’ve personally repaired multiple Strat headstock breaks btw. My singers tele also broke when it tipped off a stand at a bar gig. It cracked right through every tuner hole. Obviously a Strat with zero degree headstock angle is gonna survive way more abuse than a 17 degree Gibson. Any angled headstock guitar (which is probably 75% of them) will break when dropped. Gibson’s design is what makes them sound and feel the way they do. The design is good, it how violins and other stringed instruments have been made for over 500 years, but people just tend to be careless with guitars and either drop them, lean them against the couch, or a wall, or on a stand. I’ve owned a 1968 Hummingbird for 30 years, and before that my dad owned it since 1970 and it has never been broke- because I won’t allow that to happen. Just put them in the case when you’re done playing and they’ll never break. It’s actually very easy to prevent a headstock break from happening- you just don’t allow it to happen. People who can’t do that shouldn’t own a Gibson guitar

[@royyazzie6028]

You didn't even lose the truss rod and take off the brass nut w/ washer this shouldn't prevent from what your doing with head stock repair

[@joewilson495]

you didnt fill the crack it will show though next day

[@jodyferguson3068]

I thought my case was closed was headed to a gig grab my guitar Case by the handle pulled it off the bed the guitar fell out flat on the floor and broke the neck on my 92 Gibson Studio I'm sick sick sick so I'm trying to find out how to fix it myself totally my fault tragedy tragedy

[@metriczeppelin]

Why additional stress on the headstock by unwinding the strings?? Just cut them, you're not going to reuse the old strings are you?

[@artistx76]

Less plus is un underated guitar

[@humfridsprout8015]

"Promo sm" 👊

[@scottreeves1226]

And that's why God invented the guitar case. Not unlike my experience with an angry cat: that's why God invented the guitar case lid...

[@seless9105]

👎🏻

[@JoseGomez-lw2qk]

CAN YOU MAKE YOUR REPAIR VIDEOS SILENT TOO MUCH TALKING .PLZ

[@dickietinklesongreaction9225]

No no no. You did nothing to strengthen it. Needs wood channel put in. A 10 year old could have done that.

[@jorgenkarlsson4220]

Great job

[@malcolmhardwick4258]

Nice job !