Epiphone Les Paul Headstock Repair

Nasty headstock break

This Epiphone Les Paul was in fine condition except for this nasty headstock break. It was especially bad because it was in the weakest spot on the neck because of the truss rod route. There was splintering that was bad enough so that I wouldn't simply be able to glue it back together and have it be strong enough for string tension.

I decided to create as large a gluing surface as I could by using my drill press as a mill. I milled away a wedge in the neck that I could glue a new piece of mahogany into.

The trick here was to get the wedge to fit perfectly into the milled section of the neck. I spent quite a bit of time making sure that fit like a glove, otherwise we'd have a bad joint and it could come apart.

Once I did a dry run, I glued it up and clamped it tightly and let it dry over night.

The next day I cut the big mahogany chunk down to size with a saw, and then shaped it with some handcut furniture files. I left a little bit extra thickness on there to strengthen the area, then sanded it down and painted it.

The repair cost less than buying a new guitar and that's what the client wanted. The break was transparent unless you examined it closely. The client was happy and we saved a nice guitar.

Milling a suitable section to be gluable	The finished route
Measuring the routed area with a shape tool	Where the mahogany meets the glue
Glued and clamped	Chiseling it down to size
Shaping the new area with a file	After sanding it down
After paint	The repair is barely noticable unless you're inspecting it up close. This would have gone into the trash. The client was extremely happy with the result, which is what really counts.

Other mods, repair, and custom work available as well.

To find out more, email me!