How to Repair a Broken Gibson Guitar Neck (Les Paul)
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- Опубліковано 27 чер 2024
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HOW TO REPAIR A BROKEN GIBSON GUITAR NECK:
In this video, we address a common Gibson problem - the gentle Gibson headstock break! (on SG and Les Paul guitar models) it breaks more than other models.
Don't be alarmed, you can repair this! Here you can see the whole process done on a Gibson Les Paul Studio, materials, glue-up, clamping, cleaning, sanding, and polishing.
Hopefully, all the information you need to know in order to repair your broken Gibson will be right there in the video, and in case not, feel free to ask questions in the comment section!
It is not that hard... I think... Give it a try 🤘🏽
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Materials:
Polish - amzn.to/2ZNyw6e
Super Glue - amzn.to/3pNtqS0
Dunlop polish - amzn.to/2ZOleWS
Titebond wood glue - amzn.to/3usSDEM
V7 Red pen - amzn.to/3pN1wW5
Tools:
C-shaped clamps - amzn.to/3pLbl77
Philips head screwdriver - amzn.to/3klkIZO
10 mm wrench - amzn.to/2ZRN18N
** If you use these links to buy something, we may earn a commission. Thanks 🤘
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🏠 About us:
We offer extensive knowledge and expertise gained during many years of experience in the music industry. Handling electric and bass guitar, components crafting, sound engineering, and music-making.
We provide customizations, repairs, and manufacturing at the highest level of craftsmanship with unparalleled attention to detail. We use top-quality materials and a whole lot of soul. This is a passion. ♥️
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🎥 Video Content:
0:00 - Intro
0:43 - Tools
2:15 - Striping the Headstock
3:29 - Glue-up!
5:19 - Clamping
7:44 - Cleanup
10:09 - Painting the crack
12:45 - Lacquer fix
15:28 - Sanding (800)
17:11 - Sanding (1200)
18:44 - Sanding (2000)
19:38 - Guitar polish
20:40 - Result
21:47 - Back together
22:16 - Outro
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#coilsboutique #gibson #LesPaul
Well done repair this is the way the late Mike Lull did my Gibson 30 years ago and it has held up all this time no trouble with 12s. ❤
I am not a fan of the epoxy adhesive repairs you see a lot of on UA-cam has no place in repair except some cosmetic filling.
That was amazing. I have a small crack in my 77 Ibanez Less Paul copy. Its 47 years old but plays so well. I absolutely love this guitar. Now i can clean it up. Thanks
You are only the second person out here that i have seem that knows how to fix and finesse a good, solid repair. There are an aweful lot of really bad sites out on UA-cam for guitar rapair. One guy in particular "fixed" and refinished a goldtop and really destroyed it in the process...in fact all his repairs were really how not to fix a guitar. Good work.
Thank you very much for your kind words.
Outstanding repair work!
Awesome tutorial my friend! Thank you.
Excellent repair sir. Thank you for all the tips and tutorial.
Amazing!! Really nice work. It helps me a lot. Congrats
Happy your channel found my feed. I really enjoyed your approach to this common break/fix. Fantastic result!
Cheers! 😎👊🎸
Thank you very much
Nice repair! thanks for sharing
Amazing repair video. The best I’ve seen so far. It was a very clean break at an ideal position. So the repair is not that complicated.
Anyway your channel is fantastic. You deserve more views and subscribers!
Thank you very much
NICE WORK!
Thanks for this video. I have a SG with the same exact break and same color. Looking forward to this repair thanks to your insight. Subbed for sure
Great Job! Simple, good & solid repair!
Thank you very much
Amazing work!!!!!
Great repair
This has inspired me to fix my Epi LP that broke about 8 years ago. It's a great feel-good-sound-good guitar with sentimental value. Thanks for the lesson!
That's awesome! Thank you. 8 years is a really long time. Note that exposed wood for so long may cause the joint to be little weaker, but it's still definitely worth fixing. Take care
@@coilsboutiquepickups it's been wrapped and contained so I thing it'll be fine. Thank you again! It'll be a while, I'm a busy person but I'll record the process if you'd like...
@@jsschwartztube definitely!!
@@jsschwartztube Did you ever dive in and fix it?
Update
Ca and acetone are great on the skin, for sure^^ Just use a tool or something. You can wet the sand paper to not breath the dust and it sands smoother. Do it safe.
Thanks man. I'm going to use this video as a tutorial)
subbed! video and repair were excellent.
Thank you very much!
Amazing result. 😎
Thank you
I’m efing impressed
great job!!!
very nice job!
Thank you very much
I’ve seen thousands of these repairs, hoping to be ready for when this happens to my Gibson
I hope it'll never happen to you
I love u man!..u my wood work going easy TQ!!
Thank you very much. Love u too
Awesome.
Thank you very much
short answer:you buy a stratocaster🤣🤣🤣.
ok i am joking(not).great video.liked and subscribed
Nice!
Thanks
Great result. Had to smile seeing you pour that glue in. Atleast there is enough of it in the crack😊
Great result.
Had a Studio LP here once that was badly repaired with some unidentified glue. It cracked open again.
Decided not to burn my fingers on it. That residue was hard to remove. The pieces didn’t fit proper anymore.
Thank you. Many people are saying it's too much glue, but I never want to leave air pockets.
Take care 🙂
@@coilsboutiquepickups When it is a clean break and things fit together majority of the glue will be pushed out again. There is no room for huge amounts left. I don’t see a problem.
Maybe you go through more bottles of Titebond.
Have a nice weekend.
@nieko3038 Thank you. You too
That's mine goldtop lovely action .neck broke.
Sorry mate..
I just bought a Gibson LP standard with a crack on the headstock so I think I’ll fix it following these steps
Absolutely amazing job! Do you feel adding a splines adds stability, or is it a waste of time?
I repaired too many spline jobs that were done by others over the years... Repairing open splined cracks is extremely difficult, time consuming and expensive - I can never figure out why people do that... I don't believe that it's really much stronger...
Wow that actually is pretty undetectable!
Wow
Great video. I have an epi genesis with a fine crack in the finish either side of the neck. It’s not a break but I can feel it under my hand. Will the superglue and sand technique help with that?
Indeed. However, the fact that it's on both sides indicates that you actually may have a small separation of the fretboard. You can release the string tension and lightly push the headstock back to check if the cracked zone separates or not. If not , cool! If yes , I really recommend repairing the crack before using the superglue technique.
Thanks for the reply, I’ll loosen the strings and check. I’ve had it a year, it was like it when I got it and never got any worse so hopefully it’s just superficial. If there is movement what’s the solution then?
@Anthony Hicks if there's a movement, you can try to push some titebond wood glue into the crack. As much as possible.
Then, wrap and tighten heavy-duty rubber bands around the neck as a clamping technique. Release after an hour or two and only then fix the lacquer. Don't stress the joint for at least 24 hours.
Hello! I am trying this repair now. My headstock broke clean off and I cried. I am hoping I have the same results and am able to continue playing it afterward.
Hi,
It is much much harder to fix a headstock that has fallen off completely from the guitar.
You might need to use different techniques because the headstock won't fit exactly in the same place once you clamp it. I really suggest you take it to a professional for that one..
Please let me know how it went
@@coilsboutiquepickups So surprisingly it worked perfectly! It was an extremely clean break, so it fit right together, and I glued it, clamped it, left it for two days, then removed the clamps and strung it up! It plays just as well as before, and the only cosmetic concern is there was a tiny piece of wood missing towards the base of the crack, and also when I clamped it, I cdid so a little too hard so there’s an indentation in the wood. Otherwise, so far it’s holding beautifully. I figure I will at some point refinish the back so you cannot see the crack and that’s will just be a bit of a different process than yours.
@@georgejr.9935 awesome! I'm very happy to hear that!
@@coilsboutiquepickups Thank you for your help and support throughout this process. And thank you for your video!
👏👏👏👏👏
Air brush the back of the headstock and around that break repair with a little bit of a darker red and give it a burst effect right there. It would look undetectable if you filled and sanded then wet sand it. Just be sure to spray the new lacquer after letting it all set for two weeks so it can shrink.
Thanks ☺️.
There're two reasons for us not spraying this neck. First of all the cost. The repair itself is quite cheap but painting it will triple the cost and most customers don't exactly like that option.
The second reason is the fact that these guitars are inherently weak. This neck (being a Gibson) might crack in a different point somewhere along its lifetime, and so comes again the issue of cost. After realizing their Gibsons are unreliable most customers don't want to pay extra for something that might break again, maybe in 10 years, maybe never. In this case esthetics came second.
@@coilsboutiquepickups yeah I understand. Dude I was really impressed with your repair. When I commented about painting it, it was while I was watching the video; then after I saw how good it looked i was pretty blown away.
Also I wanted to ask if you could ever just replace the whole neck? Like on a really bad break.
@@wyattsdad8561 a total replacement of the neck is definitely possible. However, here comes again the issue of cost. Think about it like so:
Cost of a new original neck from Gibson (they won't be willing that easily to sell us one).
The cost of the work including refinishing.
The guitar's value depreciation.
Added to the idea that replacing a neck is like replacing half of a guitar (that might break again with the new neck)... Well, wouldn't you just rather buy a new guitar all together?
@@coilsboutiquepickups yeah I get it. I think I’d probably obsess on getting the neck replaced somehow. I guess it would depend on how old the guitar was and if it was my favorite one or not.
This is the best way to make it looks suspicious tbh
I own a Gibson LP Custom. Unfortunately, it fell down and there's a cracked on the back of the neck (not the the headstock). I brought it to a luthier in my area and the final result is that the cracked is unnoticeable (he did a good job on repair it and paint it). My question is, does it affect the price value of it? Does the price will go down tremendously? I always think that this guitar is some kind of investment. However, with this situation, do you think the price will be just fine? Great video btw!
Thank you for your kind words. It's very unfortunate your guitar needed a repair. It sure affects the price of the guitar, even if the repair is invisible... However, if the repair is awesome the price drop will not be significant - maybe no more than 5-10%. Pricing is not my expertise but hopefully this gives you something to work with...
Can the super glue be used to fill the crack on the other side of the headstock, as mine has broken completely off?
🤣
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Never stand the case up and lean it against something with the guitar inside.
I know three people who broke their LP headstock doing just that. The case will not protect the headstock if the case falls. You may think it will...But it won't.
Totally true! We've repaired hundreds of Gibsons over the years, some just snapped even when the case was safe and never dropped... Thank you for your very important comment.
Seems like the headstock will just break as soon as too much force is subjected to the guitar. My gibson Les Paul headstock broke when I accidentally bumped into it in the middle of the night when it was on a floor guitar stand. Thinking about it now, the guitar fell face forward, it did not fall backwards, but even so, the pressure caused the headstock/neck to break. I didn’t trust myself, or thought it would be possibly to repair the headstock myself. We took it to get repaired professionally and I think they charged like 200 bucks. Perhaps a rip off when seeing it’s not so complicated to fix it oneself.
Gibson should really put the volute back in like they did in the 70s… but Gibson purists would have a meltdown lol.
@@lovesgibson The volute did nothing to prevent headstock breaks. The problem is the headstock is at a different angle than the rest of the neck but the grain of the wood runs straight through. The only solution would be for them to make a scarf joint so the grain goes with the headstock and is glued to the neck grain at the angle where they meet. It makes the headstock infinitely stronger than the single grained Gibson necks.
I have a Hondo "Paul" with a scarf joint on it's mahogany neck and I have kicked that thing around for 40 years. It has been dropped and banged and bumped too many times to count in it's cardboard case and I never broke the headstock. My friend who has a les Paul Custom built around the same year has broken the headstock on it THREE TIMES! and he always comes to me to borrow my old Hondo while he has it repaired.
Let me point out that my Hondo cost less that one tenth what my friend paid for his Les Paul in 1980.
Gibson customers see a guitar with a scarf joint and figure it has to be inferior because it is common on less expensive guitars, when in fact from an engineering, carpentry, and luthier point of view it is many times superior and stronger.
Gibson customers have so much lore and myth built up around their guitars they insist on the old inferior ways to build a neck because it is traditional and that is how their guitar heros' guitars were built so it must be better.
It is really quite silly. There is no difference in the sound, sustain, playability or tone of a scarf joint guitar neck, and you need to look really really close to see the joint at all. It is almost invisible even though the wood finish is semi transparent.The funny part is, though my friend has paid plenty to have it repaired by professional shops each time it broke off, it is much easier to see the repairs on his Les Paul than it is to see the scarf joint on my Hondo... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
At first he didn't believe my Hondo had a scarf joint at all until I pointed it out to him under strong light. My favorite part of the story is that members of my friend's band told him that they preferred the sound from my old Hondo to the sound of his Les Paul, but then I have customized the wiring and pickup options on my old Hondo and his Les Paul Custom is wired factory stock..
@@williardbillmore5713 that makes sense
What purpose are the 3 wooden clamps for?
Extra weight to push the headstock to its place
I heard somewhere that Gibson will offer a discount to anyone who will accept delivery of a new guitar with the headstock already broken. You can use the savings to take it to be repaired at a shop of your choice, and it will then be better than new. I think it's a great idea.
Is this true?? Every time my customers contacted them they got the short answer of "Our guitar necks never break, you mishandled the guitar and broke it"
Had have bought 17 over the last decade. Not one arrived broken.
Hour is NOT enough time brother…24 hrs more like it
All the gluing was done according to the specifications of the glue manufacturer, here are the exact directions of use: "Apply a heavy spread of glue to surface and clamp for a minimum of 30 minutes. Do not stress joints for 24 hours".
You got off so lightly with that neck brake...
What sorcery is this?!? 🤯
Filling up the Truss rod pocket could have disastrous results when you go to adjust that Truss rod next time...Waaaaaay too much glue!
I would of routed out on each side of the neck an put some splines to make it a more solid fix but for what you did it will work long as the owner is careful with it.
After seeing so many spline repairs that eventually broke again, this easy fix I made is easy to repair if anything should ever happen to open up. Repairing broken splines is pure agony - especially for the customer who needs to pay for it. I've done hundreds of these repairs over the years and as you said - it takes a real effort by the customer to break it again in the same spot
@@coilsboutiquepickups i can respect that, i've been working on guitars for almost 25 years now and only had one spline repair come back because his wife threw the guitar out the window lol.
@@Flayed_Flesh23 yeah... That will do it 😂. I guess the broken spline works I got were poorly made
@@Flayed_Flesh23 also, nice to talk to an experienced tech. I've started studying and working as a guitar tech and builder in 1995 and there aren't so many people that are so dedicated. Big up!!
@@coilsboutiquepickups likewise bro, keep up the good work, next time you use just titebond use a little paint bush to get the glue in there that way you get the glue on every piece of the break. In my experience putting glue in the way you did alot of that glue will get squeezed out by the clamps and wont reach some areas of the break.
I think it needs a bit more glue though lol
Didn't this one need splines? That's an inherently weak spot on Gibsons that usually need reinforcement for this kind of break. Nice refinish!
No reinforcement needed here, there were no gaps and everything is neat, clean and it's a very strong joint. Almost all repairs like this will never break again.
Should be splines really, makes it more permanent.
@@davidmoss8993 Splines shouldn’t necessarily be needed if the break is relatively clean and leaves a lot of surface area. They certainly wouldn’t hurt, but no reason that repair shouldn’t hold just fine for the life of the guitar.
Just make a headless guitar outta these plauged guitars .or scarf joint em...Gibson should changed the screw up decades ago..they snap looking at em...
Not the right way at all, no reinforcing wood?
No reinforcing.
TOO MUCH GLUE USAGES just some ppl wasting glue as well don't need that much too make a big mess of glue
sigh....gibson
I totally relate
I'm burned out on splines. I've seen WAY better quality without hackin into it. If you care for your headstock, the repair is equally as strong.
Thanks for your comment, I feel the same
There goes half the value
Oh, of course... But at least this guy has a guitar to play on 😉
♍️📐🤘🕊️
Hello Sir I have question, why did you put clamps on the top of the Gibson headstock ?
Extra down force. It helps join the pieces together
I am so upset. My favorite instrument was just broken by some drunk chicks while I was away. I am the original owner of this 1996 guitar. Will it ever be the same again??!
I'm very sorry to hear this. Guitars with broken necks usually can be repaired. Can you send me a photo of the damage?
Service@coilsboutique.com
@@coilsboutiquepickups Thank you! Great video by the way. You are good at what you do, that’s for sure!
Way to much glue!
Two main reasons for this:
First is to make sure that the glue reaches every little crack and as deep as possible.
Second, to eliminate the formation of air pockets inside the joint.
Yeah, I know it looks weird and wasteful but it works. It really does...
@@coilsboutiquepickups The end result is amazing. I glued many neck's before but never used so much glue as you did.
@@Pando3r Thanks. I'll take your suggestion into consideration 🙏
@@coilsboutiquepickups Thank you sir for sharing.
There is absolutelly no need to use glue like that.
It worked. The process wasn’t pretty. But you can’t argue the results. If you can do a better job, let’s see your video?
@@Wargasm644 hahaha
Explain then don’t just say ha ha 🤦🏼♂️
@@aarronroberts811 wood glue forms a bond between wood fibers mimicking its consistence. It penetrates wood fiber a little on both parts and the pressure is needed to maintain the form until it cures. By using the gravity, he is attempting to fill difficult spots of the wood crack, spilling glue everywhere, wasting it. If you need to apply glue on a dificult spot, you use a simple sirynge or push it with a small brush. He just drops it and spill everything. You dont need a ton of glue to "make it stronger". you need the right amount on the right spot. He is flooding with glue, wasting, spilling and guessing that the glue reached the spot. That is not professional. Happy?
I'm a cabinetmaker and I agree ;-)
sorry, but in what way does this repair, in any way, address the glaring inherent Gibson flawed neck design?
Good question, unfortunately the answer is that it does not. Gibson are the ones who should fix their guitar's DNA. I have never (in my career of over 25 years) saw a repair (including splines) that can guarantee that this problem won't return. However, repairing in this method is relatively cheap (compared to splines) and would be much easier to repair again if needed. Repairing a splined broken headstock is a nightmare that usually ends up with crafting a whole new headstock - extremely costly process that totally chages the behavior of the instrument. I have done hundreds of these repairs over the years and only a tiny fraction of them needed a second repair (almost all of them broke next the original repair) and usually because of owner mishandling.
Thank you so much for commenting, ask us anything :)
@@coilsboutiquepickups I think even if Gibson wanted to change the design, their customers won’t let them. They want guitars that look exactly like how the original Les Paul’s did. I remember Gibson had made a “modern” standard, and I’m pretty sure the Gibson fan community hated them and didn’t buy them because they didn’t have the “traditional” design
@@lovesgibson I agree