It never ceases to amaze me how powerful a brand name can be. People are paying $5000 for guitars the fully know are poorly designed. And they just keep doing it. I'm really not trying to be a smartass, I get it. I truly am amazed by how our brains work.
@@adrian5b - ..says the guy that has never owned (and probably has never been able to afford) a Gibson Les Paul. If you have one, you know to take good care of it and never place it in a situation where it could fall and sustain catastrophic damage. Go pick up your Ibanez Gem and dream of owning a real guitar…
Same. The thief likely unloaded it shortly after the heist and the guy who brought it into the store probably had no idea. I’d feel terrible for someone in that situation - they went from having a broken Les Paul to no Les Paul at all.
@@zubeystinzen540 music stores do not operate that way, they don’t put most things on their insurance since their rates go up and it would end up costing them more.
A painter’s trick for feathering paint is to put on an extra wide piece of painters tape and roll it back onto itself. You know how hard it is to spray paint an inside corner? The same principle is applied here, except it’s used to your advantage. Hope this helps in the future. I love your videos! I always look forward to seeing them! Please keep it up!
@@ambiention yep, me too. Although I haven’t been able to build a model in quite some time, I used that trick quite a lot. I really miss building models but I’ve just had way too much on my plate lately. I hope to get back into it someday.
I have an old no-name acoustic that I plan to use as a Guinea pig for a headstock break and subsequent repair using the techniques and jigs from this channel. Good luck with yours!
@@mightyluv mine worked, and is being played. I used 2 dowels after initial gluing, then cut a channel length ways through the break like Ted does with his router, and glued in a bracing piece of hard wood. Sanded and polished (polished polished).
At 11:02, in the world of car repair and modelling, that's why they put filler over the entire surface instead of only the cracks. It often gives a more even and smooth result (no more "blisters"), but it prevents these kind of weird issues. They do the same with plastering walls
Even car body shops take care to repair structural parts and albeit typically with sheet metal, they approach the job in a similar way. They secure the structural parts and smooth out the finish when a bit of filler is enhancing the job or significantly reducing the amount of sheet metal hammering and shaping needed. Both body shops and cabinet makers could do a job well or badly.
@@p_mouse8676 model builder here. Although it's not uncommon to put plastic putty or epoxy putty over more than just the crack, it's still more common just to fill the necessary crack, area or void. The difference, is we prime first. And most products are designed to work with one another. For example, Tamiya 2 part epoxy putty or Vallejo plastic putty. Looks like he used JB weld, or something of that sort.
@@McBurnside6380 interesting. Thanks for sharing!! I guess my main point was to prep the entire surface to make it work well. I guess knowing that all products work well together is also part of that. But out of curiosity, what would you do if you're not sure (at all)?
@@p_mouse8676 prepping the surface is definitely part of the process. Twoodford used alcohol. In modeling we wash the plastic, resin or metal parts using different methods for each. I'm only guessing as to the putty being JB weld or similar because of the grey color. What we do is test products with one another first. It might take more time, but I would have tested the putty, Tamiya spray paint and clear coat on another broken piece of wood before attempting to use them on an expensive guitar. That's what most of us do when trying new modeling products. There are some products well known to the modeling community that just do not work well together. Tamiya has a full line of products that are, of course, all tested to work with one another. Same with companies like Vallejo and MIG. Also of note, is some model paints are hybrids. For example, Tamiya's acrylic line is a hybrid acrylic lacquer and must be thinned with alcohol for brush and I use lacquer thinner for airbrush, not water. I believe they use about the same formula in the spray cans Twoodford was using. This could be a huge problem and I'm not surprised the paint reacted with the CA glue (super glue) in the manner he described. Hope that helps.
@@p_mouse8676bear in mind he's trying to do the least amount of paint vs. normally when you pain a car/boat/aircraft, etc. you can color match with a complete body part (door, 1/4, bonnet)
The famous Gibson tilt back headstock. Providing job security to luthiers for decades. It's nice to see that the Gibson custom shop is preserving that tradition.
@@BenStateagreed. Thousands of Gibsons produced each year. Headstocks with volutes, Epiphone lower angle headstocks break when you drop them onto their backs. I own 2 currently one 14 years old. Owned 5 other Les Paul’s, never broke a headstock because I’m not an idiot.
@@kenthhamner2641 It's good that you have never broken one but it is a known fact that many others have. I played in a band with a guitarist who had an SG I was with him when he bought it new. It was never dropped and always stored in the factory hard shell case. One day he took it out of the case at rehearsal and the headstock was broken. I was once in a guitar Center and I grabbed a Les Paul studio off of the wall to play it right while I was playing at the headstock broke. There was not a mark on either guitar anywhere the headstocks just broke. Another well-known fact is that the basic design of the way the truss rods are installed removes a lot Of wood from an area that is the thinnest section of the neck due to the headstock tilting back. Something that Gibson has been aware of for decades. Even adding a volute doesn't alleviate the problem. Don't get me wrong I like Gibson's and owned a music store for a decade or so and we were a Gibson dealer and we sold many of them but we also saw many that came back in with broken headstocks. It is a common and well-known issue with Gibson guitars. I'm glad that you have not had a problem but IMO oh there are two types of gifts and owners. Those who have suffered a headstock break and those who are waiting to.
I suffered kind of the same in my Epiphone Dot headstock... that was a horrible day... but fortunately I found a skilled luthier that put everything as new!
I have repaired several of them, starting with a white, '64 SG Special that my mother knocked off the stand in about 1974. Epoxy and clamps. Repaired a sunburst Les Paul Special for an Irish friend when he was on extended visit in this country in late '80s. A few years ago, he sent me a note on fb to look in his photos. He still had it and said the repair held up very well. He has since sold it.
I’m in the process of building a double cut junior kit. I’m finishing the neck and body separately. Neck was drying a weird gust of wind came through the garage, neck ends up on the floor. The break was nearly identical. The glue up looks good, but it’ll be 3-4 more weeks before it gets strung up. 🤞
I’m so happy to see professionals struggle with white. I don’t like to see others struggle but as an amateur beginner I made the mistake of trying to start with white finishes and have fits with it.
As a luthier myself just starting to film & post jobs on youtube, it's nice to see the big lad himself being open with problems encountered on jobs, happens to the best of us. Figuring a way to fix it is the test of a pro 😁
Awesome! I'm sure you'll have it looking like new before it goes home. I know you say you "aren't even the best luthier in your area" but.... You're one of the best I've ever seen. I've learned a ton from you in the years I've been watching. You have become a tremendous and valuable resource to the repair community GLOBALLY. You're probably like 3500 miles from me and still one of my go-to resources if I encounter something I've never seen or have limited experience with. There just aren't that many places to find some nuggets of knowledge. A lot of my learning happened preinternet as well, so I learned a lot of bad ways to do jobs before seeing better ways later. Even small stuff like knowing about that model paint that matches gibson paints so closely..... how can you know that.... without having seen it personally or been told by someone about it?? I suppose it could be 6000 words deep on a forum somewhere on the internet if you are lucky enough to find the right forum and article, and the right guy talking about it, and that guy happens to be the real deal and not be one of the many blow hards out there having fun on a forum messing with people. I don't know anyone within 100 miles of my area who would have even attempted that. Anyways, happy Sunday, hope you have a good day, and in general, thanks a ton for taking the time to film, edit, and post these videos. I know the financial reward can't be that great for the amount of time invested in them. Your channel will be a tome of "best practices" in guitar repair for decades to come. Thanks again
My guess for why white takes longer to dry is that the actual individual grains of pigment are generally very large relative to darker colours, so the solvent has less exposure to the air due to this restricting the number of viable paths for solvent from deeper into the application to migrate to the surface and evaporate, leaving the pigment and medium behind in a tightly bonded structure. The surface probably dries a bit too fast due to the solvent being trapped in the lower layers, leaving most of the paint still wet, whereas the other pigments don't seal themselves as early and therefore the solvent has an easier time migrating to the outside layer.
I wonder also if white paints tend to have a higher pigment loading for the sake of opacity. TBH I've used these Tamiya coloured lacquers for guitar touch ups (although I use an airbrush, not the aerosols), and they take weeks to harden properly.
It's not really about solvent exposure specifically, more to do with the overall chemical composition of the paint. Different colorants require different ratios of solvents, oils, and flow aids to spray properly. White paints tend to have larger pigment particles, which means they need a more viscous carrier, which means more oil and flow aid and less solvent. The solvent flashes off fairly quickly, leaving everything else to dry slowly.
Absolutely stunning repair and the most relaxing video to watch on a Saturday morning in Tampa. The chords you were strumming in the look of that guitar reminded me of one that Alex lifeson used to play! Great job!!
I’ve watched your videos for over 7 yrs now and they never get old or boring! I’ve also learned allot when building or repairing my guitars! I always look forward the next video..
13:40 The trick is to lay up the masking tape so its edge sits off the surface. This will give you a feathered transition which is much easier to blend. There's a recent video on my channel where I respray a neck but leave the original headstock finish and use this technique. The blends are virtually invisible.
@bluntinstrument6070 well yeah I see what you mean. 😏 But actually the nice thing about Gibson is they still use nitro lacquer which is far easier to touch up and blend.
Way back in the 70’s had a white mini that needed some body work. Conversation with the painter, told me that to make white paint “brilliant” rather than “creamy” they added a little black (!) paint. Didn’t believe him until I did some research. He also mentioned white finishes take longer to dry as they reflect infrared whereas black and very dark finishes absorb infrared rays thus get warm and dry much quicker. Gotta thank you for your videos, they are calming and stimulating at the same time!
There really is only a couple of technologies regarding paint. Thermoplastic (CAN BE REFLOWED BY HEAT OR SOLVENT), Thermoset (CANNOT BE REFLOWED BY HEAT OR SOLVENT). Thermoplastic does not cure. Thermoset does cure. Thermoplastic is not catalyzed! Thermoset is catalyzed. So essentially when you apply most Thermoplastic product over a thermoplastic you are literally "re-flowing" the subsurface. Crazy sounding I know, but after many decades involved in the restoration of vintage automobiles and training from more than one paint manufacturer, I can tell you this was a hard lesson to learn. Here is one possible work around I have used when doing a repair over a previous (suspected non-thermoplastic), catalyzed epoxy sealer. The reason that this method has better odds is, and is in laymen's terms is, catalyzed epoxy sealer is essentially a low solvent thermoplastic product when applied, then cures to a thermoset, I am not a chemist, and have only my training and experience to rely on. I hope this might open up new solutions for you. Love your channel. Keep it coming!
When I was like 14 I accidentally dropped my dad's Les Paul Studio down the stairs, and the nut hit the railing and snapped the headstock right off, right in front of him. He had it repaired, fortunately, and I always wondered how it might have been done. Thank you!
Nice work! On Gibson white finishes the Anderton's channel recently did a factory tour and they discuss the special 'white' room and special processes they have to use just for this color. Very interesting if you want to check it out.
i believe Dan Erlewine would be seriously impressed with your work. you never cease to amaze me. Thanks for everything you do and share with us. Cheers
Hey Ted, another tip from the scale modelling community: Using Blue Tac (kind of like silly putty) roll up small diameter, long sausage rolls and stick them along the lines you would normally mask. Then, place the mask or masking tape edge along the top of the sausage roll. When you spray the paint from the top straight down onto the edge of the rolls, it softens the edge of the paint, feathering it a bit into the old. It will eliminate the hard demarcation you get with masking. A lot of videos in scale model planes with this technique. Look for camoflage painting of british WWII era airplanes.
Well executed repair. My first thoughts were, this will be easy to sort as it's a block colour..but as you demonstrated, a bit of a challenge .. Great work.
Love the Charlie Pride tune in the background! Sounded like a transistor radio playing in an early seventies barber shop! Ted has great taste in music!
I know you don't read comments, but your skills never fail to impress me. I'm pretty sure I could have fixed this (I've got a beautiful shop) but it would have taken me days and days because I'd move slowly. I do mean slowly....
I had a 61 Les Paul with broken head stock . Sent for the original color from Gibson. I had the repair done by a violin maker from Italy, Renaldo he worked for Maskara Music in Union City N.J. He did an excellent job . Much like you , Outstanding ........ !
Absolute Master Craftsman! Have 2 Les Pauls, my brother has 7 of which 2 are custom shop, neither of us has ever had a headstock break, this level of incredible workmanship takes a great deal of time and patience. Very impressed!
It is during these high-snot times, when I sit robed in a blanket like a disheveled poor, hot painkiller tea in mangled currently non-guitar eligible left hand, too miserly and infirm to even play a video game, that I thank you for being here for me. A true parasocial friend indeed.
Nice job! At 15 I dropped my 1st country style guitar already 1st day when thumbing home from the music shop, carrying it Dylan style on my shoulder when strap button broke. Factory replaced whole neck to friendly price. Bjarton, Sweden.
Definitely a 2009. 5 digit number with a leading 9 after the CS. In 2010 on onwards they switched to a 6 digit number and that system remains in place.
I've had a Strat for decades, no headstock problems. When I finally bought a Les Paul I didn't pay attention when they offered me insurance while specifically mentioning the neck and headstock problems with Les Pauls. After a couple of years, the guitar stand got knocked over. Even landing on a thick rug the headstock split. Fortunately, the neck itself was intact. The repair wasn't too complicated.
Don't know if you care, but here are some comments from a certified geezer: I'm always very interested in repair/restoration videos, almost no matter what the target. UA-cam recommended yours to me. Commentary is thoughtful and at a very good level for those perhaps not in the know. Post was very well done. It was good to hear the "why" behind some of your decisions. I know these aren't that easy to put together, and I appreciate you making the effort.
Doubt it because these are weighty guitars especially weight bias toward Custom's headstock. Though, I shouldn't underestimate the 3 cords short of a full......
Great job. I would always wonder about buying a broken headstock Gibson, or other brands, no matter how crafty the repair is. I'd have to have an offer I couldn't refuse. She still has that Gibson sustain.
"...dip into the stash"... Gotta be quite the stash at this point Ted. :) So true though - if you're going to be repairing guitars at any level, you need to acquire a supply of every oddball washer, screw, grommet, spring, bezel, etc as you can, because you never know what you might need down the road. So, never throw anything away! If you have old parts, keep 'em. If you find a junker in the trash that's irredeemable, cannibalize it for every screw, and even solid woods, braces, etc. Try to keep it all organized as best as you can; nothing is worse than knowing you have that part, but simply can't find it. My local repair shop used to kindly sell (or give away) parts from their considerable stash (decades worth); recently they have a sign up saying something to the effect of "No more vintage parts are available to be sold"! The incredible patience involved in matching this white guitar's finish is mind boggling. I'm so glad I don't have to do anything like this, AND that I currently own no white guitars... :)
Any trades person who has been working for years builds up a collection of random parts to use in the future. Plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, computer repair people... I am sure they all a place to pull out a part they might have put aside a decade ago.
Or anyone who grew up on a farm cos you never know when some old broken thing could be used to fix some newly broken thing, saving you from buying a new thing
Dude i watched the first half of this video with a broken heart. Great work! On a side note, white pigments take longer than other pigments i would think two main things would contribute to that: White generally reflects most of the light (so the chemical reaction isnt as quick), but could be the ingredients themselves just take longer to dry VS ingredients in other pigments with different ingredients and portion sizes.
White paints tend to use different binders in them that aren’t as prone to yellowing. Unfortunately, they don’t dry as quickly. This is especially true with oil paint in tubes that artists use.
The Tamiya TS spray paint SDS leads me to believe that they are nitrocellulose. It claims 1-5% cellulose nitrate. And 63-110% various solvents. (Those percentage ranges sure do add up weird.)
I had not really thought through the use of epoxy in a repair like this. Typically I find it used in a previous neck reset or repair that makes my job much harder. But this is an example on a repair you want to never, never come apart again. Makes sense!! Great work explaining the finishing techniques and I will be using the routing jig soon on a neck repair I am facing.
Someone needs to write a country and western style song with "Oh Gibson, don't you go changing" as the refrain. What a lot of headaches that white paint job gave you!
So impressive. I had a late 50s Strat neck that had a headstock repair, done by a reputable shop, but the repair was instantly identifiable. They actually fabricated a new headstock, which wasn't quite the correct shape, and you could see where the headstock was scarfed onto the neck.
Frank Klausz could make a dovetail joint with a special saw with a folded blade. I don't know whether he invented that or just stole the idea. Total genius.
Coming from a background in the wood finish repair business, I have a feeling the reason white paints seem to be more troublesome and show glue lines after drying has more to do with the pigment load of the paints used. This is common, especially in aerosol paint colors. If the pigment load is low in any color it will dry more semi- transparent which can show things like glue lines when dry. It doesn’t mean the paint used is bad it simply means you may need more coats that some other colors to get to opacity.
Awesome video as always. I will never understand how people can spend +$6k on a guitar, but hey, it keeps people like Ted in business, so spend away you rich weirdos!
Some people don't care about price. I'm not rich but I saved up for my 3k les paul because it's what I wanted. Go be broke and miserable somewhere else
@@strawsparky33 Yes, the rest of the world would call that "rich". I'm happy for you that you don't have to be poor, but I wish you could find some actual happiness in life and don't have to talk shit about poor people to make yourself feel better.
It always boggled my mind that white Les Paul Customs were made at different factory in Memphis, the one that makes hollow body guitars, rather than Nashville, along with other Les Paul Customs. Also a lot of people noticed something funky about finish in their white LPCs.
What makes your comment truly interesting is the look of this particular Les Paul has features that look like they came straight off a hollow body rather than what you expect on a LP. The thickness of the body when viewed with the cutaway visible and even shape of the body seems more boxy, square and like it *is* a hollow body.
I’m making really good strides on my luthier journey where I always wanted to specialize on the neck, but more specifically, the fretboards (removing and replacing fretboards and fretwork) not the actual wood of the neck when it comes to breaks so I guess once I master more of my specific area, this is the fun I have to look forward to 😅 You definitely did it justice!
Great job. I had the same thing happen to a First Act (Toys are us) guitar. A luthier who made violins told me just buy yellow/beige wood glue from Lowe's, it was a clean break where it had been put together at the factory, no where near as complicated as your repair, but I sanded it down and you would not notice it had ever been broken . That is some fine work you did, a master repair!
I never cease to be amazed by headstock break repairs
It never ceases to amaze me how powerful a brand name can be. People are paying $5000 for guitars the fully know are poorly designed. And they just keep doing it.
I'm really not trying to be a smartass, I get it. I truly am amazed by how our brains work.
Same here 👍 . This one is next level in so many ways .
certainly way better than what I could or would and how many would do this ,at this level
@@adrian5b or those who would pay that much and lean it up against a wall or furniture where the slightest bump would have heartbreaking results
@@adrian5b - ..says the guy that has never owned (and probably has never been able to afford) a Gibson Les Paul. If you have one, you know to take good care of it and never place it in a situation where it could fall and sustain catastrophic damage. Go pick up your Ibanez Gem and dream of owning a real guitar…
@@Jeffsafethis!!!! 100% this!!!!!
That guitar sure met the right luthier to be repaired, great work Ted.
There's a video from a few years back where Ted fixes up a Gibson cracked at the other end.
i assume it wasnt the thief who brought the guitar back for repair work, but the sucker that ended up with it.
Never overestimate the brain power of the thief.
Same. The thief likely unloaded it shortly after the heist and the guy who brought it into the store probably had no idea. I’d feel terrible for someone in that situation - they went from having a broken Les Paul to no Les Paul at all.
Perhaps the store let him keep it,after all they would have been paid out on the insurance, no sense in everyone losing out
@@zubeystinzen540 That could happen but they likely wouldn't fix it for him.
@@zubeystinzen540 music stores do not operate that way, they don’t put most things on their insurance since their rates go up and it would end up costing them more.
Big props to you for two things: 1. The Robert Frost quote; and 2. Showing your process, warts and all. Thank you! Well-done.
A painter’s trick for feathering paint is to put on an extra wide piece of painters tape and roll it back onto itself. You know how hard it is to spray paint an inside corner? The same principle is applied here, except it’s used to your advantage.
Hope this helps in the future. I love your videos! I always look forward to seeing them! Please keep it up!
I do the same thing with rolls of blutack when painting camouflage on model planes
@@ambiention yep, me too. Although I haven’t been able to build a model in quite some time, I used that trick quite a lot. I really miss building models but I’ve just had way too much on my plate lately. I hope to get back into it someday.
yes and be mindful of the spraying angle: you imagine you're using a flashlight and want to cast a shadow of the rolled up masking tape...
Don't ask me why, but that's called "French masking." Or "soft edge" for the less classy.
@@alexshackleford1065 I never knew that! Cool, thanks!
I recently repaired an acoustic guitar broken headstock using some techniques I saw on your channel.
Thanks Ted.
I have an old no-name acoustic that I plan to use as a Guinea pig for a headstock break and subsequent repair using the techniques and jigs from this channel. Good luck with yours!
@@mightyluv mine worked, and is being played. I used 2 dowels after initial gluing, then cut a channel length ways through the break like Ted does with his router, and glued in a bracing piece of hard wood. Sanded and polished (polished polished).
At 11:02, in the world of car repair and modelling, that's why they put filler over the entire surface instead of only the cracks.
It often gives a more even and smooth result (no more "blisters"), but it prevents these kind of weird issues.
They do the same with plastering walls
Even car body shops take care to repair structural parts and albeit typically with sheet metal, they approach the job in a similar way. They secure the structural parts and smooth out the finish when a bit of filler is enhancing the job or significantly reducing the amount of sheet metal hammering and shaping needed.
Both body shops and cabinet makers could do a job well or badly.
@@p_mouse8676 model builder here. Although it's not uncommon to put plastic putty or epoxy putty over more than just the crack, it's still more common just to fill the necessary crack, area or void. The difference, is we prime first. And most products are designed to work with one another. For example, Tamiya 2 part epoxy putty or Vallejo plastic putty. Looks like he used JB weld, or something of that sort.
@@McBurnside6380 interesting. Thanks for sharing!!
I guess my main point was to prep the entire surface to make it work well.
I guess knowing that all products work well together is also part of that.
But out of curiosity, what would you do if you're not sure (at all)?
@@p_mouse8676 prepping the surface is definitely part of the process. Twoodford used alcohol. In modeling we wash the plastic, resin or metal parts using different methods for each. I'm only guessing as to the putty being JB weld or similar because of the grey color.
What we do is test products with one another first. It might take more time, but I would have tested the putty, Tamiya spray paint and clear coat on another broken piece of wood before attempting to use them on an expensive guitar. That's what most of us do when trying new modeling products. There are some products well known to the modeling community that just do not work well together. Tamiya has a full line of products that are, of course, all tested to work with one another. Same with companies like Vallejo and MIG.
Also of note, is some model paints are hybrids. For example, Tamiya's acrylic line is a hybrid acrylic lacquer and must be thinned with alcohol for brush and I use lacquer thinner for airbrush, not water. I believe they use about the same formula in the spray cans Twoodford was using. This could be a huge problem and I'm not surprised the paint reacted with the CA glue (super glue) in the manner he described. Hope that helps.
@@p_mouse8676bear in mind he's trying to do the least amount of paint vs. normally when you pain a car/boat/aircraft, etc. you can color match with a complete body part (door, 1/4, bonnet)
These intensive repair videos are my favorite.
The famous Gibson tilt back headstock. Providing job security to luthiers for decades. It's nice to see that the Gibson custom shop is preserving that tradition.
Proven over and over again to not be the issue.
@@BenStateagreed. Thousands of Gibsons produced each year. Headstocks with volutes, Epiphone lower angle headstocks break when you drop them onto their backs. I own 2 currently one 14 years old. Owned 5 other Les Paul’s, never broke a headstock because I’m not an idiot.
@@kenthhamner2641 Yep.
@@kenthhamner2641 It's good that you have never broken one but it is a known fact that many others have. I played in a band with a guitarist who had an SG I was with him when he bought it new. It was never dropped and always stored in the factory hard shell case. One day he took it out of the case at rehearsal and the headstock was broken.
I was once in a guitar Center and I grabbed a Les Paul studio off of the wall to play it right while I was playing at the headstock broke. There was not a mark on either guitar anywhere the headstocks just broke.
Another well-known fact is that the basic design of the way the truss rods are installed removes a lot Of wood from an area that is the thinnest section of the neck due to the headstock tilting back. Something that Gibson has been aware of for decades. Even adding a volute doesn't alleviate the problem.
Don't get me wrong I like Gibson's and owned a music store for a decade or so and we were a Gibson dealer and we sold many of them but we also saw many that came back in with broken headstocks. It is a common and well-known issue with Gibson guitars. I'm glad that you have not had a problem but IMO oh there are two types of gifts and owners. Those who have suffered a headstock break and those who are waiting to.
it did not break at the tilt so no
I suffered kind of the same in my Epiphone Dot headstock... that was a horrible day... but fortunately I found a skilled luthier that put everything as new!
I have repaired a few broken headstocks, and I've got to say that your work is impressive. Thanks for posting this.
I love watching headstock repairs. Nice job!
At some point in the future it would be good to see the repair once it's been finessed. 😊
I was thinking the same thing. Just a couple minutes to see the finished product.
I have repaired several of them, starting with a white, '64 SG Special that my mother knocked off the stand in about 1974. Epoxy and clamps. Repaired a sunburst Les Paul Special for an Irish friend when he was on extended visit in this country in late '80s. A few years ago, he sent me a note on fb to look in his photos. He still had it and said the repair held up very well. He has since sold it.
The more I see of Gibson repairs, no matter how brilliantly done, the more I love my Stratocaster.
You love your thin sound?
I’m in the process of building a double cut junior kit. I’m finishing the neck and body separately. Neck was drying a weird gust of wind came through the garage, neck ends up on the floor. The break was nearly identical. The glue up looks good, but it’ll be 3-4 more weeks before it gets strung up. 🤞
That's a bummer, I hope it ends up fixed with no issues
I’m so happy to see professionals struggle with white. I don’t like to see others struggle but as an amateur beginner I made the mistake of trying to start with white finishes and have fits with it.
It proves that it is a real Gibson
which is unfortunate....another reason to steer clear of em...Kiss endorsements be damned.
@@shakehousecircusrecords I love mine. Stop living on the internet
@Lank2thepast probably a "Tele is the swiss-army knife of guitars!" guy. Pathetic.
@@shakehousecircusrecords Well, just don't bash your guitar anywhere and you will be OK
I had a similar les paul repair once...didnt realize it was so much work. But they did a nice job and i cant really even tell.
As a luthier myself just starting to film & post jobs on youtube, it's nice to see the big lad himself being open with problems encountered on jobs, happens to the best of us. Figuring a way to fix it is the test of a pro 😁
Nice job!! That thing sounds like angel’s singing 🤘🤘🤘 beautiful!
Very cool to watch. I'm glad there are skilled workers like yourself to save these innocent instruments from abuse.
Awesome! I'm sure you'll have it looking like new before it goes home.
I know you say you "aren't even the best luthier in your area" but....
You're one of the best I've ever seen. I've learned a ton from you in the years I've been watching. You have become a tremendous and valuable resource to the repair community GLOBALLY. You're probably like 3500 miles from me and still one of my go-to resources if I encounter something I've never seen or have limited experience with.
There just aren't that many places to find some nuggets of knowledge. A lot of my learning happened preinternet as well, so I learned a lot of bad ways to do jobs before seeing better ways later.
Even small stuff like knowing about that model paint that matches gibson paints so closely..... how can you know that.... without having seen it personally or been told by someone about it?? I suppose it could be 6000 words deep on a forum somewhere on the internet if you are lucky enough to find the right forum and article, and the right guy talking about it, and that guy happens to be the real deal and not be one of the many blow hards out there having fun on a forum messing with people.
I don't know anyone within 100 miles of my area who would have even attempted that.
Anyways, happy Sunday, hope you have a good day, and in general, thanks a ton for taking the time to film, edit, and post these videos. I know the financial reward can't be that great for the amount of time invested in them.
Your channel will be a tome of "best practices" in guitar repair for decades to come.
Thanks again
The skill you’ve displayed in past videos made me think this would be a piece of cake for you. I wasn’t wrong.
My guess for why white takes longer to dry is that the actual individual grains of pigment are generally very large relative to darker colours, so the solvent has less exposure to the air due to this restricting the number of viable paths for solvent from deeper into the application to migrate to the surface and evaporate, leaving the pigment and medium behind in a tightly bonded structure. The surface probably dries a bit too fast due to the solvent being trapped in the lower layers, leaving most of the paint still wet, whereas the other pigments don't seal themselves as early and therefore the solvent has an easier time migrating to the outside layer.
I wonder also if white paints tend to have a higher pigment loading for the sake of opacity. TBH I've used these Tamiya coloured lacquers for guitar touch ups (although I use an airbrush, not the aerosols), and they take weeks to harden properly.
You really should think this through a moment before you post, man. Just sayin’. 😎😉 *SARCASM ALERT*
Great analysis!
It's not really about solvent exposure specifically, more to do with the overall chemical composition of the paint. Different colorants require different ratios of solvents, oils, and flow aids to spray properly. White paints tend to have larger pigment particles, which means they need a more viscous carrier, which means more oil and flow aid and less solvent. The solvent flashes off fairly quickly, leaving everything else to dry slowly.
Absolutely stunning repair and the most relaxing video to watch on a Saturday morning in Tampa. The chords you were strumming in the look of that guitar reminded me of one that Alex lifeson used to play! Great job!!
Would LOVE a shop tour someday, Ted. Anyone else? ❤
I’ve watched your videos for over 7 yrs now and they never get old or boring! I’ve also learned allot when building or repairing my guitars! I always look forward the next video..
13:40 The trick is to lay up the masking tape so its edge sits off the surface. This will give you a feathered transition which is much easier to blend. There's a recent video on my channel where I respray a neck but leave the original headstock finish and use this technique. The blends are virtually invisible.
Thanks for explaining.
Good thing about Gibson is their rather indifferent finishing quality make repairs easier to look like factory finish!
@bluntinstrument6070 well yeah I see what you mean. 😏 But actually the nice thing about Gibson is they still use nitro lacquer which is far easier to touch up and blend.
This is good advice. I use this same technique!
Beautiful job! Amazing skill and techniques. The owner was lucky to find this luthier. Extremely impressive!
The imagination that goes into some of your jigs is as impressive as the repairs themselves.
Way back in the 70’s had a white mini that needed some body work. Conversation with the painter, told me that to make white paint “brilliant” rather than “creamy” they added a little black (!) paint. Didn’t believe him until I did some research. He also mentioned white finishes take longer to dry as they reflect infrared whereas black and very dark finishes absorb infrared rays thus get warm and dry much quicker.
Gotta thank you for your videos, they are calming and stimulating at the same time!
There really is only a couple of technologies regarding paint. Thermoplastic (CAN BE REFLOWED BY HEAT OR SOLVENT), Thermoset (CANNOT BE REFLOWED BY HEAT OR SOLVENT). Thermoplastic does not cure. Thermoset does cure. Thermoplastic is not catalyzed! Thermoset is catalyzed. So essentially when you apply most Thermoplastic product over a thermoplastic you are literally "re-flowing" the subsurface. Crazy sounding I know, but after many decades involved in the restoration of vintage automobiles and training from more than one paint manufacturer, I can tell you this was a hard lesson to learn. Here is one possible work around I have used when doing a repair over a previous (suspected non-thermoplastic), catalyzed epoxy sealer. The reason that this method has better odds is, and is in laymen's terms is, catalyzed epoxy sealer is essentially a low solvent thermoplastic product when applied, then cures to a thermoset, I am not a chemist, and have only my training and experience to rely on. I hope this might open up new solutions for you. Love your channel. Keep it coming!
Great repair job! When its done you cant tell it was broken.
Amazing hide in that break... Masterful!
When I was like 14 I accidentally dropped my dad's Les Paul Studio down the stairs, and the nut hit the railing and snapped the headstock right off, right in front of him. He had it repaired, fortunately, and I always wondered how it might have been done. Thank you!
Nice work! On Gibson white finishes the Anderton's channel recently did a factory tour and they discuss the special 'white' room and special processes they have to use just for this color. Very interesting if you want to check it out.
i believe Dan Erlewine would be seriously impressed with your work. you never cease to amaze me. Thanks for everything you do and share with us. Cheers
An artist and a genius. Your channel is like therapy.
"...it's a true wrapper's deligtht..." love it!
Hey Ted, another tip from the scale modelling community: Using Blue Tac (kind of like silly putty) roll up small diameter, long sausage rolls and stick them along the lines you would normally mask. Then, place the mask or masking tape edge along the top of the sausage roll. When you spray the paint from the top straight down onto the edge of the rolls, it softens the edge of the paint, feathering it a bit into the old. It will eliminate the hard demarcation you get with masking. A lot of videos in scale model planes with this technique. Look for camoflage painting of british WWII era airplanes.
Wrapper's Delight . .. love it
Well executed repair. My first thoughts were, this will be easy to sort as it's a block colour..but as you demonstrated, a bit of a challenge .. Great work.
I really enjoy your neck repair videos, thanks for sharing.
Love the Charlie Pride tune in the background! Sounded like a transistor radio playing in an early seventies barber shop! Ted has great taste in music!
I know you don't read comments, but your skills never fail to impress me. I'm pretty sure I could have fixed this (I've got a beautiful shop) but it would have taken me days and days because I'd move slowly. I do mean slowly....
so wonderful to witness something beautiful repaired and therefore saved. people with skill are magic.
"Tis but a scratch!" 🤣
Your arm’s off!
@@joesantamaria5874No it isn't
Sir Robin stole that guitar.
"I'll bleed on you!!" lol
Les Paul: Come on, then!
King Arthur: Wot d'ya mean? Your headstock's off!
Les Paul: I've had worse.
I had a 61 Les Paul with broken head stock . Sent for the original color from Gibson. I had the repair done by a violin maker from Italy, Renaldo he worked for Maskara Music in Union City N.J. He did an excellent job . Much like you , Outstanding ........ !
This repair blew me away. You are brave and very talented. Great job.
Absolute Master Craftsman! Have 2 Les Pauls, my brother has 7 of which 2 are custom shop, neither of us has ever had a headstock break, this level of incredible workmanship takes a great deal of time and patience. Very impressed!
It is during these high-snot times, when I sit robed in a blanket like a disheveled poor, hot painkiller tea in mangled currently non-guitar eligible left hand, too miserly and infirm to even play a video game, that I thank you for being here for me. A true parasocial friend indeed.
Stay strong my friend!
Wishing you a speedy recovery mate
Me, but when I am not sick
Nice job! At 15 I dropped my 1st country style guitar already 1st day when thumbing home from the music shop, carrying it Dylan style on my shoulder when strap button broke. Factory replaced whole neck to friendly price. Bjarton, Sweden.
Listening to Jeff Beck play 'Little Wing', while watching you rep a gibson is about a perfect evening... many thx Twoodford
Definitely a 2009. 5 digit number with a leading 9 after the CS. In 2010 on onwards they switched to a 6 digit number and that system remains in place.
Nice job rescuing the stolen guitar. Thank you for sharing your work.
13:40. Awww, a cute duck wearing a hat. 😊
And now I will not be able to unsee it
Easy fix for it...don't drop your guitar.
Pariedolia.😂
I've had a Strat for decades, no headstock problems. When I finally bought a Les Paul I didn't pay attention when they offered me insurance while specifically mentioning the neck and headstock problems with Les Pauls. After a couple of years, the guitar stand got knocked over. Even landing on a thick rug the headstock split. Fortunately, the neck itself was intact. The repair wasn't too complicated.
A Gibson Les Paul is not considered "Vintage" until it has had a headstock repair.
Yeah, its just like some color sparkles on "Vintage" Amps.
Is this true or am I gullible
So, does that mean that I've lessened the value of my 47 year old Pro by taking good care of it?
A guitar video commenter is not considered 'funny' until after they've puked up the default joke.
@@rickmccl71 Buy a sense of humor.
Don't know if you care, but here are some comments from a certified geezer: I'm always very interested in repair/restoration videos, almost no matter what the target. UA-cam recommended yours to me. Commentary is thoughtful and at a very good level for those perhaps not in the know. Post was very well done. It was good to hear the "why" behind some of your decisions. I know these aren't that easy to put together, and I appreciate you making the effort.
i'll bet someone tried the ol' sling the guitar over the back shoulder trick and it went flying off into space 😂
I bought the $3,000 guitar, but I forgot the straplocks!
😂@@Nopulu
You may be right, but it's unsettlingly easier than that to get this sort of result.
Nope. Somebody looked at it wrong. This is just what happens to Gibsons.
Doubt it because these are weighty guitars especially weight bias toward Custom's headstock.
Though, I shouldn't underestimate the 3 cords short of a full......
This was an awesome process you shared. Seeing the roadblocks along the way, and figuring them out....wow. As a lover of guitars myself, I Thank you🙏
Great episode Ted
Love the fly go past at 9:07! never fails when you whip out the testors paint
You are a magician. Thanks for posting Ted
Such good information! Thank you. This was a challenging repair indeed! Well done! ❤🎉
Did they actually catch who stole the guitar? I Googled for "body found in dumpster behind music store" and did not find anything.😃
I was with the group voting for full neck replacement. I'm glad it turned out well.
Current owner probably didn’t have a clue their guitar was hot.
Your attention to doing it right is very rewarding to watch.
First pause video
Second hit the like button
Third enjoy the video.
It's a layered approach but it checks out.
Great job. I would always wonder about buying a broken headstock Gibson, or other brands, no matter how crafty the repair is. I'd have to have an offer I couldn't refuse.
She still has that Gibson sustain.
"...dip into the stash"... Gotta be quite the stash at this point Ted. :)
So true though - if you're going to be repairing guitars at any level, you need to acquire a supply of every oddball washer, screw, grommet, spring, bezel, etc as you can, because you never know what you might need down the road. So, never throw anything away! If you have old parts, keep 'em. If you find a junker in the trash that's irredeemable, cannibalize it for every screw, and even solid woods, braces, etc. Try to keep it all organized as best as you can; nothing is worse than knowing you have that part, but simply can't find it.
My local repair shop used to kindly sell (or give away) parts from their considerable stash (decades worth); recently they have a sign up saying something to the effect of "No more vintage parts are available to be sold"!
The incredible patience involved in matching this white guitar's finish is mind boggling. I'm so glad I don't have to do anything like this, AND that I currently own no white guitars... :)
Any trades person who has been working for years builds up a collection of random parts to use in the future. Plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, computer repair people... I am sure they all a place to pull out a part they might have put aside a decade ago.
Or anyone who grew up on a farm cos you never know when some old broken thing could be used to fix some newly broken thing, saving you from buying a new thing
Dude i watched the first half of this video with a broken heart. Great work!
On a side note, white pigments take longer than other pigments i would think two main things would contribute to that: White generally reflects most of the light (so the chemical reaction isnt as quick), but could be the ingredients themselves just take longer to dry VS ingredients in other pigments with different ingredients and portion sizes.
White paints tend to use different binders in them that aren’t as prone to yellowing. Unfortunately, they don’t dry as quickly. This is especially true with oil paint in tubes that artists use.
The Tamiya TS spray paint SDS leads me to believe that they are nitrocellulose. It claims 1-5% cellulose nitrate. And 63-110% various solvents. (Those percentage ranges sure do add up weird.)
Amazing. You are a wood wizard. I wish I could do this kind of stuff.
Thumbnail photo seems to be natural state of LP. 👍🏻
I had not really thought through the use of epoxy in a repair like this. Typically I find it used in a previous neck reset or repair that makes my job much harder. But this is an example on a repair you want to never, never come apart again. Makes sense!! Great work explaining the finishing techniques and I will be using the routing jig soon on a neck repair I am facing.
Someone needs to write a country and western style song with "Oh Gibson, don't you go changing" as the refrain.
What a lot of headaches that white paint job gave you!
That would be awesome- but Gibson would sue. 🙄
@@jackpijjin4088 just say “oh! I didn’t mean that Gibson!"
That song should also feature United Airlines in there somewhere.
What a display of patience and skill. Nicely done, dude.
What are those sounds on 7:01? lmao
Amazing! Your knowledge and skillful hands are a blessing, I salute you Sir! Thank you, Custom Les Pauls are beautiful guitars.
Tamiya to the rescue! Their model paints are great stuff, smells good too lol
As a Les Paul player my whole life, I would trust you with repairs beyond my ability after this wonderful video. Stay cool!.😎
It's what makes Gibson, a Gibson.
Mad Props on the repair, you are a guitar wizard in deed!
damn, you fix those headstock breaks really well... kudos
I'm always amazed by your repairs, especially of a broken headstock, or similar. Thank you for another amazing video! Much love from the UK! ❤
Thank you. Appreciate you, Ted.
So impressive. I had a late 50s Strat neck that had a headstock repair, done by a reputable shop, but the repair was instantly identifiable. They actually fabricated a new headstock, which wasn't quite the correct shape, and you could see where the headstock was scarfed onto the neck.
Frank Klausz could make a dovetail joint with a special saw with a folded blade. I don't know whether he invented that or just stole the idea. Total genius.
Coming from a background in the wood finish repair business, I have a feeling the reason white paints seem to be more troublesome and show glue lines after drying has more to do with the pigment load of the paints used. This is common, especially in aerosol paint colors. If the pigment load is low in any color it will dry more semi- transparent which can show things like glue lines when dry. It doesn’t mean the paint used is bad it simply means you may need more coats that some other colors to get to opacity.
Awesome video as always. I will never understand how people can spend +$6k on a guitar, but hey, it keeps people like Ted in business, so spend away you rich weirdos!
Some people don't care about price. I'm not rich but I saved up for my 3k les paul because it's what I wanted. Go be broke and miserable somewhere else
It sounds like this person didn't.
@@strawsparky33 Yes, the rest of the world would call that "rich". I'm happy for you that you don't have to be poor, but I wish you could find some actual happiness in life and don't have to talk shit about poor people to make yourself feel better.
amazing work. Always impressed by your method for tackling these tricky jobs.
It always boggled my mind that white Les Paul Customs were made at different factory in Memphis, the one that makes hollow body guitars, rather than Nashville, along with other Les Paul Customs.
Also a lot of people noticed something funky about finish in their white LPCs.
What makes your comment truly interesting is the look of this particular Les Paul has features that look like they came straight off a hollow body rather than what you expect on a LP. The thickness of the body when viewed with the cutaway visible and even shape of the body seems more boxy, square and like it *is* a hollow body.
I’m making really good strides on my luthier journey where I always wanted to specialize on the neck, but more specifically, the fretboards (removing and replacing fretboards and fretwork) not the actual wood of the neck when it comes to breaks so I guess once I master more of my specific area, this is the fun I have to look forward to 😅 You definitely did it justice!
When Les Paul becomes Les Pieces.
Less Paul
Don't "fix" it! A Gibson is an investment! The broken headstock is authenticity! Character! HERITAGE!
I hope the person who brought it back to the store was the one who stole it and not someone who unknowingly purchased it.
Great job. I had the same thing happen to a First Act (Toys are us) guitar. A luthier who made violins told me just buy yellow/beige wood glue from Lowe's, it was a clean break where it had been put together at the factory, no where near as complicated as your repair, but I sanded it down and you would not notice it had ever been broken . That is some fine work you did, a master repair!