Guitar Head Repair

For a while I have been wanting to take an acoustic guitar and do some Frankenstein-like modifications to it. Towards that end, I have been shopping around town for a really cheap acoustic guitar that I wouldn't mind ripping apart. Unfortunately, all of the cheap one's that I found were really poor sounding. I was just about resigned to throw down a hundred and change on a largely mediocre guitar when I had an epiphany. Why not at least try to repair the cracked headstock on my old acoustic guitar? I mean, it must have been sitting in my closet for the last two years for some purpose!

So, I set forth to repair the guitar the only way I knew how (gluing and clamping) and ended up doing a much larger repair job with it. The results ended up being both functional and aesthetically pleasing and will now guide the direction of the rest of the rebuild.

(subscribe to get updates of the full Frankenstein-ish rebuild.)

Step 1 Don't lend your guitar to Bilal!

As the title of this step explains, the first step in guitar head repair is prevention. The best way to prevent needing the repair the head of your guitar after it has been cracked in half is to not crack it in half in the first place. This can be accomplished by not lending your guitar to Bilal.

As you can see below, there is Bilal with an unsavory robot and my guitar. Now, I am not going to jump to any conclusions from this picture about the trustworthiness of robots, but it would be fair to say that this picture, at the very least, throws into doubt the trustworthiness of Bilal. How can you trust a man that consorts with robots in such a friendly manner? I hear that is how replicants are made!

In short, do not lend your guitar to Bilal.

Comments

[pumaplayr17]

Where do you get this stuff and how much is it?

[randofo]

I've been getting it from TAP Plastic. It isn't too much. Perhaps around $8 per square foot, give or take a few dollars.

[newb]

looks good and as far as durability goes ive used wood glue and clamps to fix a broken Gibson Les Paul and after a few months its holding up well just used some wood putty and sanding to smooth it out then painted it to match the rest of the neck

[Clayton H.]

I would have of used hide glue. But that's jut me.

[WebsWeWeave]

How is the guitar holding up tuning wise? Do the strings get out of tune fast or does it play just like before? Amazing idea by the way!!

[randofo]

I am not sure yet as I am still working on it and haven't put on any strings, but I am guessing that it will stretch a bit to begin with and then be fine. I glued it once before with a smaller crack and that held even after the headstock snapped in half. The glue itself is probably pretty structural in spite of my doubts, but now that it's reinforced, I'm guessing (hoping) it should stay in tune alright.

[Re-design]

Nice job. How is it holding up.

The only thing I can add is you should have painted the back side of the wood to hide the broken seam.  Other than that I really like what you did.

[randofo]

I don't know yet because I am still modding it and haven't put any strings on yet. I imagine it should flex a little at first, but ultimately be alright.

[Culturespy]

I vote we start a Radofo Foundation or maybe a Randofo Society... The Ancient Order of Randofo, yeah that's it.

[randofo]

No way! We should start a Culturespy Foundation.

[yoyology]

Just don't start a Bilal Cabal. That guy's dangerous!