PDA

View Full Version : Broken Neck - Need Advice



Allan Speers
04-17-2016, 6:19 PM
This is an inexpensive guitar (some Vietnamese workshop) that my friend bought on Ebay. It arrived with a broken neck. He got his money back & gave it to me after he gave up trying to fix it. He messed up the finish, but I'll probably refinish the entire neck, anyway, as I don't like the feel of the original laquer. (or whatever it is.)

I'd like to "make it work" but not worried about a pristine restoration, and it's not worth paying a pro to do it right, and I'm not good at removing fingerboards, so....

I know, this type of thing isn't a lot of fun, but I could use your collective advice:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I managed to get most / all of the glue out from my friend's hack job, then re-did it with proper clamping, using tightbond III. I figure it's long grain, so it should hold pretty well, but a neck has an awful lot of tension on it.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31826742/Broken%20Neck%20-%201%20%20%20.jpg

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31826742/Broken%20Neck%20-%202%20%20%20.jpg

I once made a similar repair, but added two screws, inserted through the button. (Countersunk and plugged, of course.) That guitar still works fine after maybe 20 years. This guitar unfortunately has an abalone inlay right there, so I'm hesitant to do any more.

I may decide to sand-away that inlay (it's a little gaudy, anyway) then put mahogany veneer over the screw heads, but that's a lot of work. Do you think this glue job has a chance of holding just as it is? If so, how long would you wait to restring it?



THANKS.

Jim Creech
04-18-2016, 9:13 PM
I have done the exact same thing on similar guitars before without any problems except cosmetics. The only thing that will cause it to fail is excessive heat (enough to soften the glue) or sudden impact such as the one that caused the break in the first place.

Jay Nossen
04-19-2016, 10:30 AM
Allan,
If you are going the screw route, why not go through the side at an angle (thus preserving the inlay)? Also, I was glad to see the guitar photo (when I first clicked, I thought you were talking about your own neck).

george wilson
04-22-2016, 10:00 AM
I could be wrong,but it looks like the neck broke on a glue line where the heel was glued on during making the guitar. too bad someone used vastly different colored glue!! What do some people think? Do they think at all?


A while back,I repaired a badly split open SWORD CANE. It was made of ebony,and some TOTAL IDIOT glued the long split(complete with missing splinters! with WHITE EPOXY. I got some epoxy remover and soaked the white epoxy and was able to neatly peel it all loose. Then,I mixed some clear epoxy with lamp black and re glued the broken cane. After smoothing out the joint,I went over the cane with very fine steel wool,leaving the break totally invisible. The "sword" inside the cane was a square spike about 12" long,coming to a sharp point. It was installed about half way down the cane. I would have been a good self defense weapon,IF the attacker did not have a gun!:)

Allan Speers
04-23-2016, 3:40 AM
^ That's an interesting thought, George. I don't think so though, as the crack is not dead-straight. It looks like it followed a natural grain line.

Well, regardless, I don't care about the cosmetics much at all, I just want to know if this is theoretically strong enough as is. I definitely got plenty of glue in there, and I didn't starve the joint.

------------------------------

A second problem is that now, the 15th fret is binding on all the strings. The problem of course is the neck, not the FB, and I can plane the FB much because it has a magnificent "tree of life" type inlay. Maybe I didn't quite get all of my friend's glue out after all, though I sure thought I did.

Now I'll probably have to just take down frets 14-16 and not play any leads up there. This is just an extra guitar for me, so no biggie, I guess.

Dan Kirkland
05-19-2016, 11:34 AM
I know this is late, and if you've already fixed the neck then that's ok, my one tidbit of advice would be to not use a nail and instead remove the heel cap, drill a 1/4" hole through both broken parts of the heel going about 1/2" into the upper part of the heel. Cut some appropriate dowels (large enough you have to tap them in) glue in the dowel, let it dry and cut them flush with the heel. Reattach the heel cap and call it done.

I can't tell you how many wood screw based repairs come through my shop, and they all fail and are ridiculous to fix. The wood on wood solution will serve.you much better in the long run. Its not the best repair but it'll be functional.

Like I said, if you've already done it then that's cool.

Allan Speers
07-18-2016, 6:37 AM
Hey Dan.

As I wrote, I had fixed it without any extra reinforcement at all. Stupidly, I used tightbond III instead of hide glue, (I was sort of in a hurry) but so far it's holding just fine. I even strung it once with mediums just as a test. (Custom lights back on it now.)

Do you think I should still add a dowel? That's quite a challenging job because of that button. (Hence why I started this thread.)

george wilson
07-18-2016, 9:38 AM
The neck could have failed if it is made of crummy,weak,too soft wood. No telling what it really is ,being Asian. Some "mahoganys" are not much harder than balsa wood. I use mahogany as a loosely applied term.

Allan Speers
07-18-2016, 4:36 PM
good point, George.

I take it you'd suggest adding a dowel or two?

george wilson
07-19-2016, 10:50 AM
Frankly,I just use long wood screws. Drill a hole the screw can be shoved through down to where the break line is. Then,drill a smaller hole the diameter of the thread depth. Countersink the heads or drill a hole that the heads can recess into if you can't get screws long enough In any case,you want to veneer over the heel to conceal the screws. TWO screws would be good.

I have even repaired the broken heel of a bass fiddle using glue and long screws. It held just fine.

Whether or not screw based repairs hold is probably based on if they were done properly. Some people can tear up an anvil!

Allan Speers
07-19-2016, 10:47 PM
THX, George.