EMERGENCY!! Broken neck.

M

mark cassidy

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Apr 24, 2019
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Hi all. I have an emergency and looking for help. One of my guitars (Gibson LP Supreme) was knocked over by a cat (who is now living on SERIOUSLY borrowed time!!) and the neck was cracked at the thinnest part of the neck behind / below the headstock. Any and all ideas / suggestions greatly appreciated (for how to fix the guitar, not kill the cat). Obviously it is not a PRS but still need advice etc. MANY THANKS!
 
mark cassidy said:
Hi all. I have an emergency and looking for help. One of my guitars (Gibson LP Supreme) was knocked over by a cat (who is now living on SERIOUSLY borrowed time!!) and the neck was cracked at the thinnest part of the neck behind / below the headstock. Any and all ideas / suggestions greatly appreciated (for how to fix the guitar, not kill the cat). Obviously it is not a PRS but still need advice etc. MANY THANKS!
Click to expand...

Show us a couple pics of what you're dealing with?
 
mark cassidy said:
Hi all. I have an emergency and looking for help. One of my guitars (Gibson LP Supreme) was knocked over by a cat (who is now living on SERIOUSLY borrowed time!!) and the neck was cracked at the thinnest part of the neck behind / below the headstock. Any and all ideas / suggestions greatly appreciated (for how to fix the guitar, not kill the cat). Obviously it is not a PRS but still need advice etc. MANY THANKS!
Click to expand...

How bad is it? Is just a crack or more serious?

The first thing I would do is remove the strings and therefore take any tension off the neck. If you have something like Tight Bond wood glue and/or maybe a syringe to 'inject' the glue as deep to the crack as possible - which should be easier now the strings aren't pulling on it. Try and get as much glue as you can deep into the crack so there is no part that won't be glued. Give it a little bit of time to soak into the wood. Push both sides of the crack together and clamp up - not so tight as to damage where the clamps are. Wipe off any excess that has been squeezed out before it sets. Leave for a day or so before removing the clamps, do any tidy up work if needed. You may want to leave it for a week or two before restringing too.

If you are concerned, there are some video's out there that will show complete broken Headstock repairs which maybe of use - I believe Phil McKnight did a Sharpen my Axe video on an Epiphone with a broken headstock and how a 'professional' would go about doing a repair. That was impressive as the refinishing work made it look as if it had never broken. If doing it yourself is a worry, take it to a Luthier. Paul himself used to do repairs on the most difficult of guitars to repair and its often the way Luthiers make their money. Building their own is the hobby whilst repairing is their main business.

Hope you find this useful and good luck...
 
Many thanks guys for the quick response. Having given it some thought I think I'm gonna take it to a repair place. Too expensive a guitar to risk me messing with it, even though I believe it is a straightforward procedure from watching a couple videos. On the plus side, I do now have a really nice pair of warm fur gloves for the coming winter.
 
I had the exact same break on a Supreme that came in like that from shipping around 2008. Gibson has a repair shop much like PTC. If you contact them directly I recommend sending it to them. They did a great job on mine. If you like the guitar it may be worth getting it fixed right by them since it involves much more than squirting in new glue. Plus my neck is black and they matched perfectly where you will never know. Good luck.
 
Ok, I'm sorry and not very bright. I registered with IMGUR and put the pic on there but now how do I get it from IMGUR to here?
 
Thousands have had this happen to their Gibsons. Sometimes sans cat. Seriously, Google it, then recoil in horror. We didn’t start the fire.

So, find a luthier who has fixed this before- there have to be hundreds in the country who have. And get your wallet out. Done.
 
Guitarsan said:
Thousands have had this happen to their Gibsons. Sometimes sans cat. Seriously, Google it, then recoil in horror. We didn’t start the fire.

So, find a luthier who has fixed this before- there have to be hundreds in the country who have. And get your wallet out. Done.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do. And you're right, I'm sure it happens with or without the aid of a feline denizen of the deep. Madame of the house said that it took a while to dislodge the poor creature from the ceiling after the clatter and bang of the guitar hitting the tiles. It's unfortunate as well since the cat in question was a kitten we rescued from a tree (Really! Honestly!) on the point of starvation (the cat, not the tree. The tree is a huge effing oak out back of the yard. Healthy as a horse.) a few weeks ago. Only half a tail and looks as though someone took scissors to its ears. It was chased up the tree by our old, and very grumpy, Calico which is what saved it I guess since my wife went to see why the old girl was sitting at the foot of the tree growling. Anyway, long story. I'll go home and take the poor Gibson to the repair shop and then repair myself to the den with a beerski and my trusty and very beautiful S2 Custom 24!!!
 
Rockmark said:
I had the exact same break on a Supreme that came in like that from shipping around 2008. Gibson has a repair shop much like PTC. If you contact them directly I recommend sending it to them. They did a great job on mine. If you like the guitar it may be worth getting it fixed right by them since it involves much more than squirting in new glue. Plus my neck is black and they matched perfectly where you will never know. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Thankyou sir!
 
I would agree that sending it back home for repair would be the route to go considering what it is.

If it was an off the shelf 2016 Standard then I'd take it to the local guys. This is a bit different.

If you were to sell it down the road, the repair will hurt the value. Having it repaired at the factory (and providing the documentation) will minimize this loss.

Good luck man and don't hurt the critter. It was an accident.....and you shouldn't have left that guitar sitting out for something to happen to it. It's like me letting my kids play with the knobs on my inexpensive amps and then getting upset with them when I find that they messed with every knob on my pedals and expensive amps.
 
BMiller said:
I would agree that sending it back home for repair would be the route to go considering what it is.

If it was an off the shelf 2016 Standard then I'd take it to the local guys. This is a bit different.

If you were to sell it down the road, the repair will hurt the value. Having it repaired at the factory (and providing the documentation) will minimize this loss.

Good luck man and don't hurt the critter. It was an accident.....and you shouldn't have left that guitar sitting out for something to happen to it. It's like me letting my kids play with the knobs on my inexpensive amps and then getting upset with them when I find that they messed with every knob on my pedals and expensive amps.
Click to expand...
No chance of the 'critter' suffering any retribution. She's a sweet little thing and finally getting some weight on her bones. And you sound exactly like my wife telling me not to leave the guitars out around the house! Point well taken!
 
It's a lesson I learned from my wife. When I met her I had no kids and no critters. When we moved in together, all of a sudden I had three kids and three cats. Learned real fast that if I didn't want something messed with then I should put it away.

There was a sticky finger incident involving Popsicles that taught me my lesson!!
 
Its a scary thing to happen. Its happened to me. It was my fault. I picked up my guitar case and guess what? It wasn't fastened. The guitar toppled out and crashed onto the floor. I thought I'd gotten away with it but there was a hairline fracture.

My luthier squeezed glue in through the truss rod cavity. I didnt bother getting it refinished. Its a scar that serves as a ongoing warning.

Good luck with the repair. It should be completely fine afterwards.
 
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