Epi LP headstock repair.

Sambostar

Also, just chop the edges of the headstock off whilst you are at it, with a straight guide with the router and add some more mahogany, again with an edge cut with the router and  make it into a Gibby headstock and add a proper inlay veneer.  Why not?  See already your router is coming in handy eh!

DeeTee

Router really isn't an option, not least because I'm in a small one bed flat with nowhere to set it up properly.

ICBM

In that case your best bet is some high quality craftsmen's wood chisels, some very careful marking, and a lot of patience with a small mallet. That's how top-class cabinet makers did it in the old days! If you take your time you can get very precise results.

I would suggest practising on some scrap wood before attacking the guitar if you've never done anything like this!

DeeTee

Really? I considered that, but thought I would be more likely to re-break the headstock, given the impact while chiselling.

Misterg

...there's always the option not to bother with the splines...

Gorilla glue is stronger than the wood, so I would think it'd stand a good chance of holding on its own.

DeeTee

The consensus appears to be that it would fail again at some point and then wreck any chance of future repair that doesn't involve removing chunks and replacing them.

Sambostar

You know what I'd do?  Get a router anyway, some ear defenders and hang some plastic dust sheets around your work area, a mat or board on the floor and hit it on a Saturday morning, who is to know it's not a sparky chasing in some new conduit cabling, Emmerdale Farm at 3000 decibels or any other socially acceptable form of abhorrent weekend noise?  As said, setting up everything will take the lions share of the time anyway. In fact you don't even need a table saw, you could cut your maple splints accurately with the router and also make the jig with the router, after cutting them with a Jack (Hand) saw on them.  At least the band aids and phone for the emergency services will be right next to you if anything goes awry.  Don't let them grind you down.  You have a right to own and operate a router, you are a man.

 

But if you are determined to be oldskool, like IBCM says, a very sharp, quality metal chisel by hand will do the job and a piece of MDF as a flat table to compare your edge to, so sharp mind that you shouldn't need to use a hammer at all and go with the direction that doesn't raise the grain and go in light passes, not too deep, especially at first.

Sambostar

In fact that is not a bad idea IBCM.  You could go completely oldskool and set up a manual work area in your flat with hand planes, chisels and cabinet scrapers, veneers rollers, a grinding wheel,  the lot!

DeeTee

Not quite sure what my gender has to do with the router, especially as I don't intend to operate it with my penis. That said, the main concern is space rather than noise.

Sambostar

They are trying to emasculate you and turn us all into metrosexuals by design who don't answer back, don't be emasculated...is all I am saying.  It starts with on street parking restrictions, who knows where it will end.  You only need a 2 x 4' work space anyhow.  But in reality honing your 17th century woodworking skills won't be a bad thing either.  Plenty of online videos with handy tips to help too.  Or is you have the cash maybe hire some time or lessons at a work workshop.  Surely someone has a garage in a garage block that isn't being used around you?

DeeTee

Dude, I'm just trying to fix a guitar. Please stop derailing the thread with your men's rights nonsense.

Sambostar

OK. Fair enough.  Get some sharp chisels, a narrow one and possibly a wide one for clean up and straight edging of the splints and try and head toward something like this, most important is the contact with the length of the sides of the splints, not the ends.

When you looked at the break, which end has the most feathering or tapered edge on it?  The neck or the headstock?  The neck? You want to work the chisel with the direction of the taper form  neck to headstock, not against it, as you'll lift the grain and get chip out.  If the wood starts to spilt and chip around the chisel, or the chisel is digging in, work it in the opposite direction.  Shouldn't take long as long as your chisel is really sharp, steady it with your left hand and don't ever work with your hand in front of it  Be just like mortising a rebate in a door frame, although the wood is gonna be harder. 

Rox

As this is a beginners project, and there's clearly a limit on the equipment DeeTee can use, for this project howabout drilling holes for dowels at a 45 degree angle through the break?

ICBM

DeeTee said:

Really? I considered that, but thought I would be more likely to re-break the headstock, given the impact while chiselling.

Not if you use a sharp chisel and a small mallet.

Misterg said:

...there's always the option not to bother with the splines...

Gorilla glue is stronger than the wood, so I would think it'd stand a good chance of holding on its own.

It doesn't work like that unfortunately. Plenty of glues are 'stronger than the wood', and this is usually used by the makers in their advertising - but it's true only under certain conditions. A completely unsupported bond which is under constant tension and a 'peel' type stress (which this repaired headstock is) is a complete different case from a joint which is only under intermittent load and mainly in a shear stress or pure tension. PVA and even some types of epoxy will 'creep' under the sort of load in a headstock repair and fail, even if a deliberate attempt to break it in one go will usually break the wood before the glue line.

I have no idea if Gorilla glue is the same, but I wouldn't risk it given that it's also going to be one of the ones you have no hope of cleaning off the wood if it does break again.

Sambostar

With a hand drill they'd be a lot of wobble getting the drill started at an angle, either that or you slice a chunk out at an angle with the chisel first to get it started, either way, there'd not much meat to allow good contact with the dowels, no?.  For twenty quid on a couple of sets of chisels and practicing your chiselling on a piece of mahogany first,  pressing or very gently or tapping the shavings out and working back on yourself to tidy up the ends of the mortises from the shavings would be easy enough. 

Or easiest would be to just drill a hole, the exact same width as the practice chisel cut at either end of the mortise.  Do this after starting the mortise off first with a few passes first to avoid chip out, say about 2mm deep.  This way it'd be a lot easier to chase the mortises out cleanly and then bevel the ends of the splints to fit with sandpaper/file, so long as the angle is about the same and it's a flush fit both sides.  If you do go shonky with the drill holes and the sides of the mortise are not parallel, no worries, just shave your splint down in section to fit, trial and error until you get it right.  So long as it's a flush, snug fit, on each side, on the top and bottom sides of the join it's fine, doesn't have to be perfect.  Beech, Oak or Maple is all pretty strong for the splints.

DeeTee

After some consideration, I'm going to go with the Dremel route for three reasons:

1) I think I'm less likely to make a hash of it using this method. The tool can do the work if I use a light touch.

2) There are plenty of threads showing how it's done on MyLesPaul, so I've got plenty to follow.

3) I wanted one anyway, so it's basically cost neutral, whereas buying chisels or other equipment would be bought specifically for this and probably not used again.

I'll let you see what carnage I have wrought upon it!

Misterg

ICBM said:

I have no idea if Gorilla glue is the same, but I wouldn't risk it given that it's also going to be one of the ones you have no hope of cleaning off the wood if it does break again.

FWIW: Gorilla glue (polyurethane) doesn't creep.

DeeTee

Dremel arrives tomorrow! I need to get a piece of plywood to make a sort of mini jig... and then butcher the thing.

ICBM

Misterg said:

FWIW: Gorilla glue (polyurethane) doesn't creep.

Useful info, thanks! I'm just inherently suspicious of all new wonder glues until proven otherwise, after bad experiences with some.

OilCityPickups

Is anyone looking into the ecological crime of using a glue derived from higher primates?