Broken Guitar

Wolfetone

FelineGuitars said:

We did the strengthening splints on the Judas Priest guitar repair/rebuild to make sure he wouldn't be breaking it again 

We used carbon fibre rods instead of maple

Full story can be seen here:

http://felineguitars.com/media/spotlight/judastpriestguitar.html

If you haven't followed the link to the photo's, do so now. Astonishing workmanship. 

ICBM

p90fool said:

To be fair, you're going to see a lot of broken headstocks because of your job, most of us just tend to think of them as a bit like iPhone screens - pathetically weak and too-easily broken, but at least it's mostly (but not always) up to the owner to just be careful. Wishful thinking a lot of the time, I know. 

Amps are a different matter, if you see a lot of issues with one particular model I will avoid it. 

I'm puzzled why you think amps are different. I see a lot of issues with broken Gibsons - more than all other brands put together. Doesn't that tell you something about the design?

For what it's worth, it can vary drastically due to the exact piece of wood chosen and the shaping behind the nut - I had a '57 Les Paul Junior that looked like it had been used to dig roads with, but it had never broken. But that was probably just a lucky choice of a piece of wood with grain that followed the curve of the neck, and it doesn't mean that the design is good because of it.

There are people who have gigged with Marshall DSL100s for years with no issues too...

p90fool

ICBM said:

p90fool said:

To be fair, you're going to see a lot of broken headstocks because of your job, most of us just tend to think of them as a bit like iPhone screens - pathetically weak and too-easily broken, but at least it's mostly (but not always) up to the owner to just be careful. Wishful thinking a lot of the time, I know. 

Amps are a different matter, if you see a lot of issues with one particular model I will avoid it. 

I'm puzzled why you think amps are different. I see a lot of issues with broken Gibsons - more than all other brands put together. Doesn't that tell you something about the design?

For what it's worth, it can vary drastically due to the exact piece of wood chosen and the shaping behind the nut - I had a '57 Les Paul Junior that looked like it had been used to dig roads with, but it had never broken. But that was probably just a lucky choice of a piece of wood with grain that followed the curve of the neck, and it doesn't mean that the design is good because of it.

There are people who have gigged with Marshall DSL100s for years with no issues too...

Because a badly designed amp can  die on me mid gig no matter how I look after it, but with a physically fragile guitar I still have some say in whether it breaks or not. 

I don't recommend the big Marshall AVTs to friends based almost entirely on your experience, just as I don't recommend Hinckley-built Triumph Bonnevilles to friends based on mine. You can't just "be careful" with these things, they're just shite, and they almost all die from the same fault. 

If I don't physically whack my Les Paul into something I know it'll get me to the end of the gig. 

ICBM

Some of them are fragile enough that they may not make it *to* the gig if the case simply falls over.

In my opinion the reason it’s never been adequately addressed* is simply that buyers are so blinded by the ‘iconic’ status of Gibsons that they’re willing to overlook probably the most serious design fault on any production guitar.

About the only thing that I can think of on a guitar which has a higher failure rate is the cheap alloy bridge block on Marlin Sidewinders .

(*They did actually fix it in the late 70s, when they switched to laminated maple necks. Purists didn’t like this though...)

richardhomer

Wolfetone said:

FelineGuitars said:

We did the strengthening splints on the Judas Priest guitar repair/rebuild to make sure he wouldn't be breaking it again 

We used carbon fibre rods instead of maple

Full story can be seen here:

http://felineguitars.com/media/spotlight/judastpriestguitar.html

If you haven't followed the link to the photo's, do so now. Astonishing workmanship. 

Just had a look.

Agreed - amazing stuff!