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@FelineGuitars
Only jokin it's common and depending on the break quite fixable, post a pic here so the pros can give you some real advice.
But as this does happen a lot with LPs a lot of people have had a lot of practice at putting them back together !
This is unfortunately one of the 'design features' of Gibson guitars...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Tell him him to get the strings off and save every splinter
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Slacken the strings a bit and take care not to lose any splinters or bits of the wood
Should be an ok one to fix up
www.felineguitars.com
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
The good news is, once done, the guitar will be good as new. I own a vintage Gibson which had a headstock repair before I bought it 15 years ago. It’s solid as a rock - so really nothing to worry about, or in any way spoil your son’s enjoyment of the guitar.
Being childproof is NOT how you measure the quality of a £2,000 musical instrument, it's unfair, irrelevant and boring, frankly.
I've banged rawl plugs in with my Telecaster, but not with my baroque lute or my Les Paul.
Very few other guitars suffer from it as badly, let alone other instruments - in my experience as a repairer, Gibsons are not just the most commonly broken, it's more common than *all other brands put together*. The reason for that is that there is something seriously wrong with the design - it's simply shockingly poor from a woodwork point of view, and in my opinion isn't acceptable on a high quality musical instrument.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
You need to use an aliphatic resin glue (eg Titebond Original), hide glue or in some cases (badly splintered joints where you need to fill some missing spaces as well) I would use heated high-strength epoxy.
With a bad break where the wood is more shattered than simply split along the grain lines it may need properly splinting too.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
http://www.guitaraid.co.uk/
Having had a Les Paul bounce off it’s headstock and into a mosh pit at a festival thanks to a broken strap, and survive, intact and with only a bent machine head, I call BS on that being a ‘fact’ that they just somehow fall off. I’m sure you have seen lots of them break - but not all do or will, which is what you insinuate. Accidents happen and as a guitar tech, that’s what pays the mortgage - n’est pas?
I gigged Les Pauls and SGs for 15 years without a single break of the headstocks. I’m not know for being fastidious about caring for them (I even ran my LP custom over in the van once - thankfully the flight case saved it). There are plenty of vintage guitars that haven’t somehow snapped themselves - including some famous well-gigged guitars that have travelled the globe. They can even fall out of a burning aircraft and survive without headstock detachment (refer Frampton’s Phoenix).
Its not a ‘design fault’ it’s a design. Is it weaker than a scarf - probably but having worked in the new instrument industry and seen those get broken in transit due to ape-like couriers etc, they aren’t perfect either. There are a lot more Gibsons being gigged regularly (and have been historically) than other brands - perhaps that has something to do with the numbers, too. Folks talk about nothing sounding like a Gibson... well, part of that will be the design and the way the headstock interacts with the neck and the body (somebody gag 3TS for me please).
The only headstock I’ve ever broken is a vintage Fender Telecaster one - and I was mortified. I’m sure the OP’s son is and having a bunch of ‘experts’ arguing about a design is ‘poor’ or not doesn’t help him. It’s only poor in your opinion John, the rest of us that play the guitars would say it’s just part of the sound, feel and look of a Gibson guitar.
To the OP - I hope you get it fixed ok, it doesn’t look that bad. As suggested Feline guitars have a good reputation or there are other guys like Charlie Chandler (Kew?) who can help out too. LA Guitars in Barnet used to be pretty good too.