Acoustic 12-string headstock repair

Kalimna

Greetings folks,
Last week (and with advice/support from @ICBM and @WezV ) I attempted my first repair of a damaged instrument - a 20-odd year old Simon & Patrick acoustic 12-string that belongs to my mother-in-law. The guitar has been well used for those 20 years, mostly at weekly church performances, but has suffered a combo of being left too many times in a car and perhaps a knock or two.
The glue line (no idea what type of glue it was) had separated and the headstock was hinged off at the faceplate veneer.
2 options - take headstock off completely and clear all remnants of glue before re-attaching, or fill in the gap with a glue suitable for adhesion to previous glue.
For ease, I went with the second option - plus if it fails I can always try option 1  
Z-Poxy 30 minute epoxy was warmed to thin the viscosity and applied to the gap (after tuners had been removed and a couple of clamping dry-runs), clamped up and left overnight. Once the glue had fully cured, I had to do a small amount of tidying up with rasps, sandpaper and a thin coat of Danish Oil. Unfortunately, epoxy doesnt seem to give such a thin line as Titebond that I am more used to, however it has *much* better gap-filling properties. 
Overall, I'm rather happy with the outcome, and my mother-in-law is over the moon at being able to play a guitar bought for her 20 years ago by her two children.
There is a step where the scarf joint meets the neck, and time will tell how it holds up. If it was my guitar, I'd refinish the whole neck and it also needs a re-fret and probably truss-rod adjustment. But that's for another day!

Some before and afters : 

https://i.imgur.com/wp738pr.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/lQz16Cv.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/CGhBERW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Khx6buB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/VDTdyiK.jpg

Thanks for looking,
Adam

Tannin

Nice work sir! I am impressed.

victorludorum

Have you strung it up yet?

Kalimna

Thank you @Tannin - it must be about the easiest repair to  make as there was no real luthiery involved
@victorludorum - Yes, it has been strung up for 3-4 days now and shows no sign of failing. Not the best sounding acoustic, and the action is too high for myself, but it is damn loud! Much louder than my own Brook 12-string.

Adam

victorludorum

Good job and well done

Kalimna

Thank you

ICBM

Nicely done. Is it a Seagull? I thought it might be, but couldn't quite tell in the original pics.

If so those are notorious for headstock breaks - Godin-family instruments are the second-worst after Gibson in my experience. The problem is exactly as you see there - the scarf joint is in the wrong place to add any strength at all, and if anything weakens the head.

Kalimna

ICBM said:

Nicely done. Is it a Seagull? I thought it might be, but couldn't quite tell in the original pics.

If so those are notorious for headstock breaks - Godin-family instruments are the second-worst after Gibson in my experience. The problem is exactly as you see there - the scarf joint is in the wrong place to add any strength at all, and if anything weakens the head.

Thank you - it's a Simon&Patrick, though im not sure if they have the same base company. But interestingly it's primarily a glue failure, not a wood failure.
Yes  I agree about the short grain orientation not improved with this scarf position, but fortunately that area of the neck remained unharmed.

Adam

ICBM

Kalimna said:

Thank you - it's a Simon&Patrick, though im not sure if they have the same base company. But interestingly it's primarily a glue failure, not a wood failure.
Yes  I agree about the short grain orientation not improved with this scarf position, but fortunately that area of the neck remained unharmed.

Yes, same company - they're both Godin brands.

I see about equal numbers of joint failures and short-grain wood breaks on them - maybe slightly more wood breaks. Just poor construction unfortunately.

If they're going to scarf-joint them, it should be done Ibanez-style where the headstock piece runs up under the fingerboard so the weak area has parallel grain - that's stronger than a one-piece neck if it's done right.

Kalimna

I thought that was the case with Godin, just wasnt sure.

Thats how I now do my scarf joints, on my home builds. So hopefully a bit stronger.

Cheers,
Adam