This SG with busted headstock might make a nice project

Iamnobody

For the competent DIYer?

Assuming the break isn't too bad which I'm sure one of our forum experts will chip in to discuss.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=231598266184

If you could get it with a sub £400 offer

stickyfiddle

Definitely shouldn't go above 400, tho who knows with muppet buyers on eBay these days. I only paid 380 for my neck-breaked Std AFTER repair!

Elwood

If it's been repaired and broken again it could be really destroyed. I'm sure Wez can fill in the specifics but it sounds bad.

ICBM

Don't buy it. There is a reason it's broken twice.

Just look at the angle of the break line - that neck was made from a piece of wood with the grain running in the wrong direction at the weakest point. It was never strong, and never will be even if properly repaired - unless you went to really extreme lengths like removing the headstock face and fingerboard, and fitting carbon fibre inserts like Feline Guitars did on the Judas Priest one - and that was a new neck too.

Gibson necks vary a lot in strength due to this reason.

Iamnobody

ICBM;676069" said:

Don't buy it. There is a reason it's broken twice.

Just look at the angle of the break line - that neck was made from a piece of wood with the grain running in the wrong direction at the weakest point. It was never strong, and never will be even if properly repaired - unless you went to really extreme lengths like removing the headstock face and fingerboard, and fitting carbon fibre inserts like Feline Guitars did on the Judas Priest one - and that was a new neck too.

Gibson necks vary a lot in strength due to this reason.

See I knew you would be along with the knowledge!

Rox

I think the fact he said the neck cracked simply by installing heavier gauge strings is a real red flag.  If the flag could blot out the sun and send us into premature winter, it still wouldn't be as big as this red flag...

Imagine if your car broke structurally because you changed your tyres.  That would be called a manufacturing defect.  It'd be a scandal.

That guitar was not fit for purpose.

And it makes me cross because the chap that bought it now has to sell it cheap because the guitar wasn't strong enough to withstand a string change.  Ridiculous.

Iamnobody

I wouldn't agree. If it was only glued and not very well then just the tension of strings 'might' cause it to break.

If this was correctly reinforced and repaired I think it would be salvageable. And stronger after!

Whether this one is worth it is probably the question?

ICBM

According to the description the *first* break was due to a string change. That is believable given the angle of the break.

It really beats me why Gibson don't take even the slightest care to pick pieces of wood with the grain roughly in the right direction to make this notoriously weak area less prone to breaking. This one is even worse than a straight-grained piece - the grain actually goes slightly the *wrong* way, making the grain lines even shorter.

No, actually it doesn't - they just don't care. At all. If they did, they'd find a better way of making them so they were stronger in the first place.

In my opinion it always pays to check this - among a few other things - if you're thinking of buying a Gibson. Ones with the grain following the curve of the head to some extent can be really quite strong, ones like this are a break waiting to happen from the day they're made.

Not long ago I passed on a nice '52 Reissue Les Paul for exactly this reason. I heard later that the next owner had the head break when the guitar slipped sideways on a sofa - not onto the floor, just onto the sofa itself.

Yes, in theory you could repair it strongly enough to be fairly robust - at the minimum, you'd have to inset two deep and long splints into the back of the neck, preferably of maple or a similarly stronger wood, then completely refinish over the area or the repair would be highly visible. That's not a cheap job if you pay a luthier to do it - in the region of £200 or more usually - and will still devalue the guitar heavily since a refinish would have to be opaque to disguise the repair and hence still make it fairly obvious.

Rox

Iamnobody said:

I wouldn't agree. If it was only glued and not very well then just the tension of strings 'might' cause it to break.

If this was correctly reinforced and repaired I think it would be salvageable. And stronger after!

Whether this one is worth it is probably the question?

According to the listing, the crack was caused by the heavier gauge strings BEFORE it broke, not after.

A previously fine neck shouldn't crack because of heavier gauge strings.

Iamnobody

That's what I meant a poorly glued break could break again under string tension. I probably misinterpreted the listing!

Rox

Absolutely... But let's be honest, a neck shouldn't crack like that just because you've installed heavier strings - hence that particular guitar not fit for purpose. 

Moe_Zambeek

I had a bendy necked SG recently that showed an alarmingly mobile headstock (amongst other issues). It had a similar grain line through that area. Sounded good but I took the advice of an expert from this parish and returned it under warranty...

hobbio

That sold for £455, it seems like a lot to me.