A friend of mine's son purchased a Yamaha 5 string Bass from a pawn shop and realized later it had a crack in the headstock. Returning the instrument is not an option.

The crack starts at the base of the upper half of the "spade shaped head" and radiates forward into the "E" string socket and then forward into the "A" socket getting thinner as it goes.

Attached is a photo. I mean to take better photos and color the fault line with a pencil mark so it shows up better. For now this is what I have. Suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance

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I remember when we were free!

The pic's helped oneal lane, thanks. It looks entirely repairable

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Your are not going to get glue in there so I would cut a biscuit slot across the crack and glue the biscuit in. Or you can drill a hole in from side and thru the crack and then fill with glue and press in a golf tee, sand even. I have actually done both with success for people.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

These are good suggestions.

I'd first just want to be sure we can't open up the crack a tiny bit though.

Oneal, is there any play in that crack at all? If you work it with your hand does it open a touch? Also, does the tuner go in and out the hole easily, or does pushing it in open the crack a fraction?

If the crack will open at all then we'd want to work some thin glue in there. Hot hide glue is the ideal for this, as on wood joins it is the strongest adhesive that exists, and also you can always add more if the joint ever opens more (though it almost definitely won't). Hide glue re-melts, and you can add new glue to old without having to clean the old glue away, unlike other adhesives.

If you don't have hide glue then watered down Franklin Titebond Original is the next best thing for the job. You want to add 20-30% water in order to make it runny enough to work its way far into the crack, and if there's any movement in the join at all you'd work the crack about a bit to draw the adhesive well in. Diluting it by that much won't hurt the strength of the final joint any.

One more thought. If there is no play in the crack whatsoever then I'm not sure any repair is necessary. You might as well leave it alone, at least until the crack gets bigger, at which time you can then carry out the mend as described.

There is no reason in the slightest a re-glued headstock can't be good forever more. For starters, the world is full of Les Paul headstocks that have cracked badly or even snapped right off, been re-glued and then functioned perfectly thereafter. Also, somewhere on this very website is a nice little video of Pete Townshend's tech talking about a time Pete threw his Strat across the stage at him. It landed on the headstock which broke clean in half along the line of the pegholes. The tech re-glued it and Pete carried on playing it for years - and Pete Townshend don't go easy on his guitars. If a glue join can stand his treatment it's good for anything!

Cheers - C

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Ceri,

The crack is quite stable and very tight. I do not think I could work any glue into it. At this point I am inclined to leave it alone and reassemble it and let him go ahead and play it and if the crack opens up in the future inject some glue at that time.

I tooks other photos and colored in the crack with pencil and orange carpenters crayon so it will show up better.

Thanks also to cvilleira for your suggestions.

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I remember when we were free!

Hm. Yes, then I think that's a reasonable plan.

Though something made that split start, and it may get worse: then you'll need to address it. I'm just wondering if a too tight tuner is what caused it in the first place. In that case a remedy can't wait - but let us know if that's the case because a fix for that is easy.

Otherwise, cvilleira's suggestion of a biscuit join is a good and professional one, though you need to know what you're doing with that.

Alternatively, you could see if you can open the crack a bit by pushing the handle of an artist type paint brush into the peghole - as the handle thickens down its shaft it will reach a point where it becomes tight, then a tiny bit more will open the crack. Just enough to get glue in though: any further will cause more damage. So take care if you go that route.

If you can leave it, that might be best!

Thanks for the excellent photos, by the way. That really helped.

Cheers - C

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I've heard it suggested that, as part of the manufacturing process, Gibson should just snap the heads off the Les Pauls and then re-glue them.

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In my opinion Leo Fender had essentially perfected the guitar amplifier by 1964.

I had a crack similar to that once, I used ceri's suggested "watered down Franklin Titebond" but I literally injected it inside the crack with a really tiny hypodermic needle. it is a slow process due to the viscosity of the mixture. but it works extremely well. just get the tiny needles for insulin at the pharmacy.
also If you go quick you can use some super thin Cyanoacrylate, like the extra thin CA glue from the "Hoby Shop's". but runs with that are a pain

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Hi mhowell: haha - that's what Ed Roman used to say!

Put it this way. I've rebuilt a couple of snapped Gibson headstocks and they never broke again.

(Well, far as I know, anyhow. Gosh, I hope that's right...!)

Cheers - C

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actually after looking closer. i think if you were to get a syringe that fit snug in the tuner screw hole you could probably force a thinned glue through the cracks. then after clean out the hole with a toothpick.

maybe

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Another way of opening the gap a little is to get a reasonably fitting rubber bung with a hole through it , put a washer either side after inserting it in the tuner peg hole , then put a bolt through it and attach a nut on the other side
As you tighten the nut and bolt, it will make the bung "Get fat" by squeezing it and start to open the crack
This method will enable precise tolerances while opening the crack for then injecting your glue

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Ted

"All right, guys, uh, listen. This is a blues riff in "B", watch me for the changes, and try and keep up, okay?"

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Gary

those nozzle extensions suck, they are really floppy, precision is complicated with those I tried them one time and tossed the rest

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I cut them shorter.

I build and fly RC planes. At least 60 so far.

My current.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_11167 ... ey_/tm.htm

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Gary

nice!

I am a helicopter guy myself, so CA applications need a really fine needle point precision.
I am not the best pilot so I use allot of it the problem I had with those floppy tips was, when i cut them short enough the opening was to wide for how thin glue i use is. the metal needle type tips always worked out the best for what i use them on. just toss them in acetone when finished and all is well.

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