Talkin Headstock Repair

[Fedora]

Been dreaming of a 12 string acoustic for some time. No dough though!!
I ran across this one at the MF website. They called it "salvage", "only good for parts". Takamine EG 535. Salvage! Hey I can fix that! They had it listed for $180 so I called to see if I could get it for less. The guy I talked with said the only way he could lower it, is by a price match, ya OK!! So I went back online and put it in my cart and the price came up $140 with free shipping. Hey, good enough.


Pretty busted up, but the fretboard was intact as well as the truss rod.
So I got everything lined up and clamped down. The headstock is located using a couple of dowels in the tuner holes.

Cut away all the splintered stuff and made a block to epoxy in.

And I forgot to take pics of the shaving and smoothing steps.
So here it is. Had to do a blend in to opaque because the new mahogany block was no where close to the original neck wood.


I also added that "volute" thing to strengthen the joint between the headstock and the new wood. You can see that is a pretty steep angle, not much glue surface there. There are also 2 carbon fiber splines under that "volute"
And there we go. An excellent 12 stringer for not alot of dough!
Salvage indeed!

[DanD]

Now that's a serious neck repair! Most excellent work there.

My finishing skills are no where near up to that task. But I'm working towards it, sloooowly...

[hippiebob01]

Looks like a top-notch job to me, Fedora! Nice! Good score, BTW.

[boobtube21]

Whoa. I thought the first pic was a CL listing, I was gonna say I would pass, looks too difficult. How's that foot taste Boobtube?

Nice work. Big job, and it looks like you nailed it Fedora.

[Fedora]

Thanks much gents! I have it strung up with extra lights just to see how things go. Seems to be behaving well. It plays and sounds great so I don't see any reason to go with heavier strings.
If I would have looked at this as a "major guitar repair" I may have thought, no way. I approached this as a "woodworking" project. I have plenty of confidence in my woodworking abilities.
Actually for me the toughest part was making a new nut, with nothing to go by. Blew the first one, the second is close enough for now. some day I'll go for the third and make a few adjustments to the spacing.
Now I'll get to work on a proper cover I've been wanting to do for long time, but never had the 12 string to do with.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t00MXZKbW0M
Cheers

[Gravity Jim]

Whoah! A guitar repair ninja!

[NeoFauve]

Wow. That looks very salvaged.
Nice work.
How much time did you put into it?

Maybe I should snap the headstock off of my Yamaha.

[NTBluesGuitar]

Damn fine work, sir!

[Timbo]

Well done, looks great

[curtisstetka]

Yeah, that's some amazing stuff. I'm quite impressed. "Woodworking" is one thing, "instrument repair" requires much, much tighter tolerances. Nicely done!

[stratcat55]

Yow! Very sweet repair.

[boobtube21]

Maybe I should snap the headstock off of my Yamaha.

You're right, it does look like fun. Where's my ES335...