Headstock Repairs - More on Reinforcement
So we've looked at a neck repair with an overlay for reinforcement. Let's have a look at the other main method of reinforcing a broken headstock: Splines. In guitar repair circles, splines are long (relatively speaking) narrow pieces of wood that are glued into corresponding channels to provide additional strength.
The first repair is the important one.
Remember these wise words. If the first one fails, it usually complicates any subsequent repair. This guitar arrived in the workshop with its headstock flapping about, held on by only some gummy bits of glue. There was a LOT of residue to clean up. Too much, really. Any glue I apply to repair this break needs to make a good contact with the wood. New glue, trying to grip a film of old glue is a recipe for a poor repair.
Even after cleaning up much of the earlier stuff, I felt some reinforcement was necessary to ensure a sound and lasting repair.
As it happens, the diamond-style volute on this instrument provided me with the perfect idea for reinforcing things. I can rout a channel through that and carve the spline to the same diamond shape. Nice and discreet. Splendid.
First up, I have to keep the truss-rod in mind. I don't want to accidentally rout into a hunk of metal. The magnet on the back of the neck tells me where the rod ends. I note that and get on with getting things back in one piece.
You can see the diamond volute pretty clearly above. I'm not going to take the whole diamond—I'll effectively rout a channel through it and farther along the neck (past the break).
It's an easy job to shape a piece of mahogany (the spline) to fit this channel. Then a little carving will replicate the original shape. Clean up, slap on a bit of lacquer and we should be able to avoid any more strings of gummy glue.