Official Luthiers Forum!

Good morning!

First off, long time lurker, recently registered... I've learned a ton from this forum!

I've had this guitar since 1995, when I bought it from a classmate at tech college for a small amount. The cracks were already there when I bought it, and I've never had it strung up since I've owned it.

Basically, at the "front" of the guitar around the neck block, the string tension has apparently pulled the neck block, along with the sides back towards the bridge. The sides are separated from the top for about three-four inches on either side of the neck. First I want to get the neck block braced/clamped back into place, then I want to gently push the top area between the pickup, and the neck, where you can see a distinct curve (and crack) back straight. Once they are stable, I plan to glue (is titebond the right thing to use here?) the top down to the sides.

I was thinking of using a turnbuckle inside the guitar against the tailblock to push the neck back into place, but I'm not sure that's the right way to go. The other thought is to lay the body on it's back elevating slightly, the neck area, then using a piece of wood bolted where the neck mounts, weight both the tailblock area, and the piece of wood, effectively levering (reversing) the damage back... this seems like a better plan... sort of. But I'm looking for input.

I've decided since it's so far gone, and it would be far too costly to hire someone to fix it, to try my hand at fixing the problems. I'm looking for suggestions on how to push/pull the sides of the body around the neck area back flush with the top binding. Any thoughts are wecomed!

Thanks in advance,

-Ben

I repaired one of those many years ago with the exact same problem. The design is poor because there is little wood resisting the pull of the neck. It is fairly easy to work glue into the cracks and then pull down on the neck mortise until everything lines up. However, you need to add reinforcement to keep it from breaking again. I actually drilled a hole through the mortise and epoxied in a 3/8" diameter steel rod that extended all the way down to the tail block. Kind of a crazy repair, but it was the only thing I could think of and it did seem to fix the problem. If I had to do it again, I would probably use a wood dowel for the reinforcement or a hollow graphite rod.

Thanks Barry, I wouldn't have thought of that! How did you push the sides back into place, prior to epoxying the rod in?

-Ben