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Hi all, first time posting. I've been reading past posts for the last few weeks and am very impressed with the level of expertice on this site. I'm especially impressed as a cabinetmaker of the ingenious jigs you guys come up with. I know I'll get some good advise here.I build custom period furniture and cabinets professionaly, by way of intros. I'm also a lifelong picker and someone well versed in basic setup and repair. Recently I've started doing more ambitious repairs.I'm in the middle of rebuilding a '54 Gretsch Syncromatic archtop. It's condition was pretty rough, looks to have been in some hot storage areas. I'm about to put it back together, but need to address the headstock. As you can see in the photo, apparently the overlay on the headstock has shrunk, causing the head to cup, almost 3/16'' if you lay a flatedge across the head. The wings of the head are split along the glueline. The center glueline has opened up from the top to about the nut. My idea is to remove overlay, remove wings, reglue center split, reglue wings, replace overlay. My first question, is this a good plan. Second, how to remove overlay without destoying it, something I want to avoid at all cost. It appears to be plastic, so the idea of using heat has me concerned. Third, I'm not sure at this point that I can close up the center split and make it hold. The split looks to be old. I use HHG for most repairs.Is this a good choice here? Should I think of a compromise by using a wedge shaped dutchman and live with a somewhat cupped headstock?
Any advise is much appreciated.

I rebuilt a Gretsch Anniversary model once but it wasn't in that bad of shape. If you are planning on keeping the dark finish, then I would recommend fairly major surgery to get the headstock joints back in shape. Remove the headstock veneer cold with a thinned and rounded putty knife. Then, I would route or saw a kerf down the middle of the headstock (stopping short of the truss rod). Make the slot about 1/8 or 1/4" wide. Then glue in a spline of new wood. This technique will expose fresh wood to get a good joint. HHG is preferred. The ears probably need a similar treatment, although you wouldn't route the joint. Just take them off, cleanup the joint with a handplane, determine how much wood to add back in and glue it up. Do a full refinish of the headstock and part of the neck, or you could just refinish the whole neck.

Thanks for the tips Barry. It's something to think about. The idea of the spline could work as I intend to restore the original look of the finish. But what about the cup, would you leave it as is, or draw it tight before routing for the spline, so that when reglued it would be close to flat? I suppose another possibility would be to do that, then joint the face flat, glue veneer the thickness that was lost from flattening, then replace the headstock overlay.
Also on a side note, I tried to turn the truss rod nut and realize it's smaller than my smallest(1/4'') truss rod wrench. Anyone know what size it is and where I can get one that small?

Regarding the cup, try to flatten that before you rejoint and rebuild the headstock. A little moisture and heat, and clamping to a flat board for several days may help. Then if necessary, mill it flat and add wood back in to make up the loss.

I am not sure what size the truss rod nut is. Do you have a set of nut drivers?

Barry,
I'll proceed with your recommendation. As to nut drivers, just the three sizes stew mac sells, the smallest which is 1/4''. This one is smaller than that. I'll have to see if I can find a 3/16'' somewhere and see if that's it.