Broken B-25 (mid 60’s-70’s)headstock

[Guy72]

Hello and thank you ,a few years back my old friend took a tumble while visiting my daughters house (playground ),headstock snapped relatively clean at the nut. Ive been told to scrap it but there’s a bond I share with it and honestly I don’t think I’d get another chance at an old Gibson like it...I live in Upstate NY and frankly I’m as far away from a reputable repair person as possible.Sooo any advice ? Or opinions?

[jedzep]

This is quite repairable, even if it needs a hidden reinforcing screw.

Upstate NY is a vast piece of real estate.  I live here, I know.  What larger town are you near?  I'm in a fairly remote region, Cooperstown area, and am pretty sure you can find a good guy for this repair.  A competent cabinet grade carpenter or furniture maker/ repair guy could do it, in fact.

The B-25 is a nice X-braced small bod.

Edited May 4, 2020 by jedzep

[j45nick]

2 minutes ago, jedzep said:

This is quite repairable, even if it needs a hidden reinforcing screw.

Upstate NY is huge.  I live here, I know.  What bigger town are you near?  I'm in a fairly remote region, Cooperstown area, and am pretty sure you can find a good guy for this repair.  A competent cabinet grade carpenter or furniture repair guy could do it, in fact.

 

2 minutes ago, jedzep said:

 

While this may be true, because this is a significant structural repair, it may be better to seek out a guitar repair person, who will have a better understanding of the loads the repair will need to withstand.

[jedzep]

I've seen them flubbed too.

[RBSinTo]

Get thee to a Luthier.

You wouldn't ask a Cardiologist instead of a Renal Surgeon to transplant a Kidney, even though they are both doctors, so why would you consider taking a guitar for repair to a Furniture-maker instead of a Luthier, even though they both work with wood?

Spend some time to find the right person for the job, if you want a guitar that is stable and playable when they're finished repairing it.

RBSinTo

[jedzep]

While a competent luthier would be ideal, the repair isn't comparable to, say, a neck reset, so it's a single task repair.  The phrase 'snapped relatively clean' would perhaps also hold some bearing on how the break is handled.  The ideal fix would be structurally load-bearing, where it's pulling from the front, so I'm pretty sure it would need a adequate strength reinforcement and awareness of any fulcrum effect left by whatever remains attached, and hopefully some good cosmetic razzle dazzle.  Tricky too, with the truss rod channel possibly exposed.  Pictures would be good.

It certainly seems to be more of a deal than clamp and glue.

[62burst]

Jedzep is not exaggerating. . . Upstate NY does cover a lot of real estate:

. . . and there is some very skilled vintage guitar repair to be found within 90 minutes of areas considered Upstate. A photo or two uploaded to imgur & posted here would allow us armchair luthiers to make a guess as to the possibility of a successful repair. Broken near the nut? You'll want to make sure you still have a functioning truss rod when it gets back to you. 

 

[zombywoof]

Everything is fixable.  I repaired a broken headstock myself. - on a mid-1960s Harmony Sovereign   Not all that difficult.  To do it properly you would need to add some reinforcement.  But yeah, it is a lot easier to have somebody else do it.  In this case I had two other Sovereigns and really did not want to spend any money on the guitar.  I figured if it held great.  If not then I was right back where I started.  

Edited May 4, 2020 by zombywoof

[QuestionMark]

About 15 years ago I dropped my 1972 SJD.  First time I ever had a guitar go dead on me, meaning the headstock broke off right before the first fret, making the guitar unplayable.  Despite it basically being declared dead by me, I contacted a local authorized Gibson repairman (they are all listed somewhere on the Gibson website.)  He had me bring the guitar and it’s headstock to his house.  Once there he quoted me $100 to fix it.    Said the headstock break was at a place where it was relatively easy for him to reattach and fix.   Three weeks later he called me up and told me to pick up the repaired guitar.  The bill was $100 and he promised me that I ever drop the guitar again it probably will break someone other than at the spot where he repaired the headstock, saying with the repair, that particular spot was now stronger than it ever was.  15 years later the guitar is still doing fine.  And, yet I thought it once dead.  And, now it has a repaired battle scar that, as you can tell, I occasionally like at times to share its war story of once having had a broken headstock.  (Also, about how I’ll never drop a guitar, again.)

So my advice is to search the Gibson website for a list of authorized repairman by you and contact him.  
 

QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff

 

[Guy72]

I’m gonna try the Luthier  in scotia NY thanks Guys ,Jed I’m in Glens Falls ,I drive regularly to Utica ,love driving through Cooperstown ....I tried to post pics but I’m not being permitted due to file size ,I only tried 1 too ,PS this forum is great  ADK’er fer life

Edited May 12, 2020 by Guy72
Just modified

[jedzep]

Glad to hear. Steve's site was down for a bit, but it's up now, I think.  If not, I can give you his #.

I joined the site Imgur, free to load resized images, then direct copy to this site.