64 Texan

[cunningham26]

Hey Guys,

I got a lead on an original-from-what-i-can-tell 64 texan that has had a "few pro repairs" including a split heel and a neck reset. Ive never even seen a split heel before...what effect is it going to have on the sound/playability/contruction?

 

he's asking a pretty amazing price on it, but don't want to get into something that's more glue that guit at this point

[RIX]

If the repair work was done correctly, it should have no negative effect on the sound or playability of the guitar. Now just how was the neck heel split and how and what he use to repair it is the question. I won't buy without knowing that and without playing it first. Hope that helps.

[Jon S.]

If the repair work was done correctly, it should have no negative effect on the sound or playability of the guitar. Now just how was the neck heel split and how and what he use to repair it is the question. I won't buy without knowing that and without playing it first. Hope that helps.

 

 

+1. I'd have a good tech check it out before you buy it(if possible) to make sure the repairs were done right.

[Red 333]

I'm going to guess that the heel got split during the neck reset somehow.

 

Red 333

[TommyK]

Probably the neck is a muli-part neck, i.e.

 

View the neck from the side. Imagine it is made of 2 or 3 thicknesses of wood, glued together, then cut out. There will be one or two seams between the fingerboard and the tip of the heel. This joint sometimes separates. This is a common occurrence for old and dried out guitars. Sometimes, ill trained repairers (someone not trained in the fine art of luthiery) will run a wood screw up from the heel cap to reattach the heel. This is not a good repair. A good repair will not readily be visible. Take a gander at the heel, notice that there is a distinct margin between the wood grains revealing the different pieces of wood. If it is a good repair, you won't be able to see any gaps or misalignment. The glue of choice is hide glue which should be nearly invisible. This usually begets new finish to the neck or just in the heel area. Often times a heel reattachment requires removal of the entire neck, which is re-set to a proper angle when reinstalled.

 

If it is a quality repair, it should be as good or better than when it left the factory.

 

If the heel is split in any other way, i.e. someone ran a screw up through it and it split from the tip of the heel into the neck like stove wood, this is abuse and hard to fix properly.