Broken headstock & upgrades :: 1992 Gibson Les Paul [7.7 lbs]

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Broken headstock & upgrades :: 1992 Gibson Les Paul [7.7 lbs]

Another Gibson, another broken headstock. The neck break was repaired along with an odd break in the control cavity.  While the guitar was in the shop, the player decided to make a few upgrades, including a Tonepros bridge, amber bell knobs and cream appointments (pickup rings, switch plate, output jack plate - all originally black).  The player will be swapping out the Dimarzio "Mega Drive" (DP107) bridge pickup himself for a classic '57.  In order to cosmetically match the new pickup, the player had me install a gold cover on the neck pickup.

Below is the headstock repair.  We opted for no finish touch ups, so I just wet sanded and buffed the area to improve the feel.

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Broken headstock glue-up :: 1992 Gibson Les Paul

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Broken headstock glue-up :: 1992 Gibson Les Paul

Another Gibson headstock repair in progress.  The break was clamped up with hot hide glue.  You can see the initial break here.

Gibson's in for repairs recently :: LP Double Cut & SG

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Gibson's in for repairs recently :: LP Double Cut & SG

I've had quite a few back-to-back Gibson repairs in the shop lately.  The  2003 Les Paul Double Cut Faded was in for a broken headstock and the 2001 SG most recently was in for a broken strap button.  Not pictured above was a 2002 ES-333 for an intermittent pickup and broken tuners.  Coincidentally, all three of these guitars had their broken headstocks repaired at some point.

2003 Gibson Les Paul Double Cut Faded [7.0 lbs] :: headstock break

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2003 Gibson Les Paul Double Cut Faded [7.0 lbs] :: headstock break

This was a classic Gibson headstock break repair.  Photos of the initial break here and photos of the clamping setup here.

Below is the repaired headstock without any finish touchups.  Note that this break happened one year ago and was just repaired last week.  I'm very happy with how well the break closed.

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2003 Gibson Les Paul Double Cut Faded :: head break glue-up

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2003 Gibson Les Paul Double Cut Faded :: head break glue-up.

This classic Gibson headstock break (shown here) has been hide glued and clamped.  I like to start with the guitar face down in the vise to quickly apply the glue and clamps before flipping the guitar over as shown above.  Flipping the guitar over allows the weight of the clamps to help pull the joint closed a little tighter.