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

January 29, 2015

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.

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

January 22, 2015

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

January 11, 2015

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.

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2003 Gibson Les Paul Double Cut Faded :: bad kitty

January 11, 2015

2003 Gibson Les Paul Double Cut Faded :: bad kitty

Yet another broken Gibson headstock on the bench. This one was caused by a player's cat knocking the guitar over. Worse is that he was there to witness the whole thing happen. Bad kitty. As far as Gibson head breaks go, these ones are usually straight forward as it is still attached with no missing pieces (but it has been broken for about a year so the pieces might not line up perfectly - we'll see).

For an example of a nasty break, see the '65 Epiphone Olympic.