Well that just happened....

[culturejam]

Damn, that sucks!

If it were me, I'd go to a luthier. But I don't know what your woodworking skill level is. Mine level is "the suck".

[alanp]

The break is clean, nothing is missing and after removing all of the tuners the head stock fits back on like a glove. I have not used any luthiers in my area and am also tentative letting anyone touch my babies.

From what I've heard, it's best to get this professionally fixed by someone who genuinely groks what to do.

Also, not good to touch the bare wood -- if your finger oils get worked in, pre-glue, or the wood grains get bent or damaged, I've been told that it adversely affects the strength of the fixed headstock.

[Muadzin]

Any one ever fix something like this?

Probably just about every luthier ever? I reckon that luthiers are able to put their kids into college from repairing broken Gibson headstocks alone. 

That spot is really weak on Gibsons, and they frequently break there so I'm sure most luthier's have fixed tons of them.

Ye olde broken Gibson headstock. That's what you get for making the whole neck out of a single piece of wood. Broken headstocks and incredible waste of wood. Bad for the customer, bad for the environment. But, that's how it was done in the 1950's, and as everyone knows that's how they got it right the first time so that is how it should be done for ever and ever. As Gibson learned the hard way with their last models. Any deviation from the original design and guitarists start to whine.

[timbo_93631]

I feel terrible for him, I just hung up the phone and went "uggh that happened". I just picked him up and told him it was an accident, no big deal.

Guitars get broken and get fixed.  A Gibson headstock popping off is nothing too exciting despite the gore; however, keeping cool and caring more about your boy, that is solid parenting.  Great job man!

[pickdropper]

I feel terrible for him, I just hung up the phone and went "uggh that happened". I just picked him up and told him it was an accident, no big deal.

Guitars get broken and get fixed.  A Gibson headstock popping off is nothing too exciting despite the gore; however, keeping cool and caring more about your boy, that is solid parenting.  Great job man!

Yeah, no kidding.  I'd be terribly bummed out if that happened to one of my Gibsons.  Good for you for putting your son's feelings above the disappointment.

[matmosphere]

Any one ever fix something like this?

Probably just about every luthier ever? I reckon that luthiers are able to put their kids into college from repairing broken Gibson headstocks alone. 

That spot is really weak on Gibsons, and they frequently break there so I'm sure most luthier's have fixed tons of them.

Ye olde broken Gibson headstock. That's what you get for making the whole neck out of a single piece of wood. Broken headstocks and incredible waste of wood. Bad for the customer, bad for the environment. But, that's how it was done in the 1950's, and as everyone knows that's how they got it right the first time so that is how it should be done for ever and ever. As Gibson learned the hard way with their last models. Any deviation from the original design and guitarists start to whine.

The part that is really ironic to me is that epiphones have 2 piece necks. So Gibson addressed the problem for their cheap guitars but not for the 3-4K ones.

[jjjimi84]

I feel terrible for him, I just hung up the phone and went "uggh that happened". I just picked him up and told him it was an accident, no big deal.

Guitars get broken and get fixed.  A Gibson headstock popping off is nothing too exciting despite the gore; however, keeping cool and caring more about your boy, that is solid parenting.  Great job man!

Yeah, no kidding.  I'd be terribly bummed out if that happened to one of my Gibsons.  Good for you for putting your son's feelings above the disappointment.

Wow thank you! Being a father is super important to me and how can I get mad, shit happens. As I looked more into this (and as others have noted) it is so common and above my fine woodworking skills. I stripped the guitar down to just the wood, bagged and tagged everything and called a luthier. I am bringing it in today and going to see what he can do. I am also considering swapping this over to p-90s and taking a look at the collectiin of eastman guitars they have in stock.

Although this may be a little expensive, maybe I find the 335 style guitar I have been saving for.

I'll keep you all posted.

[dan.schumaker]

Knowing my boy, he probably would have felt worse about it than me!  Way to go keeping whats important important!  And if anything, when it gets fixed and he gets older, it will be a fun story to tell him (and maybe have him bring back up when he does worse to the car  )

[Muadzin]

Guitars get broken and get fixed.  A Gibson headstock popping off is nothing too exciting despite the gore

Chances are it might come out even stronger then before, as the right glue can be even stronger then the original wood. And some luthiers have become really good at fixing Gibson necks, to the point that you can't even see where it broke. Practice makes perfect. 

It could even be a good thing, now you know it already happened. No more having to worry when it will happen.

The part that is really ironic to me is that epiphones have 2 piece necks. So Gibson addressed the problem for their cheap guitars but not for the 3-4K ones.

Could be a question of money? A large piece of quality wood to rout a complete neck out costing more then making a 2 piece neck out of less wood?

[trailer]

I have a 70's era LP and it had this happen twice. This all happened before I got the guitar. The first time it was repaired poorly and I think was the main contributor to the second break. Anybody have a ballpark idea of what this repair generally runs?

[jjjimi84]

I have a 70's era LP and it had this happen twice. This all happened before I got the guitar. The first time it was repaired poorly and I think was the main contributor to the second break. Anybody have a ballpark idea of what this repair generally runs?

The qoute i was given was 75 dollars just to get it playable again. If I wanted more cosmetic work it could get into the 150 range. If the break is bad enough where rods are needed for support it could be up to 250.

Knowing my boy, he probably would have felt worse about it than me!  Way to go keeping whats important important!  And if anything, when it gets fixed and he gets older, it will be a fun story to tell him (and maybe have him bring back up when he does worse to the car  )

There is a long story about this guitar but it was purchased when my son was born and was/is played when he was a little baby. I look forward to telling him the whole thing when he gets older.

[trailer]

I have a 70's era LP and it had this happen twice. This all happened before I got the guitar. The first time it was repaired poorly and I think was the main contributor to the second break. Anybody have a ballpark idea of what this repair generally runs?

The qoute i was given was 75 dollars just to get it playable again. If I wanted more cosmetic work it could get into the 150 range. If the break is bad enough where rods are needed for support it could be up to 250.
[/quote]

Damn! That is way cheaper than I would have ever expected. I guess I'm going to have a Les Paul in my arsenal!

[pickdropper]

I have a 70's era LP and it had this happen twice. This all happened before I got the guitar. The first time it was repaired poorly and I think was the main contributor to the second break. Anybody have a ballpark idea of what this repair generally runs?

The qoute i was given was 75 dollars just to get it playable again. If I wanted more cosmetic work it could get into the 150 range. If the break is bad enough where rods are needed for support it could be up to 250.

Knowing my boy, he probably would have felt worse about it than me!  Way to go keeping whats important important!  And if anything, when it gets fixed and he gets older, it will be a fun story to tell him (and maybe have him bring back up when he does worse to the car  )

There is a long story about this guitar but it was purchased when my son was born and was/is played when he was a little baby. I look forward to telling him the whole thing when he gets older.

Pricing sounds about right based on what I've heard.  Gluing/clamping isn't too hard for a seasoned vet, but it does take more work to make it invisible.

If it were mine, I'd probably spend more and make it visually unobtrusive, but I can understand why many wouldn't care about that.

[pickdropper]

Guitars get broken and get fixed.  A Gibson headstock popping off is nothing too exciting despite the gore

Chances are it might come out even stronger then before, as the right glue can be even stronger then the original wood. And some luthiers have become really good at fixing Gibson necks, to the point that you can't even see where it broke. Practice makes perfect. 

It could even be a good thing, now you know it already happened. No more having to worry when it will happen.

The part that is really ironic to me is that epiphones have 2 piece necks. So Gibson addressed the problem for their cheap guitars but not for the 3-4K ones.

Could be a question of money? A large piece of quality wood to rout a complete neck out costing more then making a 2 piece neck out of less wood?

I think it's a reasonable assumption that they use a scarf joint on Epiphones because they are cheaper to implement more so than because they view it as a fix for a long-standing Gibson problem.

Gibson's greatest challenge is that they have to do things a certain way because many of their customers are traditionalists by nature.

There's nothing inherently bad about a scarf joint, though.  They are commonly used in classical guitar building, even on extremely expensive designs (Hausers, for ex).

[jkokura]

Gibson's greatest challenge is that they have to do things a certain way because many of their customers are traditionalists by nature.

And not just in regards to necks. They've got multiple issues what other companies (PRS for example) have eliminated from their designs that make for superior instruments, but Gibson has to keep doing the same old, same old, because every time they've tried to improve, sales have proven that customers don't want that from them.

Jacob