Thunderbird headstock repair

godofthunder · January 17, 2009, 11:24:28 AM

I bought this off ebay a while ago. the buyer said the headstock repair was stable, well it wasn't took, me awhile to get to it but I glued it up today. I used a razor knife and some string tension to get it apart. it broke cleanly down the glue joint. I cleaned the joint and scored the two surfaces for better adhesion. mixed up a little West systems epoxy and clamped her up.

godofthunder · January 17, 2009, 11:33:15 AM

As I got it.

sniper · January 17, 2009, 12:02:23 PM

looks like you definately saved a player Scott. good work.

reminds me i have to go set an intonation today.

Muzikman7 · January 17, 2009, 06:08:17 PM

Good work Scott, are you going to refinish it?

Blazer · January 17, 2009, 06:14:33 PM

Quote from: Muzikman7 on January 17, 2009, 06:08:17 PM
Good work Scott, are you going to refinish it?

Nah, I ought to keep it the way it is, it's such a cool looking bass that really has lived and the overall look of the instrument really adds to the MOJO.

godofthunder · January 18, 2009, 05:34:48 AM

At first I was going to refinish it but at this point I'm thinking about keeping it as is. The way things are going there will be no NR IIs left in original finish. We seem to want nice shinny Gibsons but beat up Fenders LMAO

drbassman · January 18, 2009, 06:54:45 AM

I agree Scott, keeping things original once in awhile is a good thing.

godofthunder · January 18, 2009, 08:02:17 AM

i was going to redo the headstock in Mahogany but who ever made the replacement headstock did a really nice job. At first I thought it was made of maple but it sands much easier,not sure what it's made of. The glue joint just failed, almost looks like he used hide glue, maybe why the joint failed.

drbassman · January 18, 2009, 09:41:24 AM

Yeah, I've decided to stay away from hide glue. While it's forgiving and easy to undo, it also is more temperamental than Tite Bond.

I've been going toward less messing with the finishes on my vintage basses. I decided not to do anything to my 67 Coronado and my 68 Mosrite Celebrity bodies. I just polished them up and left the nicks and dings. I did redo the back of the Coronado neck, it was a total mess of huge cracks and finish falling off and exposing wood. That's when I usually dive in, if there's a large portion of wood showing. Otherwise, I'm appreciating the vintage look more and more these days.

I guess I could have left the NR TB in my avatar as it came to me. That would have been interesting!!!!!!!!

hollowbody · January 18, 2009, 10:16:49 AM

Hide glue shouldn't have been a problem. I use it every day on fiddles. The big thing about hide glue is that it is not a gap filler. You need a perfect joint or it will likely fail. I'd use it over yellow glues any day.

drbassman · January 18, 2009, 10:23:39 AM

Quote from: hollowbody on January 18, 2009, 10:16:49 AM
Hide glue shouldn't have been a problem. I use it every day on fiddles. The big thing about hide glue is that it is not a gap filler. You need a perfect joint or it will likely fail. I'd use it over yellow glues any day.

Makes sense. We tend to stay with what works and I've never had a Tite Bond joint fail and many of my joint, especially breaks needing repair, haven't been perfect and couldn't be made so.

godofthunder · January 18, 2009, 11:33:10 AM

Hide glue doesn't tolerate heat and moisture well, for some applications it's fine. I wouldn't use it on headstock repair. I was torn between Tite Bond or West System. West System holds my boat mast together so it won out

hollowbody · January 18, 2009, 11:48:00 AM

Actually it holds up better to heat than Titebond. Yellow glues will creep under heat and stresses such as a headstock. Another big advantage if hide is that it has a low shock point, meaning it will let go at the glue line if you would drop the bass. Usually it won't deviate from the original break so you don't have top deal with additional break lines. With Titebond or epoxy the break could be anywhere.

In any event, I just wanted to stick up for hide glue a little bit. It takes some getting used to but it's a fantastic glue. And yes, I've used Titebond and epoxy for all kinds of repairs. I'd probably use epoxy on the headstock just as you did.

hollowbody · January 18, 2009, 11:50:58 AM

Also, I wouldn't refinish that great looking bass! Think of how many years you'd have to play it to get it looking that cool...

Dave W · January 18, 2009, 05:31:52 PM

Yellow glues aren't gap-filling either.

Hide glue is great for certain things, not for others. It's especially good where you can't clamp solidly like you need to with yellow glue. But I would never use it for a headstock repair on a steel stringed guitar or bass. A neck under 100-plus pounds of tension needs some elasticity, and hide glue doesn't have it.

Thunderbird headstock repair

Blazer