Crack in headstock veneer

[Chris Tremble]

G'day,
Ive been working on a build for awhile and had put it aside. I went to work on it again and dicovered a crack in the veneer from the truss rod access hole up to an inlay id put in.
Any advice on covering this up?
Chris Tremble

[Michael Lewis]

A clear pic would help to assess this.

Do you think the wood was damp when glued on and shrank afterward? Or was there a fissure in the wood you didn't see?

[Chris Tremble]

Here is a picture. After I glued the veneer on the headstock, I planed an angle where it met the fingerboard. It turned out nice until I made the access hole to adjust the truss rod. A very fine crack appeared. It gets quiet hot in my workshop and the heat has made the crack longer and wider.
Sorry, can't post a picture. It keeps saying the files too big!
Very frustrating.

[Jim McConkey]

Read our Photo FAQ for hints on how to reduce the size of your images. I personally use and recommend Irfanview. If you get all the add-ins (all free), you specify what size you want the file to be and it will compress to whatever level is necessary to achieve the desired size.

[Chris Tremble]

As described above.

[Michael Lewis]

That appears to have shrunk, was most probably higher moisture content in the wood than advisable. If you have more of that wood you can inlay a small strip in the crack area. I know it's fiddly and time consuming but it can camouflage the crack if done cleanly.

Next time make sure the wood is fully seasoned and dry. Blasting a hair drier over the overlay piece for a minute just before gluing is generally a help.

[Chris Tremble]

Thanks Michael, and thanks Jim for the advise on posting an image.
I do have more of the same wood and don't mind the tricky fix. Do you think I could carefully route along the crack to make in laying easier or would that be fraught with danger?

[Warren May]

Looks like most of it would be hidden by the truss rod cover. Filling with matching wood would work but if you are going to route a channel then I would think about using it to advantage and make it look like part of your design as a center stripe. Maybe use black/white/black strips with a piece of your original wood sandwiched between. Just stop well short of your inlay when routing and you should be okay, I feel.

A picture of the whole headstock would be nice to see.

[Chris Tremble]

Thanks Warren. Here's a picture of the headstock and the fingerboard. I was thinking about continuing the vine inlay onto the headstock to cover the crack perhaps.