Great expectations

[Peter Wilcox]

A friend of a friend wants me to fix his guitar so it's playable. Apparently his most pressing desires are for new tuners and "can you put some varnish over the pictures to protect them (it's a family heirloom)." Oh, and fix the neck. Should be interesting.

[Eric Crawford]

That looks like a challenge!
Hopefully “Playable “ is subjective and loosely defined.

[JC Whitney]

Please, oh please post some “after” shots when you get across the finish line (whatever that may be).

[Jim McConkey]

Peter, I did a very similar repairs years ago, except the head was somehow lost after some "sat" on the guitar. Very low tech, but the proof is in the pudding: https://www.mimf.com/old-lib/replace_peghead.htm There may be other similar repairs in the Library as well. The job at first appears far more daunting than it actually is. Give it a go!

[Peter Wilcox]

Hi Jim - I already did one of these a couple of years ago, and you sent me the link in that thread too.
https://www.mimf.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6172

For this one attaching the head stock is the easiest part. It had separated along the glue lines of the scarf joint and the fret board, with essentially no wood damage. I scraped off some of the remaining glue as best I could - seems much of the scarf joint didn't even have any - and shoved it back in coated with glue and clamped.

The hard part of this is going to be the action. A straight edge along the frets hits the bridge about 1/8" above the top (which has bellied up of course), so I need to decide how to fix this. It's a cheap Chinese Harmony guitar, so the less effort the better. Not going to try to reset the neck, and maybe shave the bridge and saddle some to get the action down a little. The neck is a little wavey, not too bad, and it has a square non-adjustable truss rod, so I'll just leave it alone or level a few frets if needed.

[Barry Daniels]

Might be a good candidate for a Bridge Doctor.

[Pat Foster]

Might be a good candidate for a Bridge Doctor.

... and a Neck Doctor and a Finish Doctor. ; )

[Peter Wilcox]

I was going to mickey-mouse one and call it the Bridge Nurse Practitioner.

I had a conversation with the owner, and convinced him that although I'd make it somewhat playable, that because it's a cheap guitar, covered with sound dampening tape and pictures, and hard to fix elevated action, it would never sound good and would be better served as a wall hanger. He agreed, and said he'd probably buy a new guitar.

So I glued the headstock back on, put on some (unmatching) dye, and as good as new:

Pushed the bridge down by heating the top interior and exterior for a few minutes (hoping that no braces would come unglued), while putting pressure from above, and let it cool overnight, getting the fretboard pointed at the top of the bridge.

[Peter Wilcox]

Cleaned it up a bit, made a nut, and it's ready to go.