Eep. My neck is cracking. Repairable?

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geet73

OMG!
So, I noticed this morning that my neck is cracked pretty badly. It was cracked when I first got it, but now it's really worrying me. The cracks are near the headstock. The guitar is an Ibanez RG570. I got it for $90 used about a year ago. Apparantly, these guitars went for $500-600 new. Sweet deal, eh? I LOVE this guitar. I really don't want to get a new guitar, as I'd probably be spending around $400 on something. I've seen necks for this guitar going on Ebay for $150 or so. Is there anyway I can just fix this myself? Woodglue or something? Pictures are attached.
 

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Can you post a wider angle picture showing more of the neck and headstock - I'm a little disoriented. :)
 
Is that where it bolts to the body?

I like the third pic, kind of looks like a sad smiley.


I guess you could try wedging in wood glue and clamping it and let set for 24 hours. Having a repair guy put in dowl to stableize it would be too costly.
 
philboyd studge said:
Is that where it bolts to the body?

I like the third pic, kind of looks like a sad smiley.


I guess you could try wedging in wood glue and clamping it and let set for 24 hours. Having a repair guy put in dowl to stableize it would be too costly.
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It's where the locking nut bolts on to the neck.

If there's a chance of wood glue working, then I figure that I should just try it. If it doesn't work, then I guess I'll get a new neck and pop that on. I really want to keep the costs down as I have to save my money for the upcoming tours I'm doing with my bands. I need to eat. :)
 
I don't think you could get enough glue into those cracks to make a difference. Sort of strange cracks too - don't follow the grain.

I would drill a hole transversely through the neck and either put a bolt through it, or glue in a dowel. If there's a truss rod, it probably goes through there so you'd have to miss that, or it may make the repair unfeasible.

If you'd otherwise replace the neck, you have nothing to lose by trying.
 

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crazydoc said:
I don't think you could get enough glue into those cracks to make a difference. Sort of strange cracks too - don't follow the grain.

I would drill a hole transversely through the neck and either put a bolt through it, or glue in a dowel. If there's a truss rod, it probably goes through there so you'd have to miss that, or it may make the repair unfeasible.

If you'd otherwise replace the neck, you have nothing to lose by trying.
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Hmm. I don't think there's even enough meat on this neck to do that. Heh. Damn Ibanez necks. It's not much thicker than a stick of Chapstick(first thing I could grab). I'd assume the truss rod goes right through the middle too. Meh.

I guess I'll try glue and see if that works at all. Otherwise, it looks like I have to get my old squire back from my friend until I get a new neck. ::shudders::

I think I might pick up a neat vintage guitar made by Guild I saw on eBay too.
 

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A guitar repair guy once told me of a method that he had some success with. He had some Weldwood wood glue, which is a powder you mix with water. He mixed some up and drew it up in a hypodermic syringe with a pretty fine needle He flexed the crack to open it up as much as he could without doing more damage and squirted a bunch of the glue into the crack as deep as he could and cleaned up the excess. Then he clamped the crack tightly shut and let it sit for a few days.

I have a Les Paul that he fixed that way. I have been playing it for more than 20 years, and it's still fine.
 
ggunn said:
A guitar repair guy once told me of a method that he had some success with. He had some Weldwood wood glue, which is a powder you mix with water. He mixed some up and drew it up in a hypodermic syringe with a pretty fine needle He flexed the crack to open it up as much as he could without doing more damage and squirted a bunch of the glue into the crack as deep as he could and cleaned up the excess. Then he clamped the crack tightly shut and let it sit for a few days.

I have a Les Paul that he fixed that way. I have been playing it for more than 20 years, and it's still fine.
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I was actually thinking about doing something along those lines. My friend works at a veterinary hospital. Maybe he could "borrow" a syringe. :)
 
I would reccomend West Systems Epoxy. Wet out the cracks with raw catalysed resin using a syringe . Take all the hardware off that you can before you do this. After the runny catalysed resin has soaked in for about five minutes add some more catalysed resin with Colloidial Sillica (#405 I beleive) added to thicken it up. When you're sure that you have filled as much of the cavities as possible, clean off the excess and clamp the piss out of it for 24hrs. Have your clamping scheme worked out before you start glueing. You can get West Systems at any marine supply store. Not cheap but very effective. This crack is the result of what is called 'checking'. Keeping your guitar in a dry environment will accelerate this. You might want to consider humidity in the future.
 
Thanks, I'll look into that.

My house gets pretty dry during the winter. I guess I should steal that humidifier that my parents bought and don't use and put it in this room with my guitars. Heh.
 
gvarko said:
New neck, enough said...
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He should try to fix it first, he might learn something, or it might work, and if not he can get a new neck anyways, and the repairs to the old one wouldn't have cost him that much.
 
There is so much bad advice on this thread; I just had to chime in.

First of all, DO NOT TRY AND BOLT IT TOGETHER.

Second of all, Weld-Wood will never work. It is an epoxy and will stick to your truss rod, making it inoperable. Don't do it.

You absolutely do NOT want to use epoxy, particularly not thickened epoxy. The goal is to bring the pieces of wood back into alignment, and you will never do that with any kind of epoxy, plus (as I have already stated) epoxy will get into the truss rod slot, and will make your truss rod all but inoperable. Epoxy has basically no place in guitar repair, EVER.

The correct repair for that one is to replace the neck. If you can't do that, take it to a good repair shop. At my shop, what we would do is work some Tightbond into the cracks (probably just with our fingers, but in some instances we use a syringe with a fat needle on the end). To clamp it, we would wrap sections of bicycle innertube around the neck repeatedly, probably 8-10 wraps around the area. Pull it as tight as possible with each wrap, and it gets tighter and tighter, and pulls every thing together. This probably would not work with this crack, but it might. If it does, make sure you do not get your guitar hot, as the glue will at the very least creep, and may just let go all together.

But the right repair is absolutely, without question, to replace the neck.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
There is so much bad advice on this thread; I just had to chime in.
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If only we had known that all we had to do was give out really bad repair advice, we'd have had you back months ago :D
 
Light said:
There is so much bad advice on this thread; I just had to chime in.

First of all, DO NOT TRY AND BOLT IT TOGETHER.

Second of all, Weld-Wood will never work. It is an epoxy and will stick to your truss rod, making it inoperable. Don't do it.

You absolutely do NOT want to use epoxy, particularly not thickened epoxy. The goal is to bring the pieces of wood back into alignment, and you will never do that with any kind of epoxy, plus (as I have already stated) epoxy will get into the truss rod slot, and will make your truss rod all but inoperable. Epoxy has basically no place in guitar repair, EVER.

The correct repair for that one is to replace the neck. If you can't do that, take it to a good repair shop. At my shop, what we would do is work some Tightbond into the cracks (probably just with our fingers, but in some instances we use a syringe with a fat needle on the end). To clamp it, we would wrap sections of bicycle innertube around the neck repeatedly, probably 8-10 wraps around the area. Pull it as tight as possible with each wrap, and it gets tighter and tighter, and pulls every thing together. This probably would not work with this crack, but it might. If it does, make sure you do not get your guitar hot, as the glue will at the very least creep, and may just let go all together.

But the right repair is absolutely, without question, to replace the neck.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Click to expand...
Perhaps you have misunderstood the meaning of my advice. I am not telling him how to do a pro job. I telling him something that will work. I am assuming that a new neck is not an option and that he just wants to save his guitar. That crack will never move with your clamping idea. It's a check and it's not moving except with some serious pressure. The epoxy is the only thing that has a chance of working. The Tightbond method won't do shit. I understand that epoxy has no place in a guitar shop. This is not a guitar shop. This is some guy trying to fix his own guitar. Otherwise why would he be posting here? I have used epoxy for repairs when appropriate for twenty some years with great success. As far as the truss rod goes, the resin will never get that far. Even if i does it won't stick very well as the amount will be miniscule. Look at that check closely. Its not very wide down deep. The truss rod will work just fine. How do I know this? For the last 24 years I have run my own successful heritage wood floor restoration company and for the last ten a boat repair business as well. I now a bit about wood and its repair especially when under tension.Lots of guitar repairs as well; every one still functioning. Again, this is not a question of what is right, only what will work. I see nothing wrong with trying to fix it first. If it doesn't work, the music store still gets to sell him a new neck.
 
Here's your easiest repair - just crank that baby on there, and those cracks aren't going to budge. You can learn to play around it. :)
 

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mshilarious said:
If only we had known that all we had to do was give out really bad repair advice, we'd have had you back months ago :D
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That has been my plan all along :p
 
snipeguy said:
Perhaps you have misunderstood the meaning of my advice. I am not telling him how to do a pro job. I telling him something that will work. I am assuming that a new neck is not an option and that he just wants to save his guitar. That crack will never move with your clamping idea. It's a check and it's not moving except with some serious pressure. The epoxy is the only thing that has a chance of working. The Tightbond method won't do shit. I understand that epoxy has no place in a guitar shop. This is not a guitar shop. This is some guy trying to fix his own guitar. Otherwise why would he be posting here? I have used epoxy for repairs when appropriate for twenty some years with great success. As far as the truss rod goes, the resin will never get that far. Even if i does it won't stick very well as the amount will be miniscule. Look at that check closely. Its not very wide down deep. The truss rod will work just fine. How do I know this? For the last 24 years I have run my own successful heritage wood floor restoration company and for the last ten a boat repair business as well. I now a bit about wood and its repair especially when under tension.Lots of guitar repairs as well; every one still functioning. Again, this is not a question of what is right, only what will work. I see nothing wrong with trying to fix it first. If it doesn't work, the music store still gets to sell him a new neck.
Click to expand...

A new neck is definitely an option, I just really want to save my money at the moment. Heh. I'm doing a 17 day tour with one of my bands in a month, it would be nice to eat. :p

I certainly don't mind hearing advice from someone as experienced as light is. I really appreciate that he could contribute. I'm going to consider whatever has been suggested in this thread. It won't hurt for me to try to fix it. The neck is fucked, period. I mean, it's still playable, but I really don't trust it like this. Especially with it getting thrown around in the back of a van on tour.

Chances are, I'm going to be buying a new neck. But I'm going to try to repair it myself anyway.
 
wouldnt it be good to drill 2 small holes at the current end of the cracks? ... this is a very frequently used method to stop cracks, as the pressure is distributed evenly by the holes.

A small drill, the size of a match (like for lighting up a smoke) should work ... then you could fill the holes again for a smooth finish (tho i doubt you would notice them)

again, i am no pro ...

best of luck alfred
 
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