My tech has broken my new roasted maple neck :(

[Finwens]

I don't know where should I post this, as this is my first post and everything, hope it fits in here.

Well, so I bought a vintage roasted maple neck with a pau ferro fingerboard. I live in Brazil, so it was expensive as all hell because of taxes. After all the hype, it finally arrived yesterday. Just the most beautiful thing ever. And hours later, my tech broke it. When installing the high e tuning peg, the last of the screws, the wood broke. And then, when he went to adjust the other screws, he broke the headstock again on the first screw. So, it's broken in two places. He will pay me another one. My question is, should I buy a new one, or just repair this and keep the money for another project or whatever? (of course I'll take it to a real luthier who won't fudge it up more).

Pics

 

[Hendrix]

he not drill a small hole before put in the screw ?  ???

 

[stratamania]

Well if the guy is going to pay for a new one probably a good thing to get it. Then look at repairing this one for another project is another choice.

But how does someone who is calling himself a tech do this, did he not use any pilot holes or something?

 

[Finwens]

Well if the guy is going to pay for a new one probably a good thing to get it. Then look at repairing this one for another project is another choice.

But how does someone who is calling himself a tech do this, did he not use any pilot holes or something?

I have no idea what he did. My question about buying another one is merely because of functional purposes. I care about the look of the neck, but my main concern is that if someone glues this headstock together, will the screws hold fine? Or will it eventually break more?

btw, I'm actually playing the damn thing. It plays just fine and I absolutely love the feel of it. But I'm a little worried that a repair won't hold this up for long.

EDIT: grammar

 

[Hendrix]

if use right glues , the glues usually stronger than wood itself . difficult part is how to put glues in a small seam without open it wider.

make sure to made a pilot holes before put back the screws .

 

[Logrinn]

I don't think you'll have any problem playing with the neck with those cracks.

Look at the cracks in Steve Vais Evo at the heel:

 

[stratamania]

That looks like one of the Evo replicas.

I got to hold the actual Evo one time and I could not help thinking what a mess it was in.

As Hendrix said, a good glue join can be stronger than the wood itself.

 

[mayfly]

IMHO:

1 - fix the cracks right away.  If you don't, dirt and crap will build up in there making a later repair impossible
2 - you can totally fix those cracks.  You need to pull the tuners, fill the cracks with glue, and clamp it in place.  It will be as good as new.
3 - don't bring anything to your 'tech' ever again.  The guy is a moron.
4 - I know Brazil is a big country, but Fernando might be able to help, or at least help recommend a guy to go to in your area.

Good luck!

 

[rgand]

If it was mine, I'd repair it and see how it is. If it's the way you like, keep it on the guitar. The new neck can then be used on another project.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

Agree, if the fix is well done that neck will be completely serviceable. The tech should nevertheless cough up the new one AND let you keep the old one - this is just plain unforgiveable. Cracking on one screw would be completely unprofessional, doing it on two is.. well, I'm at loss for words really.

 

[Cagey]

I'm surprised it could even happen. Usually if those little screws run into too much friction, you twist their little heads off. Happens all the time. It's so common, StewMac even sells recovery kits for it.

 

[AirCap]

I have seen these kinds of cracks often... It's ALWAYS because some moron was too lazy to drill holes for the screws. ALWAYS.

 

[JD0x0]

Yikes. I always drill small pilot holes just because it's easier to insert the screw for me. It ensures the it goes right in, and doesn't go crooked. Drilling the pilot holes takes a whole 45 seconds to do properly

 

[Cagey]

Even with pilot holes, you have to wax the screws or you're liable to decapitate them. They really won't take much stress. That's why I'm so surprised this could have happened in the first place.

This guy must have never dealt with hardwood before. Or even done much woodworking period, as even softwoods will split if you try to drive too much screw into them. It's a simple matter of displacement. Where's the wood supposed to go when you replace its home with screw shank? But, to even think you could just drive a screw into hardwood without a pilot is foolishness.

 

[Wolfie351]

Take the cash, glue it, done.  Hard to believe the wood cracked before the screw snapped though.  Even when taking great care, I've snapped lots of tuner screws over my lifetime.  Some were old, some were rusty, some were brand new.  But, not once have I ever cracked a headstock.  Given that this happened twice on the same neck, I gotta think something else is at play here.  Roasting process?  Super titanium screws?

 

[Re-Pete]

I'm surprised it could even happen. Usually if those little screws run into too much friction, you twist their little heads off. Happens all the time. It's so common, StewMac even sells recovery kits for it.

Yeah my thoughts too.... I view the buggers as quite fragile and take my damn time, using pilot holes, some sort of screw lubricant and a very low speed screwing in. I have snapped a screw once and the amount of anguish that caused me....you don't forget it. That's why I'm amazed the screws were strong enough to force cracks... Seriously, did your tech use a hammer drill or something heavy duty?  :icon_scratch:

Repair old one to a professional standard, get a new one & get the tuners and setup done by someone else if you can find them.

I was going to suggest maybe getting to work on the neck straight out of the delivery box might not have been a good idea as the neck needs to settle, but then I remembered it's a roasted neck, which aids stability...

 

[Cagey]

I was prepared to buy into the idea that the wood was primed to crack in the first place, some built-in stress or weakness in the original blank. But, as you point out, it's been roasted. That should have taught it a lesson. Then, cracked it twice? What the hell did he think was going to happen doing the same thing a second time after cracking it the first time? I wonder what the guy does after burning his hand on a hot frying pan? Change hands?

 

[ByteFrenzy]

Over tight bushings? The crack could've started at the tuner hole and continued along the location of the screw. But the crack at the top of the headstock looks weird, not even along the vein of the wood. Could the OP post a pic of the other side of the headstock so we could see the crack from that side?

 

[BroccoliRob]

Daaaaaayum! So sorry, brosito. Yeah, wood glue and clamp. Won't look perfect but it'll hold!

 

[calan]

I agree that something else is going on here. In 35 years, I've never seen a little tuner screw crack a hard maple neck without it's head snapping off first...especially TWO of them on the same headstock.

Now I'm a little curious (cautious?) about getting a roasted maple neck. And, I want to know where he found those tuner screws.