Pearl fell flat on its face today..

[_tom_]

I knew it was a bad idea keeping it on a cheap stand at the foot of my bed :( Anyway I was awoken this morning by the sound of my pearl hitting the floor, I guess my foot knocked it over :\ I only just inspected it and looks like a crack at the neck join has opened up. There was always a crack in the finish at that point but I didnt notice any crack in the wood before. Anyway heres a (rather cr@p) pic showing it



It still seems to stay in tune (well its never been perfect but I thought that was just a cr@p nut) so I'm wondering whether it'll be ok with a bit of superglue drizzled in the gap, or whether it needs to be broken off and re-done?

[Philly Q]

Oof, doesn't look good  :(.  The neck must have shifted a bit in order to crack the finish, but maybe the joint is still basically intact?  Needs a professional opinion I think.

What's that other line at 90 degrees to the crack, parallel with the binding?

[AndyR]

Ouch, that looks nasty.

I bounced my Epi SG a while back (from playing position, neck went straight down and hit the arm of the sofa - drop of a foot and half mebbe - don't ask what I was doing :roll:)

That produced a crack in the finish that I'm sure wasn't there before. But everything seems stable and has for weeks. I decided that if anything funny starts that I'd be venturing down to Jonathan at Feline - but I'd completely forgotten about it, so obviously nothing untoward has shown up since...

Yours "looks" worse though, I would be inclined to want a qualified opinion if mine looked like that...

EDIT: "don't ask what I was doing" - that'll be red rag to a bull - OK, I was @rsing about, thinking Angus Young in the living room, without my homemade straplocks on...

[_tom_]

What's that other line at 90 degrees to the crack, parallel with the binding?

I think its just a finish crack, has been there since I got it.

EDIT: "don't ask what I was doing" - that'll be red rag to a bull - OK, I was @rsing about, thinking Angus Young in the living room, without my homemade straplocks on...

:lol: We all do it, just some of us are sensible enough to use straplocks (but not sensible enough to put the guitar out of kicking distance from the bed)

[Philly Q]

I bounced my Epi SG a while back (from playing position, neck went straight down and hit the arm of the sofa - drop of a foot and half mebbe - don't ask what I was doing :roll:)

I did something similar once, but just from standing still with the guitar hanging on a too-loose strap.  Guitar dropped and hit a metal chair frame, it put a big dent in the edge of the headstock and bent a tuner, but no harm to the neck joint.

One of my Tokai SGs had a tiny hairline crack along the back of the neck joint, which I think really was just the finish.  It seems totally stable and was almost invisible anyway, but I sealed it with a drop of superglue just to stop dirt getting into it and making it (visually) worse.

[FELINEGUITARS]

The other crack is a crack in the wood - it shows how deep the tenon from the neck is as the crack is likely to be at the bottom of the tenon.
Chances are that it has taken several falls previously - hence the appearance of that long crack
The recent crack is where the neck joins the body on the end of the body, so it is likely that the neck is slowly but surely trying to free itself from the body (albeit with the aid of a few tumbles).
It might not have any bad effect just now , but long term it may  deteriorate, although not without a few bashes
It may be worth showing it to a pro - maybe have them bleed some glue into the cracks to shore up the wood

[_tom_]

Ah bollocks, I thought they were just finish cracks! Would you say the cracks are why it wont always stay in tune?

Reckon I could do the glue in the cracks myself or is it trickier than it seems? I'm a bit hesitant about taking it to this tech near me - he's quite expensive and the only "review" I've heard of his stuff is someones bass having the wrong sort of pots/knobs put in apparently. Doesnt exactly fill me with confidence!

[Twinfan]

What a bummer Tom  :(  I reckon it's worth spending £50 (or whatever it might be) for a tech to seal up the cracks with glue as Jonathon suggests.  That should make the neck nice and solid.

It all adds to the character of the guitar I guess!

[Philly Q]

It may be worth showing it to a pro - maybe have them bleed some glue into the cracks to shore up the wood

Would something like thin superglue penetrate deep enough into the cracks to make a difference, or would it need to somehow be pressured (is that a word?)?

[ToneMonkey]

I have a bit of a stock of needles and syringes that I was given for this.  I need to inject thinned superglue into the crack in my firebird.  Should have some spare if you want me to send you a couple.  The crack in my firebird is big enough that I can pull the neck and the crack will open up, hopefully yours isn't the same, but if that's the route you go down then I might be able to help.

[_tom_]

What a bummer Tom  :(  I reckon it's worth spending £50 (or whatever it might be) for a tech to seal up the cracks with glue as Jonathon suggests.  That should make the neck nice and solid.

It all adds to the character of the guitar I guess!

Yeah probably, I'll see what this local guy says and how much he'll charge. Its too nice a looking guitar to just get rid of, plus the neck itself feels great as well :) Need to get some micromesh stuff to buff out the scratches around the neck join though, they look horrible.

Tonemonkey, if this tech is quite expensive I'll definitely be interested in that if you have any spare.

[ToneMonkey]

T Cut is probably your best bet to get the scratches out.  Micromech is OK for large flat(ish) surfaces, but you have to go down grades at right angles to each other and it can be a pain in the arse in hard to reach places.

[Philly Q]

I have a bit of a stock of needles and syringes that I was given for this.  I need to inject thinned superglue into the crack in my firebird.  Should have some spare if you want me to send you a couple.  The crack in my firebird is big enough that I can pull the neck and the crack will open up, hopefully yours isn't the same, but if that's the route you go down then I might be able to help.

I think that answers my question too!  :)  

There's a bad-taste joke about shared needles in there somewhere....

Anyway, presumably it trashes a needle and syringe every time you do it, so you need to be pretty careful to get it right first time?

[ToneMonkey]

Anyway, presumably it trashes a needle and syringe every time you do it, so you need to be pretty careful to get it right first time?

I aslo presume that, but never having tried it, I can't say  :D

Got a few of them so it should be covered.  Trying to work out what is best to tin superglue with at the minute.

[_tom_]

Just waiting for an email back from this local guy, hopefully he wont charge too much just to fill it with some glue and inspect it for any more extensive work that might need to be done. I'll try to play some of the guitars he's done setups on as well so I can see whether he's worth spending £110 on for a fret dress, smooth out the nut (I think it pinches a bit especially on the g) and proper setup :)

as for the scratches, we dont have any t-cut in the garage but have something thats meant to be similar called Auto Glym paint restorer or something which says it'll get out light scratches, imperfections and haze.. guess these arent what it considers "light scratches", would t-cut really be any better?