Repairing a Cracked Neck

by Brian Calvert

Chances are sooner or later you will run across a neck which has a crack at the base of the Head Stock. While there are many ways to go about fixing this I will concentrate on the simplest for this tutorial.

It is my personal belief that while there are Excellent Hot Glues out on the market that quickly are absorbed into cracks and can then be clamped, None of those glues can travel in and around all of the fractures encountered before drying. Thus you will not achieve the solid bonding you are in need of just by spreading a crack and pouring in a liquid glue.

Supplies Needed: 36" Bar Clamp   Plenty of Paper Towels   A Spring Clamp   A Paint Brush   Container of Water   Wood Glue (Titebond preferred)   Sand Paper (Sanding Sponge) Nerve Enough to Break a Neck Slowly so you don't Kill it! (Just separate the two piece's)

Pictured above on the Left are the tools I use to fix the problem and they can be found in just about every common hardware store.

I always tend to make the terrible happen (I finish the break) because as the old rule goes a solidly glued joint will become stronger than the wood itself. Besides that once a crack starts it makes the rest of the area weak so Crack it's all over. As you can see by these picture's there are plenty of areas a glue could not reach by just spreading a crack. Before you snap your neck first determine if the fret board needs to be removed. Not doing so could cause unnecessary damage to the neck.

Using your Paint brush coat both ends of the break then Carefully slide the two piece's back together. Grab a wet paper towel and remove all of the excess glue at this point.

Using Extra Paper Towels as a cushion Pin the neck in your Bar Clamp giving it enough pressure to hold the parts firmly together. At this Point if necessary you can Spring Clamp the neck at the joint to make sure it is aligned properly. Allow the neck to dry a full 24-36 hours this way then simply take off the clamps and sand the joint smooth. You might want to re-clearcoat it but as you can see below this works just fine and is strong too......