daveq Posted February 20, 2004 Report Posted February 20, 2004 Is there anything that can be done to strengthen the area where the peghead meets the neck after it's been built? I know some people use the epoxy impregnation technique to harden some types of wood but would that also help strengthen it to resist breakage? How about soaking it in CA glue? I realize there are plenty of methods of doing this while constructing the neck (volute, make it thicker,...) but this is for a neck that was built a while ago. Quote
frank falbo Posted February 20, 2004 Report Posted February 20, 2004 If it's an angled head, you can shave a little off the top and laminate a figured wood "cap" to it. I say figured because why not if you have the chance, right? But it could be anything really. The lamination in and of itself would add stability. On a straight headstock you can't really get a flat surface to laminate to without weakening it even more by routing away more wood by the fretboard. Also you could simply put a veneer over it as is. That will thicken it a little, but usually not so much that the tuner nuts don't clear the curved part of the posts. I've made a few thicker heads where I recess the tuner nuts and washers with a forstner bit so they are still in the right place but the wood is thicker. You could do that with an 1/8" laminate. If it's a maple neck it won't accept the CA very deeply. It'll be more like CA "paint." If it's porous like mahogany or koa you can drench it with CA, but on a natural finish it will change the look of it. It'll be like a "wet look" and if you oil finish the neck it will stand out. Even with a thin finish, those grains will be "filled" while the others absorb finish and have an "open pore" look. Finally, you could route say, 1/8" grooves from around the 2nd fret to the A tuner and epoxy graphite rods into them. (this would be coming at it from the back, not the top like the first two suggestions) Put them to either side of the truss rod, but over about 1/8" so closer to being under the A and B strings than flanking the truss rod channel. You could use ebony or some other hardwood too, but maximum strength will come from graphite. Quote
Devon Headen Posted February 21, 2004 Report Posted February 21, 2004 Inlay some of these into the base of the neck as described by Frank Devon Quote
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