Headstock finish issue

[Ginridge]

I recently was asked to repair a damaged Fender acoustic (T-BUCKET™ 300CE) that had taken a fall and had the headstock broken off. It was a clean break and with the help of some "Friendly Plastic" and hot hide glue, went together quite nicely. There is quite a bit of damage to the finish on the faceplate of the headstock and a bit on the back of the neck at the break point and I'm pondering the best way to deal with this.





I have Stu Mac slow setting black epoxy but I have also recently heard that they make a black super glue as well. Would any of you with more experience in this give me your thoughts?

My current thinking is to use the epoxy for the headstock fill since it's a large, flat area, and somewhat deep but I'm not sure if it's the best thing for the smaller crack like on the back.

As always, your thoughts and opinions are greatly appreciated!

[multidon]

Seems like black super glue would be just the ticket for the back. Dan Erlewine gives a detailed procedure in his Trade Secrets newsletter number 161, available under Free Information on the Stew Mac Web site.

I don't think you can repair the front without it being obvious. Maybe a new veneer overlay?

[Jeff Mando]

If you have a similar piece of veneer overlay, you could replace the section between the nut and the first two tuner holes, I would cut a straight line just below the design (inlay) going through the center of the first two tuner holes. Shouldn't be too obvious, if you can find something close in appearance.

[Ginridge]

Thanks for the advice. I'll order black super glue and use that for the back of the neck. Regarding the front, this is an inexpensive Chinese made Fender acoustic (still in production). It's a Fender T-Bucket-300 CE TBL model (list 299.00) and the faceplate is some non specific white wood with a heavy black finish, almost certainly some catalyzed polymer or other. That's what's making me think Black Epoxy for the front. It will fill in the "hole" from the missing finish but will almost certainly not match. The "inlay" on the top is actually a decal or something similar so I'm thinking I'll need to mask that in order to save it.



Regardless of whether I use epoxy or black super glue, I expect that the final issue will be matching the "sheen" of the original black. Perhaps French polish over everything?

[mirwa]

I would remove the wood from the lower section and graft a new piece in, the sheen can be matched with a full coat of clear over the headstock.

http://www.mirwa.com.au/Cracked_Headstocks.html,

Page 3 has finish examples

Steve

[Ivan Kelsall]

If the headstock 'inlay' is indeed a ''sticker',then new stickers can be bought here :- http://www.inlaysticker.com/
If one of those would fit the bill,then a completely new headstock veneer could be fitted & finished & a totally invisible repair done,
Ivan