Snakehead Peghead Repair by Marc Glickman

[MarkELynch]

A friend was heartsick when his Snakehead A slipped from the strap and crashed to the floor and the peghead split wide open!

Some of you may enjoy seeing the photos of its journey back to recovery. Marc Glickman of Frederick, MD did a masterful repair. The peghead is probably stronger than when new.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=cac5dd11f1

Marc has done repair and setup work on most of the instruments in my collection. I heartily endorse his work.

Enjoy,
Mark

[George R. Lane]

I can only imagine how your friend felt when it happened. What an amazing repair job. Hats off to Mr. Glickman, a real professional.

[Jim Garber]

Excellent repair and wonderful documenting it. I have a wonderful luthier but am always looking for others of high quality.

[HoGo]

I would think this headstock needed just simple reglue with HHG and some touch up of the splintered black veneer on face. The crack was new - clean and along the grain so it would be sufficiently strong with just fresh HHG. Very unlikely it would split the same way again in next 100 years.
I'm pretty conservative when old instrument are repaired.

[pops1]

The repair was nicely done, but I am with HoGo HHG would have been more than enough, and more repairable in the future than the yellow carpenters glue.

[Jeff Mando]

I would think this headstock needed just simple reglue with HHG and some touch up of the splintered black veneer on face. The crack was new - clean and along the grain so it would be sufficiently strong with just fresh HHG. Very unlikely it would split the same way again in next 100 years.
I'm pretty conservative when old instrument are repaired.

I agree with HoGo, glue and clamping would have been sufficient for this type of repair. The splines, 6 of them!, were overkill, IMHO. Nice work and documentation, though.

[Ivan Kelsall]

From pops1 - "...and more repairable in the future...". I understand your remark completely - but - maybe Mr Glickman was looking to prevent the need for any futher ''repair'',certainly of the same nature. To my eyes,the repair is superb,& sometimes a little 'overkill' can do a lot to reassure the owner,especially if you're a 'once bitten - twice shy' guy like myself !!,
Ivan

[pops1]

The cleats, if you want to call them that were only on one side, should the back open up in the future then the problem arises. I have had cleated cracks open up from someone else's repair and the cleats make it impossible to close the crack without removing or sawing thru them with a fine saw. they are on one side only as is this repair.

[multidon]

I agree with Ivan. I think this is a masterful repair and there is basically zero chance of future problems. That new ebony veneer is icing on the cake. No more worries. Unless it drops again!

[Roger Adams]

Wow! Sure looks like a good repair to me! If it were my instrument, I think I would be confident in the work done.

[pops1]

I do agree the repair was done well. On an instrument of that vintage I would prefer to repair keeping the original peghead veneer. The peghead still has a crack repair even tho with a new veneer it is less noticeable, tho the back will still show it. Leaving as much original material on an instrument of this vintage would have been my priority, especially when simply gluing all the original parts with HHG would have been sufficient. I repaired a Martin guitar that was run over by a forklift at a festival. The festival promoters wanted me to replace the neck as the headstock was very severely damaged. After finding out the guitar was a gift from the owners mother who had since passed away I said I would repair the headstock so the owner would still have the guitar his mother gave him. I had to replace one piece of wood that was lost, but pieced more than a dozen broken parts back together with HHG and no splines or cleats. That was at least a dozen years ago, and it still is fine. The owner was much more happy to have the original neck instead of a replacement even tho the repair was not invisible. The cost was much less than replacing and finishing a new neck. The cost of the mandolin in question would have been much less with all the original parts. This is just my feelings on the subject and I know some will agree some won't. It is the way of the world and especially the way of the cafe. I don't mind.

[Ivan Kelsall]

From pops1 - "...I would prefer to repair keeping the original peghead veneer." Understood 100% !. That's why i haven't swapped out the tailpieces on my Weber & Lebeda for a James t/piece each - to keep them 'original'. However,when it comes to ensuring that a repair that somebody's paid for is as sound as possible,then sometimes new 'unbroken' material is the way to go - IMHO.
As long as the owner was satisfied - our opinions are simply that !,
Ivan