Can it be repaired?

O

old_skul

UVALAN
Veteran XX
So after I repaired the neck on that Parker PM20 that I bought off the Ebay cockbag (whose feedback I shredded), I found another PM20 on Ebay with a broken headstock and got it for $65. I think it could be repaired.

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The guitar itself is in fine shape. It has practically zero fretwear and there's only a couple of minor dings in the body that I can fill and buff out. The top polished up very nicely.

But there's this broke-ass headstock.

pm20_1.jpg


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Think I can fix it? There's plenty of area to glue it in, and then I can saw/chisel out a notch where the missing wood is at and drop in a block of mahogany. Then I'll redrill the tuning machine holes, and refinish.
 
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I have a friend in guitar repair. He would claim that broken necks, if glued and clamped properly, could be repaired to be stronger than before. I don't know if it's true but I saw him fix some pretty bad breaks. The missing wood complicates things, but it seems doable.

On a sidenote, I worked for a shop that dealt Parkers right around the time the import series started. Shoddy quality and a real shame to put the Parker name on them.

GL and pics of finishes product.
 
I glued it up last night. We'll see how it turns out.

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The first one I fixed was a goldtop Parker PM20 just like this one. That guitar turned out great. And honestly, the build quality is fine - these older models were made in Korea. The newer ones are built in China or Indonesia and suck. But the one I fixed already is awesome - I'm loving how it plays and sounds, and the only upgrade I did was the bridge.

I'll post more pics as I make progress.
 
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The gluing went well. Everything peeled off nicely and the joint seems to be strong.

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I picked up a nice slice of mahogany at Rockler and I'll be doing some planning tomorrow. I want to remove as little original wood as possible. Also, the more glue I use, the stronger the joint will be.

My plan is to block in the spaces with bits of mahogany, and then just spray that area with black acrylic enamel, and then refinish with some gloss poly. Should be a blast. After that - just bolt it all back together and put it back on ebay for a tidy profit.
 
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I see what you're doing now. I was thinking along the lines of clamping another piece over the headstock and cutting them both on the band saw. That would give you a perfect matching notch and plug.
 
Yep, I'll do a tracing of the notch, and then I'm going to rough cut a bit of mahogany in that shape. Then I'll sand it until it fits very tightly in this notch, and glue it in. Then I'll level it, redrill the tuner holes, and paint/sand/finish/polish.

notch_pm20.jpg
 
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A friend tells me it's 40/60 that it won't break again. I plan to put 13s on this guitar just to test that theory out. If it breaks again, I'm gonna cut the whole god damned headstock off in front of the nut and carve a whole new headstock for it. Fuck it, I got the damned thing for $65!
 
Okay, here you go:

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This is right after I glued the notch in. As you can see, I cut a slice of mahogany with the grain running in the right direction. On the top edge of the headstock, there was a V-shaped ding - I filled this in with mahogany splinters I made with an X-Acto knife. All the glue was done with Titebond I, which won't shrink. I had done a little rough shaping at this point.

pm20_0614_02.jpg


After some more shaping - getting close...

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Finally, a closeup. I did some more filling in with sawdust and glue and shaped it a bit more, and fine-tuned the front and back, and matched the edges.

Now I have to drill the holes for the tuners, and complete the finish. The plan is to shoot it with gloss black (same as stock) and polyurethane over the top. The back of the headstock was stained wood, but I won't be able to match that - so it'll be a "courtesy spray".

More to come after I drill & spray.
 
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Easy: get on Ebay and search for "project guitar". Pick one. I got a broken '59 Guyatone for $50 with no neck - I'll post pics when I start that project. As for this one....it's not over until the fat lady strings :)
 
Got the paint, need to get a 10MM drillbit for the tuning machine holes. Home Depot doesn't carry metric sizes - the closest is a 3/8" which is 9.53mm.

Painting should be interesting. I got some primer as well, we'll see how that turns out. I'm quite sure I'll have more sanding to do once I get everything the same color.

Fortunately, I have fine grit sandpaper in grits all the way up to 12000. I used it on the last Parker I repaired and it delivered a show-quality finish.
 
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