What To Do When Your Head Falls Off: Instrument Repair Tips and Techniques

by Brian Michael and Alex Glasser

from their 2011 GAL Convention workshop

Originally published in American Lutherie #115, 2013



Alex: A peghead reglue is not hard, but it’s a common repair, and one that’s commonly done poorly. We cheated. We took the neck from a broken guitar, removed the tuners, and broke the peghead. Normally, your cracks would be lower, around the nut or volute, but with the tuners removed, it breaks across the tuners. The repair’s the same, though.

For most headstock repairs we use hide glue, because it has high heat resistance. We try to make repairs foolproof, so if the customer leaves it in the trunk of his guitar, it won’t break open.