Another Les Paul neck break repair

A while back I uploaded a video to my YouTube channel about a Les Paul neck break repair. On the guitar the headstock had snapped off completely. I uploaded that video during the first Covid lock-down here in the UK. The world seemed to be watching videos on YouTube at the time. As a consequence, my video did extremely well, with lots of views. To date it has had nearly 500,000 views and about 2000 comments.

You can watch that video by clicking on the LINK

In the video I show how I repaired the break and then disguised the repair by spraying darker lacquer over the repair area. Nearly all the comments attached to that video were positive. But a number of people commented that the colour matching of the splines that were inserted to strengthen the repair was very good, and that they would have been happy to see the repair.

So when this Les Paul came in for a neck break repair I discussed with the owner the two finishing options. These being; obscure the splines with darker lacquer or colour match them as best I could. He chose the later option.

This seemed like a good opportunity to make a follow up video and show what colour matched splines look like. Fortunately this job went well and the colour match was pretty close.

You can watch that video by clicking on this LINK

The repair process

There are a number of steps to achieving a successful Les Paul neck break repair.

Step 1:    The neck is glued back together

Step 2:   Two channels are routed for the strengthening splines. To do this I use a jig I have devised.

Step 3:  Two mahogany splines are made. The fit has to be perfect.

Step 4:  The splines are shaped to the exact contour of the neck

Step 5:  The splines are colour matched to the existing neck finish. To do this I use an airbrush

Step 6:  Lacquer is then sprayed over the repair area. Once the lacquer has hardened, it is polished and buffed to a gloss finish

Other posts and information about Les Paul neck repairs

I have written two other articles about Les Paul neck break repair. The first article is about the Les Paul neck repair referred to above. The second article is about the repair of a Les Paul which had a black paint finish. Clink on the links to read those articles.

If you are reading this post because your Les Paul has suffered a neck break, please feel feel to CONTACT me to discuss a repair. Or should you wish to discuss any other work you are considering having carried out on your your guitar, please contact me for a quotation.