SLIGHT HEAD STOCK CRACK CRACK

SLIGHT HEAD STOCK CRACK CRACK

The fact that the crack extends towards the cover plate apex screw suggests this alone.

Moreover tweaking the truss rod together with the not inconsiderable string tension has finished the job off.

Going with plain domed head screws, I suspect that the timber has shrunk very slightly beneath the lacquer, and tightening the cover plate screws even so much as a fraction too much has caused the lacquer crack(s). On countersunk screws in general: take a look at just about any Fender cover plate against an oblique light source and see the pin cushion effects. I think we can discount raised head screws here?

Sometimes countersunk holes need to be so deep to achieve a flush screw-head that if the countersink in the plastic is too deep then the screw head will bear down directly on the lacquer with unwanted consequences. Any countersunk screw requires a properly countersunk hole in the plate and ideally a near as perfectly co-axial thread hole in the wood. I assume that they're not raised head screws (which implies a countersink as well as a domed or cheese head). They look like dome headed cover plate screws on my 'phone screen. I'm assuming that there are no cracks visible on the back of the headstock? Repairing an area on the front may involve filling the crack and then sanding and refinishing, polishing a area around the crack and I don't think you know if there are going to be more of them or not at this point and it's not something that is easily accomplished without the proper tools and experience. If it's an expensive guitar I would also consult with a luthier as what the best approach is, especially if it's something you might need or want to resell - when I got my Gibson -secondhand- I found a hairline crack around the soundhole and checked with and followed the advice of Mike Hauver, he's a well respected luthier in the US, so I had my mind at rest as to the nature and of the defect and how it might effect resale, and whether I could expect further cracks and what I could do to minimize the chance of that. In NY the large stores have a 45 day replacemnt policy. There are also many videos on YouTube where luthiers show these kinds of repairs.My first step would be to complain, get the defect on record in case there's more cracks, and see what Thomann says - they might be willing to replace it. If you attempt to do this by yourself, it's critical that you use the correct type of glue for the job. To fix it, a luthier would remove the strings, bend the neck or slightly force the cracks open to inject some glue all the way down, then press it back, clean away the extra glue that gets squished out, and clamp it close until the glue cures (with something soft in between to protect the neck, obviously). If the cracks don't expand even if you continue using the instrument, it's likely nothing further will happen. If the crack ever extends beyond that, it's likely to keep getting worse, and a trip to the luthier will be inevitable, and sooner will be better than later. Put some kind of mark at the end of the crack. If the instrument is not particularly valuable or critically important to you, I'd say that it would not be unreasonable to wait and see what happens. But the latter seems less likely, I still think that some kind of impact is the most likely cause.īecause of the size and position of the cracks, and because they seem to be relatively superficial, looking from a distance, I'd say there is a 60/40 chance that nothing else will happen vs the chance that the crack will expand. Another possibility is that the wood has always been weak along the grain in those places, and has finally come apart after a long time, perhaps after an otherwise unremarkable impact, or perhaps even because of the continuous pull of the strings in the opposite direction. Looking at the grain and wood fiber relative to the line of the neck, I would conclude that the cracks have been probably caused by a significant impact, such as the instrument falling backwards, perhaps a foot or two.

Slight head stock crack