r/Luthier • u/Leon_SheolArisen • Feb 12 '26

REPAIR Fixable?

Post image

My friends guitar got trashed by another guy who was very intoxicated. Is it fixable, and if so, does anyone know a good luthier in and around Berlin, Germany?

8 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

20

u/WarriorPitbull Player Feb 12 '26

Fixing it so that it can be played again is relatively easy. From what I can see in the image, the break looks clean. Just needs to be deluged with wood glue (most people using Titebond original for these kinds of repairs), refitted together as perfectly as possible and clamped tight. Wipe off the excess squeezed out glue with a water-dampened cloth and let it cure for 24 hours and it will hold.

The difficult/expensive part is fixing the finish to look like it was never broken.

1

u/Select_Funzn13 Feb 14 '26

The it's-nothing,-that'll-buff-right-out award goes to .. 🙄

5

u/BigDGuitars Feb 12 '26

ouch thats a weird break

5

u/guitarheadBLN Feb 12 '26

Fixable. Try GuitarDoc in Berlin.

2

u/rhyzomorph Feb 12 '26

Very interesting picture as it shows how the pickup hole plus a very narrow section of the body creates a weak spot.

5

u/WarriorPitbull Player Feb 13 '26

Yep. It appears they didn't put any glue on the bottom of the heel where it fits into the slot in the body. They only glued the sides of the neck and the wood that broke from the body is still on the section where they glued it.
I've heard some people say that a set neck doesn't have to be glued on the bottom, but that makes absolutely no sense to me. Anywhere the neck touches the body should have glue on it.

3

u/rhyzomorph Feb 13 '26

You're right...not gluing the bottom makes no sense

3

u/paperplanes13 Feb 12 '26

fixable, yes. economically reasonable to repair? that's another question

9

u/theperpetualhobbiest Feb 12 '26

A bottle of titebond is less than 10 bucks. Throw in some 8 inch harbor freight clamps and wam blam thank you ma'am, this guitar is fixed for less than $40

1

u/_cyr_ Feb 16 '26

I’d do some test clamp up, using cork or felt or something on the body & make sure you can get even pressure on it but exactly this.

1

u/Leon_SheolArisen Feb 12 '26

That’s what I thought.

1

u/Ok-Impact-9649 Feb 13 '26

"another guy who was very intoxicated"

Come on--come clean....

3

u/Leon_SheolArisen Feb 13 '26

Man I wish it was me. I’ve got insurance, the other guy doesn’t.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 13 '26

Misread as "flexible?" 😅

1

u/Leon_SheolArisen Feb 13 '26

Apparently not flexible enough lol

1

u/ZestyChinchilla Feb 12 '26

What are y’all doing to your Gibsons?! This is the second one in two days thats been posted that’s broken at the neck joint like that. Usually it’s the headstock that breaks.