Mar 31, 2008 02:47 pm oh, man, that sucks. SG's are great guitars...that's a shame...
Ahhh crap.
Posted on Mar 31, 2008 02:42 pm
HonestIain
Member Since: Mar 25, 2008
So. Bad things happened this Saturday.
Let me go back to the beginning, I bought a Gibson SG Special Faded from a buddy for $150. It's the one with the the quarter moon frets. Anyway, it was a great deal and I like how it sounds. It has a lot of bite and balls. Anyway, in December of '06 I was in a car wreck (I wasn't driving mind you) and that guitar was in the trunk inside a gig bag. The neck ended up cracking a bit around the 1st or 2nd fret. The crack was at a 45 degree angle or so (I dunno how to explain it). And it was only noticeable if you pulled on the headstock a bit. The guitar was still playable it just didn't stay in tune very well. I had it glued back together by someone in Lawrence, Kansas. And they told me there was still a chance that it could come un-done. Which is not a good thing to hear. I played this guitar for several months until this weekend.
I was waiting for our drummer to show up at practice (What's new?) and I made some comment about how one of my guitar stands doesn't have enough of an angle on it, and I don't feel secure putting guitars on it. Well, a few minutes later I put the Gibson on the stand and walked away. I hear a "CRASH!KJFSGFPWBGJBGJHF!!!!111oneoneone." I come back into my room and I see my Gibson guitar on the floor with the headstock almost completely broken off.
Awww man.
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Mar 31, 2008 02:47 pm oh, man, that sucks. SG's are great guitars...that's a shame...
Mar 31, 2008 02:56 pm I told a similar story about my son's Epiphone Les Paul. I took it to a local music store and the guy repaired it for $65. Not a problem with it since then.
However, this being a genuine Gibson, I would think it would be worth it to put a whole new neck on it.
Mar 31, 2008 02:58 pm One guy I know plays nothing but Les Pauls...the ones that are not "collector models" (which he doesn't play live or anything) he actually takes them to his luthier and asks him to break and fix the headstock cuz he likes the way they play more after a headstock fix than before.
Sounds weird, but it's true.
Mar 31, 2008 03:40 pm Oh that sux. Hate to see guitars being broken.
Speaking of,
1) A guy I know has a 59 Les Paul Jr. His dad bought the guitar as soon as he saw it on TV (it wasn't the tv yellow one, brown). Anyway, he's had it all this time, appraises it once in a while, for curiosity. One afternoon, got the guitar up in a stand, on top of his cab & amp. Normally this is a safe spot, but his daughter runs through the house, catches her foot on the guitar cord, and pulls the guitar down right onto it's head. Puts a think crack down the whole length of the neck. ugh. Guitar went from 50+k$ to around 1.5k$. double-ugh.
2) I had an alveraz 12 string when I was younger. Great guitar, for 250 or so I paid for it. I let my cousin borrow it, so she could practice more. It was in a hardshell case, in her house. One day she's drying her hair and hears a loud 'bang'. Living in the big city, she thinks it's a truck backfiring, and doesn't worry about it. Turns out it was the head of my alveraz, breaking of in the case. ugh. I eventually gave it to a friend, and he made a headless acoustic out of it. Put the tuners on the body, below the bridge. Still plays it to this day =).
I won't go into the '63 j50 i smashed in a rage. That one still sickens me.
Or the 73 tele deluxe I lost in the house fire.
ugh.
Mar 31, 2008 03:42 pm Quote:
he likes the way they play more after a headstock fix than before.
My Taylor 12 string has a zig-zag joint where the head meets the neck. I wonder if that's part of it ?
In their media, they say it's cheaper, and stronger, but maybe it helps the tone.
Mar 31, 2008 05:43 pm Ouch that sucks man! I've seen this advice over and over, and the luthiers that say it are really emphatic about it:
Don't try to fix it yourself. Take it to a trustworthy luthier. If its fixed properly, you'll probably never know it was broken in the first place.
But if some jerkoff tries to fix it and messes it up, there is little that can be done to fix it properly after that.
Although I know its hard to justify the cost of such an operation on a guitar you paid $150 for.
Mar 31, 2008 09:57 pm my mate had the same guitar, did the same thing. its where they do a join fromt neck to headstock.
i agree, a good luthier should be able to fix no wuz.
Apr 01, 2008 06:59 am That sucks for sure, but I have good news. The same thing happened to me, with almost the exact same guitar (it was the LP version).
Contact this guitar shop: www.triplerguitar.com/ and ask for Chris. He's the guy that fixed mine, and he did such a great job the guitar plays better now than it ever did. It's held up nicely for over a year now, and even survived a summer on Warped Tour. I don't know if it's worth it to you to ship it to that shop, hell you might be able to find someone just as good locally, but even if you just want advice on it, Chris is your guy.
Apr 01, 2008 07:04 am Hah. I just went to the website myself for fun, and they actually have 3 pics of my guitar on there from when they fixed the broken headstock.
www.triplerguitar.com/music-equipment-repairs.html
It's the 3 pics in the middle of the page.
Apr 01, 2008 11:10 am Quote:
One guy I know plays nothing but Les Pauls...the ones that are not "collector models" (which he doesn't play live or anything) he actually takes them to his luthier and asks him to break and fix the headstock cuz he likes the way they play more after a headstock fix than before.
I've heard that story many times. Apparently the repair is often stronger than the mahogany was to begin with and it adds rigidity to the neck - adding some sustain.
Apr 01, 2008 12:54 pm I really do love this guitar. I've invested more into it than I originally paid for.
I know the easiest fix would be to replace the whole neck, but necks are like, $200? Right? Plus the repair, would be in the $250-300 range, correct?
What about the luthier breaking the headstock completely off and then gluing it back on? It probably wouldn't be better than a new neck, but it would be susbantially cheaper.
Or do I know nothing to what I'm talking about?
Why did I ask so many questions?
Apr 01, 2008 01:33 pm Take it to a reputable luthier. They'll steer you in the right direction.
Apr 01, 2008 04:22 pm I sent in a repair request to Gibson and I got an email back today with this.
"Hi Iain, unfortunately that is around $800 to repair. I would suggest getting a new guitar at this point. Sorry we could not bring better news."
Which is funny, because through music123, musiciansfriend etc. the guitar only sells for around $650.
Apr 01, 2008 04:25 pm Well, thats sadly common in our increasingly throw-away society, it's easier and cheaper to pitch stuff in the garbage rather than fix it...then they wonder why landfills are full...
Apr 02, 2008 09:34 pm My Hohner Electro acoustic is the same way. Got a repaired head stock and it sounds better then any of the others of similar models I have played.
Apr 03, 2008 12:46 pm To all the other people who have had this happen to them, how much did it cost to get repaired?
Apr 03, 2008 06:57 pm I think I spent all of $200 on mine. Well worth it in my opinion, but then again I've been playing the guitar for years and it's more to me than just a cash value. I got the "it's not worth the money to fix it" speech from a few guitar shops in the area before I took it where I did, and even he told me it wasn't worth the money, but then followed up with "unless it's got some kind of sentimental value to you, in which case let's get it done right away."
I gladly forked over the $200 to fix my $800 guitar. You can't buy 6 years worth of writing and 4 years worth of touring and put it into a new guitar. It's like an old friend, you know?
Apr 05, 2008 10:27 pm Yep, about the same here as well if I remember correctly.
Apr 06, 2008 09:02 pm i agree with ya comments there dB.
it really s**ts me how everything has a taken a nose dive quality wise.
eg, fridges now have a life expectancy of around 5 years! its not good enough.
everything has gone to s**t but we are still paying big dollars, but getting less.
phones are another example i could go on.
Grrr!
feel angry it makes me.
Apr 07, 2008 01:06 pm My parents still have the fridge, washer, and dryer they bought when they got together in the 80's.
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