Hello all.
A couple of years ago I bought an Ibanez AEB-10 online and it turned up with the headstock snapped off. I received a new, intact bass free of charge but the courier forgot to pick up the old one - and I've finally got around to repairing the break.
I've used 315g hot hide glue to fix the break, and I'm happy with the structural integrity of it - I've tested it at full string tension and it holds. That's good enough for me for now.
What remains is the finish. Here's how it looks:
I could have removed a bit more of the veneer/polyurethane finish that overhangs from the neck end, as the glue squeeze-out has pushed it up. I will probably have to remove that.
I have 90% of the flakes of veneer/finish that have come off the top of the headstock - they're a bit cracked but I could stick them back on and patch up the cracks. Alternatively, I could perhaps use some sort of filler.
How would I go about making this look smooth and fairly presentable? I'm not after a perfect finish (that would surely be impossible without re-veneering the whole top of the headstock), just something so it's smooth, shiny and thus not too noticeable.
Also, I'm in the UK, so American brand names are unfortunately of no help to me!
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
I would probably put a completely new veneer on this: fill the current voids. sand level -- at least a little below the current thickness and glue on the new veneer. finish it as desired. another option would be to put down a layer of decorative pickguard (scratchplate) material, such as faux pearl (aka Mother of Toilet Seat) -- whatever you think looks cool. If you go that direction with a multi-layer/multi-color laminate, you can route a design into it.
-=tension & release=-
You could do it that way. Greg's suggestion is going to give you the best finish.
But, Looking at the veneer in the background it seems like fairly good sized chunks. I don't think you could get them to be seamless, but you could try.
I'd have to have a think about it, but I'd probably get the back of the veneer as clean as I could, glue them using a slower drying glue like titebond and clamp the heck out of them to keep them flat, wiping the squeezeout as I went. Once it set in place I'd use super thin modeling superglue to fill the cracks and sand and buff that clean.
If it doesn't work to your satisfaction, you could always refinish it.
Nice hide glue fix by the way. That looks really strong.
I should add: if you believe it might one day be a collectible (I doubt it, but you never know), follow Nick's advice.
in case it's not sold in the UK, Titebond = Aliphatic resin glue: http://www.titebond.com/IntroPageTB.ASP?UserType=1&ProdSel=ProductCategoryTB.asp?prodcat=1
-=tension & release=-
Thanks, Greg and Nick.
I have decided not to re-veneer the headstock, and I have stuck the missing flakes of veneer back on, using plenty of clamps. In fact, over the day or so that the plastic spring clamps were on, three of them broke. They were of poor quality. Anyway, I've sanded down my work and it's looking all right (quite nice in satin, don't you think?!).
Sorry about the image rotation if they're vertical. Maybe Photobucket will sort itself out soon.
Next is the cyanoacrylate for the cracks, and I'm also going to fill the voids with some sort of filler, and colour it dark to match, before applying a new coat of shiny polyurethane over the top of the headstock (my dad's work has this kind of stuff).
Thank you very much for your advice. I'll post a couple more pics when it's complete!
v good work piecing it back together -- the "crackle" certainly adds character! very interested to see how well the cyanoa works.
-=tension & release=-
I filled the voids with Plastic Wood in "teak" colour. TEAK?! It's the colour of caramel or pine or beech or something! Never mind though. I also used cyano on the thin cracks. I don't know if it was thin enough to truly fill them, but it's good enough for me and probably better than it was.
I then sanded the affected areas by hand with a 500 grit sanding disc (it was lying around...) then 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit. Then I realised that because the 2000 grit was a different brand, it was actually coarser than the 3M 1500, so I re-sanded with the 1500.
Finally, I went to Wilkinsons (a cheap hardware shop) and got a new bottle of Brasso, and polished top and bottom with an old pair of boxers and my very own elbow grease. It's not doing my tennis elbow any good, let me assure you. Anyway, I am proud of the results. The cracks are still apparent, and the Plastic Wood needs staining to match the rest of the bass, but it's definitely passable and full of character!!
I apologise for the post-polishing photo: the glare obscures the cracked area, but you can see it in the other pre-polishing pics.
The system refused four photos, so here are the remaining two (pre and post polishing):
polished up very nicely.
-=tension & release=-
really nice job
