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A customer brings in a Chinese made Washburn with a cracked heel.



In addition to the heel being cracked, the sides are cracked and the portion behind the heels butt joint are pulling away from the head block. This suggested that more than a cracked heel was in play. I decided to remove the neck to see how the guitar was constructed and what further damage was present.



Notable observations:

- a dowelled butt joint

- CA used under the fretboard extension, in the dowel holes, and on the end grain face of the butt joint

-many unexplainable and illogical voids in the area of the head block



-rusted truss rod and wood in the body truss rod slot looks deteriorated by moisture (I think condensation on the metal truss rod is the culprit)

-there is an unidentifiable piece of plastic (?) embedded between the top of the head block and underside of the top on the cutaway side



-there is some other foreign substance that looks like a filler material caked inside some of the voids



-the heel remnant still fixed to the guitar is made from two pieces with the glue joint running vertical and slightly offset from the neck center plane

Fortunately I didn't prior commit to doing anything more than taking the neck off to assess the repair prospect.

So if you come across one... run the other way!

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David Radlin
http://www.facebook.com/radlin.guitars

Whew! AMJ & AMG to the max!

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https://soundcloud.com/jeffreylsuits/he ... -runnin-13

very interesting......

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

I am not impressed.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

How about the Etch-a-Sketch Rosette?

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Wow, I thought truss rods were getting expensive but I had no idea folks would start breaking into guitars to steal them.

If it says Made in China , I tell them it will cost more to fix than buying a new one ! .

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

My customer wanted to salvage the guitar, and paid for a bolt-on conversion.

With a small heel and no tenon I was concerned that the existing heel would crack if salvaged. I constructed a new and slightly larger heel to strengthen and support the bolt-on connection hardware. A few photos trail.

Heel block rough shaped and glued.



Carved to blend into neck.



Hanger bolts added.



Neck angle/alignment set.



Finish applied.



Repair completed.



It would have been easy to scrap the guitar, but it was salvageable and I was paid a fair and reasonable price to do so.

My philosophy is to get good and efficient at fixing the imports and there will be lots of opportunities to do so. It would be a luxury to fix Martins all day, but that is not my reality.

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David Radlin
http://www.facebook.com/radlin.guitars

YOU DA MAN!

Looks great.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Great work , Blends in nicely !

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

A seamless repair, David. Nicely done!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Thanks guys...

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David Radlin
http://www.facebook.com/radlin.guitars

Very nice job indeed!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Lovely work! It always amazes me how much time people/companies will take in order to "save time". All that junk, filler, etc took time to do. They could have easily stayed with a butt joint, but ran hanger bolts like you did and produced a much better product.
I have an older Washburn that will need a reset soon. I plan to cut right through the fretboard at the neck body joint, and bolt 'er back together when the time comes. Sure wish they'd do a better job, as the guitar actually sounds really good.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Thanks for posting that. Chinese guitars make me feel better about my building technique! People salvage some strange things, great job on the repair. You;d think people would be embarrassed to bring a junk knockoff to a builder. Strange indeed.

Nice job. I didn't know that some were still using doweled neck joints. These used to pop up on older Japaneses and some others foreign make guitars..

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Another day, another dollar.