Neck joint repair on a 1965 Gibson SG
Cracks or breaks where the neck joins the body are unfortunately quite common on Gibson SGs. This is the case on the 1965 Gibson SG pictured here that has a crack on the treble side from the neck all the way to the pickup cavity.
Gentle movements show clearly that the crack is not stable and can be opened further. It has to be glued. When checking through any old nitrocellulose finish guitar, the UV lamp can be a good friend of the luthier.
Any original finish should glow with a greenish haze, while finish repairs should appear as highly contrasted black or purple. Another advantage of the technique is that hairline cracks in the wood will also become visible. In this case, I also found prior repair marks but fortunately there is only one crack that needs gluing.
Since the crack can only be pried open slightly, we are going to need a liquidy glue that will flow deep into the crack. Sorry Titebond, a classical hide glue is what the task calls for. I boiled a hide glue with a hint of bone glue and I heated up the area of the crack. This is especially important as when the glue comes in contact with a cold surface, it immediately fixes. Gently prying the crack, I rub in the glue with a circular motion. When it starts leaking at the pickup cavity, I can rest assured that the entire crack was penetrated by the glue.
Hide glue’s other advantage is that any excess can be cleaned off completely with warm water!
