Head Stock Separation

Sorry to hear it man! I can imagine that sickening feeling when you saw it... I've repaired 2 guitar headstocks and one banjo with a snapped neck. All turned out well and hardly descernable. The banjo is almost done, just needs one more coat of sealer, a final sand and then refinish. If I can be of any help let me know. You got some pics you can post? -Pix

sorry about your luck..

had the same problem [only with kids not cats] '67 les paul gold top

by the time you buy the glue and clamps sandpaper ect. prob would be better off

just taking it to a luthier  and be sure [did that 15 yrs. ago] $ 50 well spent

YeTi20

Thanks so much for all the tips.  I will post photos of this repair in progress.  I've taken your advice and the advice of many websites and reattached the headstock with titebond II glue.  I used two clamps and wax paper to keep the glue from sticking to the clamps.  The headstock looks good.  The veneer is trashed though.  I ordered two pieces of veneer from stewmac.com.   One piece is ebony and the other is rosewood.  I plan on either sanding the old veneer off or steaming it off.  The original is so thin that either would probably be ok.  Installing the new veneer will also be easy but finishing it is a different subject.   Oddly, I'm replacing the original decal with a brass plate from my grandfathers old Mossberg target rifle.  It just feels right for some reason.  Again, Thanks for your help.

Here's some photos (I hope) of what I've been up to with this guitar since Disaster Day.

Anyway,  Once I got the head glued back on, I knew that I would have to replace the veneer.  I found a piece of rosewood at stewmac.com that was quite a bit thicker than the original.  The original was paper thin.

The new one was 3/32".  I wanted to use it because i knew that it would not only look nice but also add strength to the repair.  I used a Japanese saw at the back edge of the nut and cut a slot 3/32" deep and used a set of dividers to scribe a line around the headstock.  After that I used a Dual Action Orbital sander to remove the excess material down to the scribe line.  Then I glued and clamped the new rosewood veneer.
  I also decided to reprofile the neck to make it fit my hands better. I figured, what the hell, I'm in it this deep already, I may as well make some modifications... I sort of mimicked the soft V shape of my Ovation using the same sander.
So far its got a good feel but I won't really know until the strings go on.  And just to set the record straight.  I would never have done any of this myself if I had spent a lot of money on this guitar.  This thing only cost me $250.00 US so I figured I could give it a go.  I would never even consider doing this to my J-200.   

Thank you all for your tips, hints, links and support.  I appreciate it.  It motivated me to try this myself.  Which is a good thing.
I still have the whole refinishing thing to deal with but that somehow doesn't seem as daunting.

Thanks again.

Matt

Yeah, I selected the "anyone can view my pics" option, but from reading the FAQ's on Flickr, apparently someone has to review the content and approve it before it can be viewed by "anyone".  Don't know how long that takes.. Sorry about that.

Looks good to me Matt, I guess you'll find out when you get her strung up and start pounding away.

Mekidsmom taught me how to post pictures today! (thank you!) So here they are finally...(attached to original postings)

Roger,
When I saw what you had to do, I was worried about all that string tension on such a small shear -loaded surface. Congrats on fixing that! It didn't look very easy at all.

Hmmm... this was from last year?  No wonder I never saw this thread before!  LOL!  Looks great though... how's she holding up a year later???  Glad I could be of help with the pics