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ESP LTD Set Neck Viper 400 headstock repair


StoneCrow

Question

I picked up this guitar at a severely reduced price because the headstock was damaged in a way that the binding and face of the headstock were separating from the rest of it. Someone else tried to repair it but their shoddy super glue and nail polish fix inevitably failed and just made it look even more terrible. Like it was used as a battering ram to bash open a door.

This is my progress since Friday: 

After some initial cleaning of the fracture I gently wedged it open and taped everything off around it. Then I basically had to mix up a tight bond glue compound that was liquid enough to wick into the small cracks and fractures but with enough body to hopefully maintain integrity.

I clamped it, and waited overnight for the glue to dry. Then I cleaned up the glue with a fine grit sandpaper and used a thicker two part epoxy to fill in the rest of the fracture. After that dried, I sanded it until it felt even to the touch. There’s still one little divot that needs filled in.

I have a lacquer that should match the high gloss finish on the instrument. 

I could try to paint it and blend it in a way that hides the repairs, or I could leave the repairs unpainted, sand them even finer, and lacquer them to give it a ‘relic’ feel. 

Any paint or finishing tips or suggestions - if I go that route? There’s a lot of little and not so little dings on the front and back of the body that someone tried to cover with nail polish, I need to address those as well. 

Also, the neck absolutely reeks of cigarette nicotine, the tar also discolored the binding. I’ve cleaned the neck at least 5 times now but every time I move the guitar I get that stomach turning wiff of deep set toxic chemical tar rot.

How can I get rid of the old nicotine tar smell and the discoloration without damaging the fretboard or anything else?

This is a quality Korean made set neck with a similar lacquer finish to my Hamer.

It sort of reminds me of Tony Iomi’s sg.

Any input on my questions or any other suggestions you might have as I work on this instrument are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

 

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