Les Paul Broken Peg Head
by Bryan Galloup
This Les Paul belongs to a retired working musician who dug it out of the closet and decided to start playing again. It shows years of wear and abuse, but other than the broken peg head, there are only a few other items he'd like to repair as long as it's here. The peg head had broken off clean. It's not just a fracture like some of the simpler breaks (fig 1). In addition to the break, there are sections of binding missing and the neck is cracked under the fret board (fig 2).
I first remove the tuners and truss rod hardware (fig 3, 4) in preparation for repair. I use West Systems epoxy for most of my broken peg head repairs (fig 5).
This is a slow curing epoxy that gives me plenty of working time when realigning the broken sections. I work it into all of the cracks (fig 6) and both broken sections of the peg head (fig 7, 8).
I work both sections back together till the small fingers of broken wood fit back together like a puzzle (fig 9). Once in place I use two flat cauls and two clamps to lightly clamp it together and then check to make sure it doesn't slip (fig 10). Once I'm sure it's secure and straight I finish clamping it into position (fig 11). This is a slow curing epoxy that requires a full 12 hours to secure the peg head so I'll let it cure over night.
The binding slot is in good shape (fig 12). To replace the binding and perflings I measure the width of each perfling (fig 13) and choose some material about the same width and height (fig 14).
This material was some Boltron strips I had that were close but about .005 to wide so I simply scrape them down to width (fig 15). I first glue the perflings into place using Duco glue and a section of Teflon and tape to hold then in place (fig 16, 17).
Then I file the perflings flat so I can see the seam (fig 18) then I tape the binding into place and float it with cyanoacrylate (fig 19, 20).
I file the excess epoxy and binding flush (fig 21, 22) and final scrape the binding to shape (fig 23).
I inspect the entire peg head for any imperfections and sand it up to a 230 grit finish down to about the 5th fret (fig 24). In preparation for finishing I mask off the fret board (fig 25) then I mask off the bindings on the neck protect them from the black lacquer during the touch up (fig 26) but I chose to scrape the peg head bindings clean.
The last step is to Scotch Bright the area to prep it for the new finish (fig 27, 28). This guitar has a second output jack (fig 29), what were they thinking?
The customer was running out of cash and decided not to repair this but while I had all the supplies out I fixed this as a freebee. I remove the second plate (fig 30) then use a Forstner bit to open up the hole (fig 31, 32).
I cut a tapered plug and glue it into place with cyanoacrylate glue and a lightly tap with a hammer to secure it into place (fig 33, 34). I plug the small outer holes using the same method (fig 35).
I cut off the excess plug (fig 36, 37) and use some 180 grit sand paper on a paint stick (fig 38) to sand the plug flush (fig 39, 40).
I mask off the binding on this area also and started the touch up by spraying black over the repaired areas (fig 41, 42).
Then I pull the tape off the bindings (fig 43, 44) and scrape the peg head bindings clean (fig 45).
I spray 4 coats of clear lacquer to seal the black in and airbrush a golden tint to match the aged look on the body (fig 46, 47).
Once I was happy with the color match I finish the spraying process with 8 coats of clear lacquer (48). After a one week cure period I wet sand with 1000 grit wet sanding paper (fig 49, 50) and buff it to a high gloss sheen (fig 51, 52).
I now clean and polish the entire guitar and reinstall the hardware (fig 53), once I finish the new nut (fig 54) and set it up this repair is complete and it looks great.
The binding looks so good I couldn't even tell it was repaired (fig 55) and the back shows no sign of the fracture (fig 56).
When this customer notices the freebee repair of the extra output jack he should be thrilled (fig 57).
