For Fathers day, I'm building my dad a 4 string license plate guitar from one of his old personalized plates. For the box, fretboard, and headstock wings, I'm using some 30 year old reclaimed redwood that was formerly part of his back porch. I've built the neck from maple, so I know that'll be strong, but the headstock wings, once I added the tuners and strung it up, one side started to crack. (see photos) I've pumped some wood glue in the crack with a bottle and toothpick, but now I'm concerned that this is just a warning of bad things to come from using this old dryed out wood.
Mind you my dad is not a player at all, and this will just be a wall hanger, but it must survive being shipped 1000 miles via UPS, and be able to withstand some occasional abuse from the grandkids.
I've only got about another 2 days to get it done and shipped out.
Should I :
1. Take the safe bet, and chop off the wings? I've got the space to mount the tuners above and below the inset silver dollar
2. Let it be with the glue and clamps that are now on it.
3. Some other fix that some of you more experienced builders may have come across. Perhaps some sort of dowel insert though the sides of the wings? A couple wood screws?
Any and all advice is welcome.
Replies
Thanks again. Great advice all around.
WeldBond or standard wood glue and good clamps....no screws...
Putting screws or dowels into a piece of wood that's already split is asking for trouble. You might get away with working some glue into the splits and clamping, but those plastic clamps are pretty poor for applying serious pressure, you need proper cast iron G clamps to really close the gaps.
Try 5 minute epoxy