Headstock Breaks...?

[Daniel]

I searched and came up with bunk...

I see so many LPs with headstock breaks and repairs. Is this always from a bang or a drop or is it a common stress failure?

Seems that all the the epis and Gibson Studios are the ones I see most, again the question is: Are they more prone to a stress failure or just more prone to missuse and abuse due to the low buck factor?

 

[rxbandit]

I searched and came up with bunk...

I see so many LPs with headstock breaks and repairs. Is this always from a bang or a drop or is it a common stress failure?

Seems that all the the epis and Gibson Studios are the ones I see most, again the question is: Are they more prone to a stress failure or just more prone to missuse and abuse due to the low buck factor?

It's due to the angle that the headstock is relative to the neck, Gibson headstocks have a larger angle, greater than most other guitars. This makes them much more prone to snapping if they are dropped. Haven't heard of any busting from just sitting there with no force impacted.

 

[Sven]

I see so many LPs with headstock breaks and repairs. Is this always from a bang or a drop or is it a common stress failure?

I have never heard of one break that wasn't broken by someone or something else. It is not a stress failure. If it was, there would be no old Gibsons anymore at all.

BTW--acoustic guitars have angled headstocks and people manage to break them, too.

 

[-=[Shifty]=-]

 

[marc1kim]

That's a scary pic, but dont forget you have full thickness on both sides of the truss rod hole.

 

[dwagar]

it is always an accident, it is always carelessness.

 

[mono]

That pic is misleading, it's showing the narrowest point in the truss rod cavity....
Still scary though

 

[KenG]

Apparently some old Gibson case designs also failed to properly support the neck and the weight of the upper part of the guitar would be resting on the headstock itself. It was possible to actually fracture the guitar while it was in it's case!

 

[Androo]

 

[Daniel]

So it's a mishandling thing...

I see that it is the one guitar I own that you just can't lay flat on it's back (like my Tele).

Good to know that the headstock won't just blow apart.

 

[diceman]

So it's a mishandling thing...

I see that it is the one guitar I own that you just can't lay flat on it's back (like my Tele).

Good to know that the headstock won't just blow apart.

That is what I love about my Fenders - being able to toss them on the ground without worry...

 

[mono]

There is a great photo of someone standing on a Fender neck supported between two chairs - they literally will not break. Ever.
Shame I can't find it

 

[Daniel]

That is what I love about my Fenders - being able to toss them on the ground without worry...

Yes, this is true... Something very similar to the way Louisville Sluggers and Fender Telecasters are built.

 

[-=[Shifty]=-]

There is a great photo of someone standing on a Fender neck supported between two chairs - they literally will not break. Ever.
Shame I can't find it

I could only find this one.

 

[boxcarmonument]

There is a great photo of someone standing on a Fender neck supported between two chairs - they literally will not break. Ever.
Shame I can't find it

That pic is of Leo Fender standing on a neck supported between to chairs right?
I just did a Google image search for that pic. And the funny thing was about every 20th or 30th pic, there was a pic of a Gibson with a broken headstock.

 

[dspelman]

I searched and came up with bunk...

I see so many LPs with headstock breaks and repairs. Is this always from a bang or a drop or is it a common stress failure?

It's not a "low-buck guitar" failure; it's a common stress failure that can simply "happen" or that can be triggered by a very modest drop, bang or random contact. I know one LP player who used to playfully tap one of the drummers' cymbals with his guitar. One night the headstock simply snapped while he was doing that. The force involved in the tap should not have produced this effect, since, after all, drummers do it all night long with much smaller bits of wood with small tips carved into the ends. And more force.

The only headstock break I've actually seen happen with no prior ding or drop involved a guitar that was being played normally. All of a sudden the guitar went flat. The guitar player looked down at his guitar where he was picking it, then at the fretboard, and then was horrified to see the headstock lean forward.

It's simply a design flaw that's been with that particular headstock since its inception. The second most-seen headstock break is on the Jackson-esque "tilted pointies", which always seem to break between the first and second tuners (well, the two farthest out toward the end). A small tap on those is usually sufficient to initiate the break.

 

[guitarfish]

 

[guitarfish]

Some things are made to withstand accidents and survive. The Gibson neck isn't one of them. Even the mildest of fall, face first on carpet, can cause failure. On the one hand you can argue that people shouldn't drop their guitars, which I agree with. On the other hand you can argue that the neck should be strong enough to withstand an accidental fall, which I also agree with. But as they say, you can wish in one hand and crap in the other, and see which one gets filled first. Bottom line, don't drop Gibbys...or play Fenders instead.

 

[mono]

Thank you!

 

[Satch0922]

The Fender is hard maple....not exactly apples to apples