‘53 Gibson Les Paul Repair
This was a '53 Gibson Les Paul, Gold Top, with a thoroughly mangled headstock.The first four photos show it as it came to me. Note the copper straps, multiple screws, bolts, and a piece of spoon (!) that were being used to (sort of) hold it together.
The next three photos show the initial removal, and the misalignment of the various pieces. The next photo displays some of the creative clamping necessary to realign the pieces properly. The next five shots show how one of the misaligned pieces was dislodged by soaking with water, to soften the old glue joint, removed, and reinstalled.
As you can see, the head plate was severely damaged, and there were many holes left from all the hardware that had been used to cob it together, which had to be filled. The sixteenth photo shows the proper headstock angle reachieved (compare to the third photo). The next five photos show various stages of the finish touchup, and the last three show the finished product (Official Guitar Tester A.J. Strauss says, "It works for me!").
