Uh-oh..

Banditman

Pulled the Epiphone Sheraton out of her hard case yesterday & noticed an issue.

There's a fine crack in the paint running straight from the nut down the neck - following below the binding - for about 4-5cm. Id seen it before and not thought too much about it, but now I see the same thing on the opposite side, except here it runs away from the binding join and is tracking away at a shallow angle from the binding.

She's strung with 11s, the neck's set up perfectly (no excessive relief or bend in either direction). The headstock's not been snapped & repaired nor is there evidence of the guitar having been dropped on the headstock before I acquired it, and I sure as hell haven't dropped her.

Your thoughts please guys?

kayDUB

I have a crack in my Epi Dot where the neck meets the body (its not too long), but it seems to only be a finish crack... there is a thread on the forum about it somewhere. I also have 11s on mine.
Perhaps this is something the finish on these types of epis are susceptible to ?

AlanRatcliffe

Gibson style guitars have a bit of a weak point at the point where the headstock meets the neck. I've seen headstocks snap off there from guys bumping the endpin a bit hard when they put them down (that's right, bump the bottom and the top breaks!). Cracks from temp changes are also common, as is shock damage - even while in the case. This is why many manufacturer's who have a similar angled headstock either put a volute at the top or scarf joint the neck.

Make sure that your case is supporting the guitar properly along it's whole length. With some, the guitar is only supported at the end and at the neck rest, which makes it more likely to be damaged if you knock the case. I like to keep a bundled up cloth beneath the headstock too.

You need to make sure it's just a finish crack. Loosen the strings, hold the neck near the top and push the headstock back and see if the crack opens up. If it's OK, it's safe to leave. If it does open up, take it in for a repair. At this early stage it's an easy repair (glue injection) that will leave the neck stronger and be virtually invisible.

[deleted]

As an addendum to what Alan's just said: a friend of mine broke the headstock off his Epiphone Les Paul (by dropping it when the straplocks gave out for no apparent reason), and he had to take it in four times to get repaired. This final time seems to have worked...so far. But each previous time what started as a smooth finish to the paintwork over the repair soon became an obvious ridge where the repairwork just couldn't hold.

Banditman

Alan Ratcliffe wrote Gibson style guitars have a bit of a weak point at the point where the headstock meets the neck. I've seen headstocks snap off there from guys bumping the endpin a bit hard when they put them down (that's right, bump the bottom and the top breaks!). Cracks from temp changes are also common, as is shock damage - even while in the case. This is why many manufacturer's who have a similar angled headstock either put a volute at the top or scarf joint the neck.

This I'm familiar with, which is why I'm very very careful with my LP as well. Shock damage is a possibility as it came from out of town via a courier service. In my hands they get treated carefully whether in the case or out.

Make sure that your case is supporting the guitar properly along it's whole length. With some, the guitar is only supported at the end and at the neck rest, which makes it more likely to be damaged if you knock the case. I like to keep a bundled up cloth beneath the headstock too.

Its in the original Epiphone hard case which seems to be ok, but thanks for this tip - I'll take another look and add a cloth to it.

You need to make sure it's just a finish crack. Loosen the strings, hold the neck near the top and push the headstock back and see if the crack opens up. If it's OK, it's safe to leave. If it does open up, take it in for a repair. At this early stage it's an easy repair (glue injection) that will leave the neck stronger and be virtually invisible.

I'll do this test tomorrow when I'm more awake (just got in from practice) and there's better light. Either way it may well be a good time to get the nut replaced with a decent one at the same time. Thanks Alan.