Any suggestions for repairing hairline crack in neck?

john1880 · #1 05-15-2004, 03:33 AM

Hey guys,
I have an Ibanez RG520 with a very slight, hairline crack right on one of the locking nut holding screw holes. It doesn't go across to the other screw hole. It kind of goes toward the tuners. It's about 1/2 long. It's not hurting anything right now, but I'm afraid of it spreading. It's not big enough where I would be able to spread it open and glue it...yet.
I was wondering if there is some way to contain it, and keep it from getting worse.
Thanks in advance...

John

MicJustMic · #2 05-16-2004, 04:57 PM

This is common . . . usually caused by over-tightening the screws.

Sometimes due to dropping (or in my case, throwing) the guitar.

Is the nut moving? Are you noticing any changes in tuning?

If you've said "no" to both, don't worry about it. Until you actually see it getting larger, don't touch it. Usually they will just stop at a short point and go no farther anyway and if you start drilling holes now and trying to force glue in it you may cause more problems.

My 1990 RG 550 has had a V shaped crack going from one hole to the other for almost half of it's life, and I have zero problems with it, so I haven't even thought about trying to "fix" it, since it's really not broken.

Like I said, until you notice any real problems, I wouldn't touch it.

Mic

john1880 · #3 05-16-2004, 07:59 PM

Thanks for the advice.
I'll just keep an eye on it. I got the guitar on ebay, and the seller put the guitar in a medium grade gigbag, and shipped it through the postal service. NO BOX, NO PACKING, NO NOTHING!
I'm lucky it was still in one piece. Ya gotta love ebay...
Thanks again.

John

MicJustMic · #4 05-16-2004, 08:24 PM

Yikes . . .

Hell, you can go to just about any music store and they will GIVE you a guitar box, they just throw them out since most people buy a case with a new guitar.

What a putts . . .

Mic

john1880 · #5 05-16-2004, 09:39 PM

"Putts". that's the perfect word.
Imagine my surprise when the mailman knocks on my door and hands me the gigbag! YIKES! is right.
Luckily, I got a great deal on it, and the neck(besides the small crack) is nice. Not all the AANJ Wizards are exactly the same. I've found a couple that were TOO thin. I got another RG570 that's got a good amount of extra meat on it. This one is in between.
As long as that crack doesn't spread(that sounds wrong), I'll be OK. I like the 520s because there's no middle pickup. I never use it anyway.
Thanks Mic.

John

Rich · #6 05-16-2004, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john1880

"Putts". that's the perfect word.

If it was perfect it would be putz, but as bad as I spell I'm not complaining

I had a VWH show up wrapped once in light cardboard, took a month to ship from Costa Rica, not a scratch on it. Go figure that.

MicJustMic · #7 05-17-2004, 12:13 AM

Hey, give me a break Rich . . . I just had a heart attack.

J/K

That's another of those words that I KNOW I always spell wrong, and do it again anyway. :-)

I guess it depends on the mail carriers that end up with your stuff.

I know I've posted my experience with UPS . . . the USPS here is even worse . . . more that 5 times now we've gotten, "Sorry we missed you, there is a certified letter waiting for you . . ." note and 3 of those times we WATCHED the mail man put the mail in the box. NEVER pulled into the driveway to knock on the door to give us our letter(s).

Go figure . . . one thing you can count on always is how LAZY the average person is.

Mic

MicJustMic · #8 05-17-2004, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john1880

"Putts". that's the perfect word.
Imagine my surprise when the mailman knocks on my door and hands me the gigbag! YIKES! is right.
Luckily, I got a great deal on it, and the neck(besides the small crack) is nice. Not all the AANJ Wizards are exactly the same. I've found a couple that were TOO thin. I got another RG570 that's got a good amount of extra meat on it. This one is in between.
As long as that crack doesn't spread(that sounds wrong), I'll be OK. I like the 520s because there's no middle pickup. I never use it anyway.
Thanks Mic.

John

No problem . .

I have a 520 as well (QSTB, pretty guitar) and I found myself missing the middle pup. Not that I use it alone much, but I do like the "quack" of a Strat from time to time so I wired it so I could have it.

They are nice guitars though, and without the middle pup they just look "cleaner", if you know what I mean.

Enjoy it! :-D

Mic

beyblade · #9 05-17-2004, 01:24 PM

John1880, too bad that not everyone packs their guitars as well as you do.
Peace dude

john1880 · #10 05-17-2004, 05:21 PM

i do my best at packing. good thing it didn't travel from CA to Australia 'cause it would've never made it in one piece.

BTB007 · #11 05-17-2004, 10:59 PM

Maybe the seller took the guitar to the UPS store to have them package it, and they either forgot to or didn't want to. Naaah, the seller was a complete idiot!

Brian

john1880 · #12 05-17-2004, 11:10 PM

The thing that shocks me is that the United States Postal Service would take something like that, no packaging, no box and no insurance.
wassup widat?
oh well. i'm playing it right now, and i like it alot. i guess it was worth it, as long as the crack doesn't get bigger.
Let this be a reminder to you guys that buy stuff on ebay. Always remind the seller to pack it up well. I used to do that, and I stopped because everything was going well. Most people on ebay are cool to deal with. But there's a small percentage that just DON'T KNOW S**T.
And be careful with scams. I was totally saved by this website from being scammed out of $500 once.

John

ashbass · #13 06-09-2004, 01:04 AM

John,
As has already been noted, the crack you mention is a common occurance. Rarely do these cracks even extend down into the neck wood. However, if you're like me, it *is* annoying when one of your fingers or your eye passes over it. I got a tasty S370DVF from ebay a few days ago and there was a similar crack. Here's what I do:

Get a utility razor blade (one sided) and pull the edge across something hard like a screwdriver shaft. What should happen is that the edge of the blade gets bent a little. This bent part, or burr, is a perfect scraping tool to help level out the crack so you can't feel it any more.

Lightly pull the razor blade over the length of the crack. Hold the neck so that the crack is in a reflection of some light and you'll easily be able to tell where you've been as the finish will look dull instead of shiny. Keep doing this and checking with your fingers for smoothness until you can't feel the crack any more. I usually try to get as much dirt gone as I can as well. Be judicious, and don't keep going so far that you take all the finish off, unless you want to.

When you've razored the crack smooth to the touch, use some wet-dry sandpaper on the area to smooth it out.

Then put a buffing wheel (under $5 at hardware store) on your electric drill buff the area smooth and shiny.