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Gibson: Pearl Logo Transfer

Related Topics: Gibson J-50: Broken Headstock | Inlay


1. A Severed Gibson Headstock. This headstock was broken completely off and reglued twice already. In order to ensure this doesn't happen a third time I'll glue the headstock back to- gether then reinforce it with a back strap overlay and new, ebony face plate. The new faceplate will necessitate transfering the Gibson pearl logo, a much faster and more cost effective approach than making a new pearl logo from scratch.	2. The Back Strap Overlay is a pretty straightforward concept. The back of the headstock and part of the back of the neck are carved away and a new piece of mahogany is fitted, glued and shaped. Since the new mahogy spans either side of the crack the repair will be much stronger than simply regluing it.


3. The Face of the Headstock doesn't actually have a faceplate. Gibson simply finished the front of the headstock black.	4. The Pearl Gibson Logo is not actually inlaid into the mahogany face of the headstock. Rather, this logo is very thin and was simply glued to the headstock, then finished over. You can actually see the beaded lac- quer around the edge of the raised logo. The pearl is probably too thin to be pried free without breaking into a bunch of little pieces. Instead, I'll remove the logo along with some of the mahogany it's glued to. Then I'll inlay the pearl and its thin mahogany backing into the new ebony faceplate.


5. Routing the Perimeter with a dremel tool equiped with a router base and down cut bit.	6. Sawing Free the Logo is a somewhat delicate procedure so I opted to use a Japanese Dozuki saw. I've found that these saws are a pretty good multi purpose saw. They work well for both cross cuts and rip cuts (as pictured here).


7. Sawing Free the Logo Cont. A cross cut (saw cut accross the grain) will free up the logo. Once the pearl and mahogany backing are free from the headstock, I'll delicately flaten the back of the logo on a sheet of fine sandpaper on a dead flat granite slab.	8. Fine Tuning the Perimeter of the Logo with a box cutter will make the inlay process much easier.


9. Laying Out the Faceplate for Routing is pretty straight forward. I've lightly attached the logo to this guitar's new ebony faceplate with a couple of drops of old titebond. Now I'm scoring my layout lines into the ebony with an exacto blade.	10. Freeing Up the Logo.


11. Deepening the Scores in the ebony will prevent unwanted chipping of the face- plate during routing.	12. Routing the Faceplate. There's a lot of material to be removed here so I'll use the dremel tool to fine tune the perimeter, then I'll make a few passes through the center to establish the depth.


13. Cleaning Things Up with a Chisel. I suppose that once I established the perimeter, I could have switched to a larger downcut router bit. But when you factor in the time it would take to swap bits, re- adjust the depth for the new bit and actually do the routing, it's probably just as fast if not faster to do the work with a sharp Japanese chisel instead.	14. Gluing in the Logo. I'm using yellow wood glue because the pearl is backed by the old mahogany. I'll clamp it with a cam clamp and flat, cork lined caul and let it cure over night.


15. Filling in the Low Spots and small gaps at the perimeter of the logo with ebony dust and super glue will help hide the evidence of the logo transfer. Since I routed the face- plate so the pearl would be flush with the surface of the ebony, I now need to fill in the low spots between and around the pearl lettering where the mahogany backing is recessed into the ebony.	16. Sanding the Filler Flush. I'll sand and steel wool the logo so it's nice and shiny.


17. Ready for Finish, almost. I'll drill the tuning machine holes first, then I'll do the finish work to help hide these neck/ headstock repairs.	18. A Transferred Logo.