Repair — Carbon Fiber
The Carbon Fiber Sticks
A first-time carbon fiber headstock overlay on an early ’70s Martin D-35.
On a late Friday evening, a little over a year ago, I sat down at my kitchen table to watch the carbon fiber headstock repair video which had recently been uploaded to the Looth Group Patreon page. It was captioned “A spicy meatball,” and it was one I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into. About halfway through the video, my partner — who is also a keen luthier — joined me to sit and watch. Both of us were fascinated and thought Joe Glaser and Scott Holyfield’s way of overlaying carbon fiber to reinforce a headstock break was a genius idea. The use of modern materials in a repair like that was super innovative, and honestly seemed downright cool.
Admittedly, I’m also a car nut with a long wish list of Mini Cooper parts including many carbon fiber items, which almost certainly played a part in stoking my enthusiasm for the idea. Structurally, I found it to be the guitar equivalent of having a titanium rod implanted in a femur. You couldn’t even tell that a major guitar surgery had occurred.
At the end of the video, my partner turned to me and nonchalantly says “You should do one.” “HA!” I let out an incredulous laugh. Then I realized he was serious.
“Yeah… I mean, I guess I could… if the right guitar came along, sure.”
Little did I know that a few short months later, the right guitar would come along.
A gentleman from California was given my number from my contact at Martin, who referred him to me for help with his guitar. He had an old early ’70s D-35, and after yet another break in the headstock, he was at a loss. He knew having the neck replaced was likely his best option, but he had a great sentimental attachment to the neck and wanted to save it somehow. I chatted with him for a while and went over the pros and cons of splines, back straps, and a new technique for reinforcing headstocks with carbon fiber which I had just recently learned about. I was really clear with him that despite my knowledge of such matters, I had never done a spline, back strap, or any carbon fiber repair.
I guess something I said must’ve impressed him, and regardless of my lack of actual hands-on headstock reinforcement experience, he was convinced that I was the looth for the job. After failing to persuade him that he could take it to any number of talented luthiers in California, or even send it to Joe Glaser himself, the shipping plans were arranged. This guitar was coming to my shop, and I was doing the carbon fiber overlay.
The Guitar Arrives
The Martin D-35 as received
The guitar arrived, and it was toast. The two pieces of the headstock were held together only by the tuner washers and a screw. I could see where it was previously repaired, and where a new break had formed. I removed the tuners and went ahead with the usual headstock glue-up. Gaps of missing mahogany were visible on the side of the headstock, and inspecting through a tuner hole into the break, I could see a few rather large chunks of wood were missing inside. No wonder the repair didn’t hold.
The Looth Group tab stayed up in my browser as I rewatched the Glaser video over and over to compile a materials list, make detailed notes, and commit the process to memory. I wanted to follow this to a T.
Materials list: RBC epoxy, ceramic scissors, 4K plain weave carbon fiber fabric from eBay, plastic wrap, and silicone tubing.
The broken headstock