Home : Ratliff Mandolin
The peghead was broken off.  They often break like this because of the rout on the face of the peghead for the truss rod nut. It needed a graft rather than just gluing it because there wasn’t enough gluing surface in the break to secure it from breaking again.

I glue the break just to hold everything in place.
 

I removed stock off the back of the peghead for a laminate that will extend over the break.  I was able to start in the middle of the peghead on this instrument because the finish was not transparent in this area so you won't see it when I’m done.

Here I prepare and glue down a veneer of maple that I bent to fit so there is no grain run out over the break.  It’s much stronger this way.
 

I shape the instrument back to its original contours.

This instrument already had a dark shading so I just extended that shading a little further down the neck.  The instrument looks brand new and the area where the break happened is now stronger than before.
 


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