This was a long repair job for Guitar Maker and fellow Marquetry artist Jim Macdonald. Jim created two marquetry guitar designs for the Gibson Custom Shop in the early 2000’s as part of their “Visual Artist Program.” Both guitars were priced at $14,000. In 2013, Jim began making his own guitars featuring beautiful marquetry work. Please contact Jim for pricing if you are interested. Each handmade instrument is custom and priced accordingly. The headstock on this Gibson made by Jim called Fantasy Gold cracked badly and separated completely in shipping. I did the Petillo technique to fix it that was taught to me by its inventor, my Father Dr. Phil Petillo. This process involves gluing the separated/cracked headstock back together on the correct angle, then milling/filing 1/8″ off the back of the headstock, followed with replacing the 1/8″ with a stronger wood than the neck. In this case I used Indian rosewood on the back of the headstock and three thin lamination veneers of American hard maple, Nigerian ebony and Satinwood on the front of the headstock. These woods have a unique ability to complement the sound of the guitar. Each piece of wood has a reason behind it. The Indian rosewood back headstock piece is to have continuity with the Indian rosewood fingerboard, the American maple, Indian rosewood and Satinwood veneers on the front of the headstock blend with the guitar and the woods used in it. This restoration comes down to the true essence of Luthierie, the broken neck technique leveled and filed into the neck to feel at one with the rest of the neck, and stay with the feel/original neck thickness. The last step was to airbrush a black stinger mimicking the original Gibson stinger to cover the bad break outs and patch pieces. The black stinger went around the sides and tip of the headstock to cover the ugly side crack by the nut. On these types of finishes I had to sand off/delicately scrape the entire neck bare around where the fingerboard meets the body which made it easier to make the lacquer flow. One of the hardest parts was to align the decals correctly and cut out the Satinwood old-fashioned Gibson headstock logo on the front of the headstock. The guitar came out great and I’m very proud of the outcome. Jim informed me that after he drove from Connecticut to pick up the guitar that same day it sold to a private collector. Please check out Jim’s work. Jim’s guitars are superb high end instruments, please contact him for pricing on a custom build. He is a highly skilled craftsman and when he came by my shop we got a chance to talk about music, our love of custom wood work, and the lost artistry of our beloved art form of Marquetry.

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