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So my cat knocked my guitar over and my headstock snapped off my SG. Seems like a very clean break but as of know I am devastated. My tech says he can def fix it but need some opinions. Once it is fixed and possibly strong again, would it be able to hold my heavy strings again? I'm not really concerned about the look of the repair but weather or not it can hold the 11-70. Am I kidding myself or should I start looking into getting another guitar?

I've seen tons of headstock repaired gibsons using thick strings and detuned. As long as your not using .70 for like E standard tuning you should be fine if the repair is done by a knowledgeable tech.

He does some nice work so I'm hoping this all turns out okay. After the cat did it, he just looked at me and started purring.

Nixa_Miami wrote:He does some nice work so I'm hoping this all turns out okay. After the cat did it, he just looked at me and started purring.

hhahaha my cat just has the issue of seeing my new PA towers as scratching posts... but covering the whole rig with a huge blanket and getting him some scratching pads from the dollar store seems to have rectified the situation.

Cats are awesome, don't blame the cat.

Sometimes guitars with broken off headstocks come back stronger than before.

A good friend of mine snapped the head stock off his les paul in high school and the local music shop said it'd never work again. Well my buddy fixed it himself and it does in fact work again. He uses standard strings though. That guitar is still kickin' today some 8+ yrs later.

It'll be totally fine after it's fixed might even be stronger than it was before. Also it's worth remembering that you're using heavy strings to make up for lack of tension when tuning down so the final tension shouldn't be much off standard size strings in E standard. Unless of course you're using 11-70 in E but that'd be ridiculous and you'd be posting in the jazz room not the doom room...

That's horrible. I'm thankful the guitar I keep at the house my cat has zero interest in and really doesn't care much to see it come out of the corner.

But it should be fine if you take it and have it fixed professionally.

One of my Jackson actually fell from the rack on the wall and split the headstock in half, so thankfully I was able to remove the tuners and then I glassed it back with resin. Basically if I was fixing fiberglass on a boat. It's stronger than ever and sounds just as good as it did before.

That's rough.

Also:

Cats around carpeted bass cabs...ugh. I was just about to sell em too!

moose23 wrote:It'll be totally fine after it's fixed might even be stronger than it was before. Also it's worth remembering that you're using heavy strings to make up for lack of tension when tuning down so the final tension shouldn't be much off standard size strings in E standard. Unless of course you're using 11-70 in E but that'd be ridiculous and you'd be posting in the jazz room not the doom room...

I played a friend's guitar a few weeks ago. It WAS 11-70 in E
He said the neck felt like it was bowing. I said 'uh, I wonder why?'

I have 3 cats and I am absolutely strict about keeping them out of my bedroom where my guitars and gear are. They even know they're not supposed to be in there because if the sneak in and hear my coming they bolt. The door is closed most of the time but sometimes they sneak in when I'm not paying attention. I haven't had one of them knock a guitar over yet (knock on wood) but I have had guitar cases get peed on.

I would go for the fix and keep your gear going forward in a room where you can keep the cats out.

I used to keep my gear in my bedroom with the door closed until my girlfriend said we need to keep the door open, blah blah. She is just as upset as I am right now, so I think I will be getting my room back haha.

I've seen a lot of gibson headstocks get snapped off. Especially SGs. They seem to be really weak. But a lot of the times they can get repaired and the wood glue is stronger than the wood. So you should be good.

My cats just like climbing on my amp, thankfully they don't take interest in my SG. Hope it all works out for you!

A buddy of mine had his LP knocked over and the headstock broke clean off...a few hours later he pushed it back into the break and wood glued it. Ugly, not recommended, but still super stable with heavy detuned strings years later.
A quality repair should be reliable and is totally worth it if you love the guitar.