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Neck Questions


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I am currently building 2 tele style guitars, I think one will be a reso-electric style not sure yet. My question to anyone that can help is, can I put a classical guitar headstock on either one of these tele guitars?

Also in adding a laminated/figured top, I read about bending a top over the armrest Topic. It mentioned planing the body to accomadte the top, What is the best way to plane the armscoop?

I am very new to this whole guitar building so please make explainations simple, thanks.

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do you mean making a classical style headstock with the tuners horizontal to the headstock?

i dont see why not, now i dont know if the classical tuners have the same tension abilities as a normal one, so if you were doing a long scale or baritone it may be under alot more tension and the tuners may not be able to work properly. but im probably wrong there, just keep that in mind.

to do the top armrest or 'drop top' technique i think the most popular method is a spokeshave.

shown here:

http://www.bazzolo.com/workshop/spokeshave.jpg

hope that helps.

t

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well putting a classical headstock onto a tele shouldnt have any problems besides maybe weakening of the neck from the truss rod acces cavity. but putting a classical neck would. since classical necks are designed for nylon strings that exert a lot less tension they are ususally made without any neck support (no trussrod and rarely a stiffenening rod). So putting it onto a tele would have disaster coming from the steel strings, it might even look like one of those chineese 2 stringed violin things, and then theres also the problem of the neck join, since a classical neck isnt designed for a bolt on, it would require modification to the tele design to fit it onto the tele body.

but im not sure that you ment putting on a classical neck.

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If you're building the neck, there's nothing wrong with making the headstock slotted. They've been used on steel string guitars before... National Resonators, for instance.

Grafting on a classical headstock might be a little challenging. Classical guitars have a much wider fingerboard and nut. Whittling it down to 1-5/8" might look awkward and it might not leave enough wood for a durable headstock.

As for the armrest, you could do it with a hand plane, a band saw (if you support the body properly), or even a router, if you have one of those duplicarver or thicknessing jigs. Oh yeah and sandpaper to clean it up. The important thing is that the surface you make is single curvature... you should be able to drape a sheet of paper over it and have it lay flat on the surface without any gaps, especially at the edges. If a piece of paper won't conform to the surface, without wrinkling, you won't be able to coax a piece of wood to.

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also a classical guitar has a long heel and attatches to the body way different then a tenon joint like a set neck has.

a classical neck would have a high heel and bolt on from the inside of the guitar.

you could make a classical-style-esque from scratch but i dont think there is anyway you can make a acoustic neck fit on a solidbody electric.

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I was just going to use the headstock and about 2 inches of neck cut at an angle to fit the neck. I think I should just make a slotted one from scratch, the one I have is slightly wider then I want and like mentioned early it is designed for nylon strings so shaving it down may make it even weaker. Thanks for all the advice.

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